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THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE 

B  U  R  F  O  R  D 

RECORDS 


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THE  HIGH  STREET,  BURFORD 


THE 


BURFORD 
RECORDS 

A  Study  in 
Minor  Town  Government 


By  R.  H.  Gretton,  M.A.,  M.B.E. 


OX  F  O  RT> 

AT    THE    CLARENDON    PRESS 

MCMXX 


Da 


THIS   BOOK   IS   DEDICATED   TO 

MY    WIFE 

In  love  and  gratitude  for  her  unfailing 

encouragement  and  help  and  in 

commemoration  of 

our   home  at 

BURFORD 


1 252882 


Printed  in  England 
At  the  Oxford  University  Press 


PREFATORY    NOTE 

My  thanks  are  due  to  many  whose  kindness  has  contributed 
to  the  making  of  this  book.  In  the  first  place,  I  have  to  thank 
Mrs.  Cheatle,  who,  by  allowing  me  access  to  the  portion  of 
the  Burford  Records  in  her  possession,  gave  the  first  im- 
pulse towards  what  has  become  a  considerable  undertaking. 
Secondly,  I  express  my  thanks  to  the  Burford  Charity  Trustees 
for  the  long  study  I  was  permitted  to  make  of  the  Records 
in  their  keeping.  In  this  connexion  I  gladly  acknowledge  my 
indebtedness  to  Mr.  E.  J.  Horniman,  who  not  only  provided 
the  monetary  guarantee  required  by  the  Trustees  for  the 
safety  of  their  documents,  but  has,  throughout  my  work, 
given  me  that  peculiarly  valuable  kind  of  encouragement — an 
ever-ready  interest  in  the  details  of  my  investigations.  To 
the  President  and  Fellows  of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  my 
thanks  are  due  for  permission  to  print  extracts  from  the  series 
of  leases  of  property  in  Burford  formerly  held  by  the  College, 
which  the  kindness  of  the  Bursar  of  the  College  enabled  me 
to  consult,  and  from  which  I  have  gathered  some  of  the  earliest 
facts,  hitherto  unknown,  in  the  history  of  the  Corporation 
of  Burford. 

The  Rev.  W.  C.  Emeris,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Burford  and  Rural 
Dean,  has  added  to  many  incidental  kindnesses  the  writing 
of  much  of  the  chapter  on  the  parish  church  of  Burford,  thus 
giving  to  my  book  in  that  respect  an  authority  which  no  one 
else  could  have  given  it.  I.  am  sincerely  grateful  to  him  for 
the  generosity  with  which  he  has  allowed  me  to  make  use  of 
his  knowledge  in  this  and  other  points  of  Burford  history. 


X  PREFATORY  NOTE 

To  the  skill  of  my  brother-in-law,  Mr.  David  Crichton,  M.A., 
and  of  Mr.  Frederick  Hall,  Controller  of  the  Oxford  University 
Press,  I  owe  the  admirable  series  of  photographs  of  Burford^ 
buildings ;  and  to  Mr.  H.  E.  Conway  the  view  of  Burf ord,  from 
a  painting  by  him,  which  appears  as  the  frontispiece. 

I  am  under  a  great  obligation  to  the  Rev.  A.  J.  Carlyle, 
Litt.D.,  Fellow  of  University  College,  who  devoted  much  of 
his  valuable  time  to  reading  the  book  in  manuscript,  made 
fruitful  suggestions  as  to  the  arrangement  of  the  matter,  and 
was  kind  enough  to  stand  sponsor  for  it  to  the  authorities 
of  the  University  Press. 

Finally,  though  it  would  be  impossible  here  to  express  an 
adequate  gratitude  for  the  generous  help  my  wife  has  afforded 
at  every  stage  of  the  book's  progress,  it  would  be  equally 
impossible  to  make  no  mention  of  it.  Without  her  constant 
aid,  her  wise  and  patient  criticism,  and  her  love  and  knowledge 
of  Burford  and  the  Cotswolds,  the  work  would  never  have 
been  done. 

R.  H.  GRETTON. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION        . i 

Chapter 

I.    THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN      ....        5 
II.    THE  GROWTH  OF  CORPORATE  RESPONSIBILITY, 

135^1500 21 

III.  THE  CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH,  1500-1600  .      32 

IV.  THE  LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES,  1600-1700         .      49 
V.    THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION,  AND  ITS 

LAST  STAGES      .        .        .        .        .        :        .66 

PART  II 

STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 
VI.    THE  LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN    .      80 
VII.    OFFICERS  OF  THE  TOWN,  THE  GILD,  AND  COR- 
PORATION .  .  % 95. 

VIII.    THE    CHURCH    OF    ST.    JOHN    THE    BAPTIST, 

BURFORD 104 

IX.    THE  TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  OF  BUR- 
FORD .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     147 

X.    THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  .         .         .         .^33 

XL    THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        .        .     257 

PART  III 

CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

SECTION  I.     THE  CHARTERS  OF  BURFORD         .         .  295 

SECTION  II.    RECORDS  PRESERVED  IN  THE  TOWN    .  307 

i.  The  Cheatle  Collection 311 

ii.   The  Tolsey  Collection 419 

iii.   Grammar  School  Documents 547 


xii  CONTENTS 

PACE 

SECTION  III.    RECORDS  PRESERVED  ELSEWHERE 

i.   Extracts  from  the  Public  Record  Office       .         .         .  565 

ii.   Extracts  from  Manuscripts  at  the  British  Museum        .  665 
iii.   Extracts  from  the  Muniments  of  Brasenose  College, 

Oxford 668 

iv.   Documents  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford  673. 

V.   The  Burford  and  Upton  Enclosure  Awards  .         .  681 

GENERAL  INDEX 707 

INDEX  OF  PERSONS        .         .         .         .         .         .         .716 

INDEX  OF  PLACES •        •        •     735 


LIST  OF  PLATES 

BuRFORD,  High  Street  .  frontispiece 

PAGE 

I.   Fifteenth-century  Arch,    Formerly  in  an  end 

wall  of  the  Mason's  Arms,  Witney  Street          .    facing    22 
II.  The  Almshouses w       30 

III.  Simon  Wisdom's  Tenements,  near  the  Bridge. 

On  the  left  the  late  seyenteenth-century  front 

of  the  Vicarage j>       34 

IV.  Archway  formerly  of  the  George  Inn  .        .        ,,64 
V,    Burford  Church.    Interior,  showing  Mediaeval 

Chapel,  Parclose,  and  Pulpit  .         .         .         .         „      io6 
VI.   Burford   Church.     South  Transeptal  Chapels, 

South  Porch,  and  Lady  Chapel        .         .         .         „     120 

VII.   The  Rectory ,,     136 

VIII.    Fifteenth-century  Arch,  High   Street  (W. 
Side),  leading  to  a  row  of  ^cottages  called  The 

College «     168 

IX.  Early  Seventeenth-century  House  in  High 

Street    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    ^j  173 

X.   Cellar  under  London  House,  High  Street     .        „     184 
XI.  Turret  at  back  of  one  of  Simon  Wisdom's 

Houses  on  the  Hill ,,     200 

XII.   The  Great  House ,,212 

XIII.  The  Bull „     224 

XIV.  On  the  South  Side  of  Sheep  Street.    Double- 

bayed  sixteenth-centiiry  house  in  centre,  late 

seventeenth-century  house  to  left    .         .         .  ,>  243 

XV.   Fifteenth-century  Arches  in  Burford  Priory  „  262 

XVI.    Burford  Priory »  291 

Frontispiece  to  Part  III.     Maces  and  Seals  of  the 

Corporation „  295 


NOTE  ON  THE  FRONTISPIECE  TO  PART  III 

The  following  description  of  the  Maces  and  Seals  of  the  ancient 
Corporation  of  Burford  is  extracted  from  Corporation  Plate  and  Insignia 
of  Office,  by  L.  Jewitt,  F.S.A.,  and  E.  H.  St.  John  Hope,  F.S.A.  (ii.  258). 
The  earlier  of  the  maces  is  of  silver,  and  measures  thirteen  and 
three-sixteenths  inches  in  length.  It  has  a  plain  slender  shaft  (with 
an  iron  core)  to  which  are  affixed,  just  below  the  centre,  five  wavy 
flanges  with  moulded  edges  and  enclosing  strap-work  scrolls.  Just 
below  the  head  is  a  moulded  ring,  and  at  the  bottom  is  a  flat  button 
engraved,  seal  fashion,  with  a  lion  rampant.  The  head,  which  is 
supported  by  a  calix  of  sixteen  petals,  is  globular  in  form  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  coronet  of  ten  crosses  and  as  many  fleur-de-lis,  resting 
on  a  bold  cable  moulding.  On  the  flat  top,  within  a  quatrefoil,  are 
the  royal  arms,  France  and  England  quarterly ;  originally  enamelled. 
This  interesting  mace  is  probably  of  sixteenth-century  date,  but  the 
lion  on  the  button  looks  later. 

The  other  mace  is  two  feet  nine  inches  and  five-eighths  long,  and  also 
of  silver.  It  is  of  the  usual  late  type  with  crowned  head  surmounted 
by  the  orb  and  cross,  but  the  design  of  the  shaft  is  somewhat  unusual. 
The  head,  which  is  supported  by  four  slender  brackets,  is  handsomely 
wrought  with  four  frosted  oval  panels,  with  ornate  leaf  work  between, 
containing  the  usual  royal  badges,  viz.  the  rose,  thistle,  fleur-de-lis, 
and  harp,  severally  crowned.  The  crown  surmounting  the  head  has 
a  delicately  worked  coronet,  and  jewelled  arches  depressed  in  the  centre 
so  as  to  touch  the  cap  beneath,  which  bears  in  relief  the  royal  arms 
and  supporters  in  use  from  1714  to  1801,  with  the  arms  of  Butford, 
a  lion  rampant  below.  The  shaft  consists  of  (i)  a  short  plain  section 
with  the  brackets  below  the  mace-head  ;  (ii)  a  long  section,  with  slight 
medial  band  and  two  panelled  terminal  bosses,  ornamented  throughout 
with  a  bold  leaf  pattern  arranged  as  a  spiral  band  ;  below  this  again  is 
(iii)  the  handle  or  grip,  at  first  plain,  then  wrought  with  leaves,  and 
gradually  swelling  out  towards  the  f  oot-knop,  which  is  also  chased  with 
leafwork.  The  mace  bears  the  leopard's  head  and  lion  passant  gardant 
of  the  London  hall-marks,  but  no  date  letter,  and  for  the  maker,  I  W, 
with  a  rose  above,  for  John  Wisdome  (entered  1720).  The  maker's 
mark  is  twice  struck,  and  similarly  repeated  under  the  head.  The  mace 
not  improbably  dates  from  George  the  Second's  charter  of  1742. 

The  common  seal,  of  silver,  is  of  the  unusual  form  of  a  pointed  oval, 
two  and  one-eighth  inches  long.  The  device  is  a  boldly  engraved 
lion  rampant,  facing  to  the  sinister  (probably  by  inadvertence  on  the 
part  of  the  engraver),  with  the  marginal  legend  >{«  SIGILL'  COMMUNE 
.  BURGENSIUM  .  DE  .  BUREFORD.  On  either  side  of  the  lion 
are  the  two  centres  from  which  the  curved  sides  and  lines  of  the  seal 
were  struck.    On  the  back  is  a  loop  for  suspension,  from  which  three 


NOTE  ON  THE  FRONTISPIECE  TO  PART  III      xv 

long  leaf-like  branches  diverge  and  extend  over  the  seal.    Date  circa 
1250. 

The  other  seal,  which  is  attached  to  the  silver  one  by  a  plaited 
leather  thong,  has  probably  been  used  as  a  counter-seal.  It  is  a  pointed 
oval,  one  and  three-eighths  of  an  inch  long,  and  of  latten,  with  a  small 
loop  at  the  top.  The  device  represents  a  clerk  in  amice  and  girded 
alb  kneeling  under  a  trefoiled  arch  surmounted  by  a  half-length 
figure  of  Our  Lady  and  Child.  Legend  iy  AVE  MARIA  GRA  PLENA 
DNS  TECUM. 

It  should  be  remarked  that  in  the  reference  to  '  George  the  Second's 
charter '  the  authors  of  the  above  description  had  been  misled  by 
a  faulty  list  of  the  town  charters.  No  charter  was  ever  obtained  at 
such  a  date ;  the  document  mistaken  for  a  charter  of  1742  is  really 
a  writ  under  the  Great  Seal. 

It  may  also  be  remarked  that  the  smaller  seal  has  sometimes  been 
described  as  the  '  Priory  seal '.  In  view  of  the  device  it  bears  it  is  much 
more  probable,  to  say  the  least,  that  it  was  the  seal  of  the  Gild,  which 
was  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This  also  would  account  for  its 
having  been  kept  attached  by  a  thong  to  the  Town  seal,  since  the 
Gild  and  the  Corporation  are  indistinguishable.  The  Priory  seal 
would,  on  the  contrary,  have  been  very  unlikely  to  be  preserved  in 
that  particular  way.  Moreover,  the  dedication  of  the  Priory  was  to 
St.  John  the  EvangeHst ;  and  the  legend  on  its  seal  would  almost 
certainly  have  been  in  the  common  form — Sigillum  Hospitalis  Sti. 
lohannis  de  Burford — or  something  of  that  kind. 


LIST   OF  SUBSCRIBERS 

The  Duke  of  Marlborough,  K.G.,  Blenheim  Palace,  Woodstock. 

Beatrice,  Countess  of  Portsmouth,  Hurstboume  Park,  Whitchurch,  Hants. 

The  Viscount  Dillon,  M.A.,  D.C.L.,  Ditchley,  Enstone. 

The  Bishop  of  Ripon. 

Colonel  Lord  Gorell,  O.B.E.,  M.C..  Buckingham  Gate,  London,  S.W.  i. 

Lord  Moreton,  D.L.,  Sarsden  House,  Churchill. 

Lord  Redesdale,  Asthall  Manor,  Oxon. 

Lord  Sherborne,  Sherborne  House,  Glos. 

Lord  Wjrfold,  Wyfold  Court,  Reading. 

Hon.  Lady  Barrington,  The  Old  Lodge,  Wimbledon. 

Sir  W.  H.  Hadow,  D.Mus.,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Shef&eld, 

■    Eccleshall  Grange,  Sheffield. 
Sir  Robert  Hudson,  G.B.E.,  Dean's  Yard,  Westminster. 
Sir  Francis  Hyett,  Painswick  House,  Stroud. 

Sir  Sidney  Lee,  D.Litt.,  LL.D.,  io8a  Lexham  Gardens,  South  Kensington. 
Sir  Theodore  Morison,  K.C.S.I.,  K.C.I.E.,  Principal  of  Armstrong  College, 

Newcastle-on-Tyne . 
Sir  WilUam  Osier,  Bart.,  F.R.S.  (the  late),  Norham  Gardens,  Oxford, 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  D.Litt.,  Ferry  Hinksey,  Oxford. 
Sir  Michael  Sadler,  C.B.,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Leeds. 
Sir  John  Simon,  K.C.V.O.,  K.C.,  59  Cadogan  Gardens,  London,  S.W. 
Admiral  Sir  Edmund  Slade,  K.C.I. E.,  128  Church  Street,  Kensington. 
Sir  R.  Sothem-HoUand,  Westwell  Manor,  Burford. 
Sir  Herbert  Warren,  K.C.V.O.,  D.C.L.,  President  of  Magdalen  College 

Oxford. 
Colonel  Sir  Rhys  Williams,  M.P.,  6  Charles  Street,  Mayfair. 
The  Dean  of  Canterbury,  D.D.,  The  Deanery,  Canterbury. 
The  Dean  of  Norwich,  D.D.  (the  late). 

Robert  Akers,  Esq.,  The  Manor,  Black  Bourton,  Oxon. 
All  Souls  College,  Oxford. 

Balliol  College,  Oxford. 

Messrs.  Banks  &  Co.  (two  copies).  The  Imperial  Library,  Cheltenham. 

Harrison  Barrow,  Esq.,  J. P.,  Wellington  Road,  Edgbaston. 

Walter  Barrow,  Esq.,  Ampton  Road,  Edgbaston. 

Mrs.  Alice  Baxter,  Northcliff,  Alderley  Edge,  Cheshire. 

Birmingham  Friends'  Book  Society. 

Messrs.  Blackwell  (six  copies),  Broad  Street,  Oxford. 

W.  C.  Braithwaite,  Esq.,  LL.B.,  Castle  House,  Banbury. 

Brasenose  College,  Oxford. 

E.  D.  St.  John  Brooks,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Wickham  Road,  Sutton,  Surrey. 

Mrs.  Byrne  Bryce,  Littleham,  Burford. 

Col.  John  Buchan,  M.A.,  Elsfield  Manor,  Oxon. 

Major  Butler,  J. P.,  Alvescot  Lodge,  Oxon. 

Mrs.  Barrow  Cadbury,  Wheeleys  Road,  Edgbaston. 

Miss  Campbell,  Burford. 

Miss  Carbutt,  The  Forum  Club,  Grosvenor  Place,  S.W. 

C.  T.  Cheatle.  Esq.,  M.R.C.S.,  Burford. 

The  Community  of  the  Resurrection,  Mirfield,  Yorks. 

H.  E.  Conway,  Esq.,  Burford. 


xviii  LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS 

Christopher  Cookson,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Magdalen  College,  Oxford. 

Messrs.  Cornish  Bros.,  New  Street,  Birmingham. 

C.  W.  Cottrell-Dormer,  Esq.,  J. P.,  D.L..  Rousham,  Oxon. 

David  Crichton,  Esq.,  M.A.  (two  copies),  St.  Mary's,  York. 

Miss  Vida  M.  S.  Crichton,  Somerville  College,  Oxford. 

Stafford  Cripps,  Esq.,  Essex  Court,  The  Temple. 

Mrs.  Cull,  Lucerne  Chambers,  Kensington. 

Henry  Curtis,  Esq.,  B.Sc.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.S.,  Harley  Street,  London,  W. 

Rev.  F.  N.  Davies,  D.Litt.,  Rowner  Rectory,  Gosport. 

S.  H.  Davies,  Esq.,  D.Sc,  New  Earswick,  York. 

W.  F.  Drummond,  Esq.,  Fulbrook,  Burford. 

Thomas  Duckworth,  Esq.,  Victoria  Institute,  Worcester. 

Edward  C.  Early,  Esq.,  Sunnyside,  Witney. 

Charles  East.  Esq.,  J. P.,  Burford. 

Frederick  Elder,  Esq.,  Antrim  Mansions,  Hampstead,  N.W.  3. 

C.  Ellis.  Esq.,  Butter  Hill  House,  Dorking. 

Rev.  William  C.  Emeris,  M.A.  (four  copies).  The  Vicarage,  Burford. 

The  Misses  Emeris,  The  Vicarage,  Burford. 

Mrs.  Agnes  Evans,  Byways,  Yamton,  Oxon. 

Exeter  College,  Oxford. 

J.  Meade  Falkner,  Esq.,  M.A.  (five  copies).  The  Divinity  House,  Durham 

Professor  C.  H.  Firth,  Northmoor  Road,  Oxford. 

W.  R.  Foster,  Esq.,  The  Granville,  Ilfracombe. 

W.  Warde  Fowler,  Esq.,  D.Litt.,  Kingham,  Oxon. 

G.  H.  Fox,  Esq.,  Wodehouse  Place,  Falmouth. 

H.  Sanderson  Fumiss,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Ruskin  College,  Oxford. 

W.  G.  Game,  Esq.,  Burford. 

J.  S.  Gayner.  Esq.,  M.D.,  New  Earswick,  York. 

Gloucester  Public  Library. 

A.  D.  Godley.  Esq.,  D.Litt.,  Magdalen  College,  Oxford. 

G.  P.  Gooch.  Esq..  M.A.,  South  Villa,  Campden  Hill  Road,  W. 

R.  Goodenough,  Esq.,  Filkins  Old  Hall,  Lechlade. 

R.  H.  Gretton,  Esq.,  M.A.,  M.B.E.  (seven  copies).  Calendars.  Burford. 

Messrs.  Groves  &  Sons,  Milton-under-Wychwood,  Oxon. 

Miss  Imogen  Guiney,  Amberley,  Glos. 

J.  G.  Hailing,  Esq.,  Cheltenham. 

Alexander  N.  Hall,  Esq.,  O.B.E.,  Barton  Abbey,  Oxon. 

G.  R.  Hambidge,  Esq.,  Burford. 

H.  D.  Harben,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Grosvenor  Street,  London,  W.  i. 

St.  Hilda's  HaU,  Oxford. 

Mrs.  F.  Hinde.  The  Prebendal  House,  Shipton-under-Wychwood. 

S.  M.  Hodgkins,  Esq.,  Burford. 

R.  Holland-Martin,  Esq.,  C.B.,  F.S.A.,  Overbury  Court,  Tewkesbury. 

George  Hookham.  Esq.,  M.A.,  Furze  Hill,  Broadway. 

E.  J.  Homiman,  Esq.,  J.P.  (twelve  copies),  Burford  Priory,  Oxon. 

Rev.  C.  H.  Bickerton  Hudson,  Holyrood,  Oxford. 

Lt.-Col.  A.  R.  Hurst,  D.S.O.,  Little  Barrington,  Oxon. 

Mrs.  Ivimy,  Wajrnes  Close,  Burford. 

J.  de  M.  Johnson,  Esq.,  M.A.,  The  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford. 
J.  E.  A.  JoUiffe,  Esq.,  M.A..  Keble  College.  Oxford. 
Messrs.  Jones  &  Evans,  tj  Queen  Street,  Cheapside,  E.C. 


LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS  xix 

9 

Keble  College,  Oxford. 

Philip  Kenway,  Esq.,  Highdown  Wood,  Godalming. 

Commander  W.  R.  W.  Kettlewell,  R.N.  (five  copies),  Burford. 

Hugh  M.  Last,  Esq.,  M.A.,  St.  John's  College,  Oxford. 

Aubrey  T.  Laurence,  Esq.,  1 3  Norfolk  Terrace,  Hyde  Park,  W.  2. 

J.  W.  Leitch,  Esq.,  Somerville.  Edgerton,  Huddersfield. 

R  .E.  Lentkall  .Esq.,  C.E.,  Newport  Islands,  Co.  Gasp^,  P.  of  Quebec,  Canada. 

Miss  Wolseley  Lewis,  Barrington,  Burford. 

H.  T.  Ley,  Esq..  17  Curzon  Road.  Muswell  Hill,  N. 

Philip  Lockwood,  Esq.,  St.  Werburgh  St.,  Chester. 

Lon^n  Library. 

T.  Loveday,  Esq.,  Williamscote,  Banbury. 

T.  Lyon,  Esq.,  Cheltenham. 

Compton  Mackenzie,  Esq.,  B.A.,  Casa  Solitaiia,  Capri. 

Blagdalen  College,  Oxford. 

Manchester  University,  Manchester. 

P.  E.  Matheson.  Esq..  M.A..  i  Savile  Road,  Oxford. 

F.  W.  P.  Mathews,  Esq.,  J. P.  (2  copies).  Fifield,  Oxon. 

Thomas  McCuUoch.  Esq.,  Woodfield  House,  Lockwood,  Huddersfield. 

Merton  College,  Oxford. 

Mitchell  Library,  Glasgow. 

W.  J.  Monk.  Esq..  Burford. 

J.  B.  Morell,  Esq..  Burton  Croft,  York. 

Miss  May  Morris.  Kelmscott  Manor,  Lechlade. 

Charles  Campbell  Murdoch,  Esq.,  M.A.,  M.C.  (two  copies),  Burford. 

Mrs.  Murdoch,  Burford. 

New  College.  Oxford, 

J.  H.  B.  Noble,  Esq.,  Ardinglass,  Scotland. 

Edwin  Norton,  Esq..  2  Queen  s  Court,  Hagley  Road,  Birmingham. 

Rev.  W.  T.  Oldfield.  M.A.,  Shipton-under-Wychwood,  Oxon. 

Professor  Sir  C.  W.  C.  Oman,  F.S.A.,  LL.D.,  M.P..  All  Souls  College, 

Oxford. 
A.  S.  Owen.  Esq  ,  M.A.,  Keble  College,  Oxford. 
H.  E.  Owen,  Esq.,  c/o  The  Lamb,  Burford. 
Oxford  Public  Library. 

Messrs.  Packer  (three  copies),  Burford. 

Messrs.  Parker  (two  copies).  Broad  Street,  Oxford. 

Messrs.  Patrick  &  Page,  12  Collingwood  St.,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

A.  E.  Peake,  Esq.,  M.R.C.S.,  Burford. 

Rev.  S.  Spencer  Pearce,  M.A.,  The  Vicarage,  Combe,  Oxon. 

Mrs.  E.  Hope  Percival.  Burford. 

Mrs.  PhilUp  Percival,  Uley,  Stroud. 

Rev.  L.  R.  Phelps,  M.A.,  Provost  of  Oriel  College.  Oxford.  ' 

H.  F.  Piggott.  Esq.,  M.A.,  Burford. 

S.  E.  Pouok.  Esq.,  20  Augustus  Road,  Edgbaston,  Birmingham. 

H.  G.  Powell,  Esq..  jun.,  Wokingham.  Bucks. 

Rees  Price,  Esq..  F.S.A.  Scot.,  Bannits.  Broadway,  Worcestershire. 

Public  Record  OflSce,  Chancery  Lane,  W.C. 

A.  L.  Radford.  Esq.,  Bradninch  Manor,  Devon. 

Messrs.  Hugh  Rees,  5  Regent  St.,  S.W. 

Lt.-Col.  Fairfax  Rhodes. 

L.  Rice-Oxley,  Esq.,  M.A.,  5  Prince  of  Wales  Terrace,  Kensington. 

T.  H.  Riches.  Esq..  M.A.,  Kitwells.  Shenley,  Herts. 

Charles  Roberts,  Esq.,  M.A.,  10  Holland  Park,  W. 


XX  LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS 

Rev.  W.  Fothergill  Robinson,  The  Vicarage,  Bloxham. 
Rothamsted  Experimental  Station  Library,  Harpenden. 

Captain  A.  E.  W.  Salt,  War  Office  School  of  Education,  The  Hutments, 

Newmarket. 
Rev.  H.  E.  Salter,  M.A.,  Dry  Sandford,  Abingdon. 
C.  Samuda,  Esq.,  J. P.,  Bruem  Abbey,  Oxon. 
R.  H.  Schuster,  Esq.,  Church  Bank,  Bowden,  Manchester. 

C.  P.  Scott,  Esq.,  M.A.,  J. P.,  Fallowfield,  Manchester. 
Mrs.  R.  A.  Scott,  Williamstrip,  Glos. 

Mrs.  Basil  de  S61incourt,  Kingham,  Oxon. 

Sheffield  PubUc  Library. 

Mrs.  Arthur  Sidgwick,  Woodstock  Road,  Oxford. 

Miss  C.  A.  Skeel,  D.Litt.,  F.R.H.S.,  Well  Road,  Hampstead,  N.W.  3. 

Miss  Skinner,  Burford. 

J.  Chamock  Smith,  Esq.,  Lloyd's  Bank,  Handsworth,  Birmingham. 

Miss  H.  E.  Snelling,  The  Public  Hall,  Tonbridge. 

The  Rev.  Father  Sole,  Chipping  Norton. 

Somerville  College,  Oxford. 

Christopher  Stone,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Field  House,  Horsham. 

P.  S.  Stott,  Esq.,  Stanton  Manor,  Broadway. 

L.  R.  Strangeways,  Esq.,  Grammar  School,  Bury,  Lanes. 

Charles  Sturge,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Summerhill,  Sunderland. 

Frank  Sturge,  Esq.  (three  copies),  Wrexham,  N.  Wales. 

Charles  F.  Sylvester,  Esq.,  Branksome,  Godalming. 

Lt.-Col.  G.  Sylvester,  Tonbridge,  Kent. 

Percy  Sylvester,  Esq.,  Hilperton,  Nr.  Trowbridge,  Wilts. 

R.  H.  Tawney,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Trinity  College,  Oxiord. 

G.  E.  Underbill,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Magdalen  College,  Oxford. 

The  Rev.  H.  C.  Wace,  M.A.,  Brasenose  College,  Oxford. 
The  Rev.  W.  H.  Kirwan  Ward,  M.A.,  Asthall  Vicarage,  Oxon. 
Vernon  Watney,  Esq.,  M.A.,  J. P.,  Combury  Park,  Oxon. 
H.  E.  H.  Way,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Mlton-under-Wychwood,  Oxon. 
Professor  C.  C.  J.  Webb.  Magdalen  College,  Oxford. 
J.  Wells,  Esq.,  Warden  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford. 

D.  J.  Wilson,  Esq.,  40  Albemarle  St.,  W. 

W.  Page  Wood.  Esq.,  1 14  Stemhold  Avenue.  Streatham  Hill,  S.W. 
Worcester  College.  Oxiord. 

E.  H.  Wyatt.  Esq.,  Burford. 
P.  S.  Wyatt.  Esq.,  Burford. 

York  Public  Library. 


PART  I 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF 
BURFORD 

INTRODUCTION 

The  study  of  the  development  of  town  government  and 
municipal  structure  in  England  is  of  necessity  founded  chiefly 
on  the  history  of  the  large  and  important  towns,  partly  because 
the  processes  of  their  growth  are  comparatively  coherent  and 
easy  to  follow,  partly  for  the  reason  that  their  records  are 
more  ample  and  more  readily  available.  But  the  history  of 
a  small  town  may,  nevertheless,  have  its  contribution  to 
make ;  its  very  failures  may  help  towards  a  truer  under- 
standing of  both  the  potentialities  and  the  limitations  of 
borough  charters. 

The  history  of  the  ancient  Corporation  of  Burford  certainly 
has  light  to  throw  upon  the  relation  between  a  manorial 
borough  and  its  lord.  It  shows  at  once  how  far  such  a  borough 
could  proceed,  in  favourable  circumstances,  towards  an 
apparent  independence,  and  how  precarious  was  its  liberty. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  for  some  centuries  after  its  first  en- 
franchisement Burford  was  an  outlying  and  insignificant 
member  of  the  Honour  of  Gloucester,  and  that  even  tenants 
for  life  were  men  of  great  possessions  and  resided  elsewhere, 
the  original  Gild  Merchant  attained  by  degrees  a  position 
which  during  the  sixteenth  ceatury  was  in  practice  indistin- 
guishable from  that  of  a  completely  chartered  town.  Yet  as 
soon  as  a  lord  of  the  manor  put  that  position  to  the  test  of  the 
law  it  collapsed.  The  reason  for  the  collapse  provides  the 
first  sidelight  upon  the  study  of  municipal  institutions  which 
Burford  has  to  offer.  It  is  the  truth  that  the  keystone  of  town 
charters  is  to  be  found  in  the  fee-farm.  For  a  hundred  years 
certainly,  and  probably  for  longer  than  that,  the  burgesses  of 

S304  B 


2    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

Burford  administered  the  Borough  Court,  the  markets,  and  the 
fairs,  maintained  a  gallows  and  pillory,  made  by-laws  and 
punished  by  fines  and  imprisonment  any  breaches  of  the  by- 
laws. Nor  were  the  burgesses  passing  beyond  the  bounds  of 
what  the  charters  had  allowed  to  be  done  in  Burford.  But 
when  the  exercise  of  these  franchises  was  questioned  by  a  lord 
of  the  manor  it  was  clear  that  they  belonged  not  to  the  men 
of  Burford  as  such,  but  to  them  as  the  men  of  a  manorial  lord. 
Unless,  therefore,  they  were  in  recognizable  allegiance  to  a 
lord  they  had  no  claim  to  the  privileges  ;  and  that  recognizable 
allegiance  had  to  be  expressed  by  payment  of  a  rent.  In  other 
words,  the  clauses  of  charters  may  contain  everything  neces- 
sary for  the  passing  of  town  affairs  into  the  hands  of  people  of 
the  town ;  but  if  they  do  not  contain  a  definite  farm  of  the 
town  they  are  an  extension  of  the  privileges  of  the  lord  of  the 
manor  and  not  really  an  enfranchisement  of  the  town. 

Another  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  the  history  of  Burford 
is  that  the  use  of  the  words  '  enfranchisement '  and  '  liberties  ' 
should  be  carefully  restricted,  as  we  have  already  learned  to 
restrict  the  use  of  the  words  *  corporation  '  and  '  corporate 
body  '.  To  the  modern  mind,  accustomed  to  the  idea  of  self- 
government  in  our  great  towns,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  use 
the  words  '  franchises  '  or  '  liberties  '  without  an  accompany- 
ing conception  of  a  policy  of  local  independence  and  local 
responsibility.  No  such  conception  is  ever  to  be  traced  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  burgesses  of  Burford.  Their  emergence  as 
a  corporate  body  is  purely  accidental,  the  result  of  a  series  of 
administrative  needs  that  had  to  be  met,  and  opportunities 
that  offered  themselves  to  he  taken.  At  the  period  of  their 
highest  development  they  show  no  concern  for  the  internal 
well-being  of  the  town  ;  the  bailiffs,  the  wardsmen,  and  the 
constables  are  answerable  to  the  lord  of  the  manor  at  the 
Court  Leet,  not  to  the  burgesses  in  the  Borough  Court.  There 
is  no  association  of  the  general  body  of  inhabitants  in  the 
government  of  the  town  ;  the  Corporation  remained  a  self- 
electing  Gild,  devoid  of  public  responsibility.  Their  own  inter- 
pretation of  their  charters,  and  the  functions  they  exercised 
in  that  interpretation,  will  be  much  better  understood  by 


INTRODUCTION  3 

keeping  always  to  the  front  the  idea  of  '  privileges ',  and 
avoiding  altogether  the  idea  of  '  liberty '. 

This  is  not  to  say,  of  course,  that  in  the  more  highly 
developed  towns  there  was  the  same  total  lack  of  a  deliberate 
policy  of  independence.  But  it  serves  as  a  useful  warning  that 
even  in  the  case  of  those  towns  the  word  '  enfranchisement ' 
should  be  used  with  caution,  and  must  be  justified  by  proof. 
Charters,  Professor  Maitland  remarked,  do  not  create  com- 
munities. It  might  be  added  that  they  do  not  necessarily 
enfranchise  communities.  They  often  merely  confer  privileges 
for  the  enrichment  of  the  lord,  which  might  in  certain 
circumstances  be  perverted  to  the  enrichment  of  some  of  the 
members  of  the  community. 

Another  theory  of  Maitland's  will  be  found  to  be  well  illus- 
trated in  the  following  pages.  He  was  fond  of  maintaining 
that  the  growth  and  survival  of  a  '  personality  '  in  a  town 
depended  largely  upon  the  existence  of  '  a  revenue  which  is 
not  going  to  be  divided  amongst  the  townsfolk '.  This  in 
Burford  was  provided  by  the  Charity  Lands.  From  an  early 
date  the  burgesses  found  themselves  in  control  of  property 
held  for  public  purposes  ;  and  on  at  least  two  occasions  when 
the  Corporation  appeared  to  be  in  danger  of  extinction,  it  was 
this  control  whifch  secured  its  continuance. 


B2 


"•V"-,,.^ 


OQr  uid  Oxford 


Sketch-map  of  Burford 

A,  Lawrence  Lane,  b.  Church  Green,  c,  Church  Lane,  d,  Gildenford. 
E,  Priory  Lane  (formerly  St.  John's  Street),  f.  Priory  Lane.  G,  Line  of 
ancient  road  to  Cirencester  and  Gloucester,  h,  Tanner's  Lane,  j.  Formerly 
Lavington  Lane,  k,  Batt's  Lane  (later  called  Pytt's  Lane),  l.  Barns 
LjMie. 

"i.  Bury  Orchard.  2,  The  Bridge.  3,  The  Town  Mills.  4,  The  Vicarage. 
5.  The  Rectory.  6,  The  Priory.  7,  The  Bear  Inn.  8,  The  Church.  9,  The 
Almshouse.  10,  The  Grammar  School.  11,  Formerly  the  George  Inn. 
12,  Formerly  the  Crown  (Novum  Hospitium  Angulare).  13,  The  Tolsey. 
14,  The  Bull.    15,  The  Mill  in  Witney  Street.    16,  Formerly  the  Culverclose. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN 

§  I 

The  original  grant  of  liberties  to  Burford  is  of  remarkably 
early  date.  It  provides,  indeed,  the  earliest  dated  instance  of 
the  establishment  of  a  Gild  Merchant,  For  the  first  charter 
is  in  the  name  of  Robert  FitzHamon,*  and  must  therefore  have 
been  granted  between  1088,  the  year  in  which  Burford,  with 
other  possessions  in  Oxfordshire  and  Gloucestershire,  came 
into  his  hands,  and  1107,  the  year  in  which  he  died. 

The  grant  was  not  of  a  Gild  Merchant  alone.  It  included 
also  the  liberties  customary  in  the  setting  up  of  a  borough, 
namely,  the  right  to  hold  houses  and  lands  at  a  money  rent 
instead  of  by  service,  the  right  to  sell  or  otherwise  dispose  of 
property  and  to  devise  property  by  will  without  obligation  to 
the  lord  of  the  manor,  the  right  to  hold  a  market,  and  other 
'  free  customs ' — in  this  case  the  free  customs  of  the  men  of 
Oxford. 

The  community  to  which  this  grant  was  made  was  small  and 
purely  agricultural.  In  the  Domesday  Survey,  which  is  so 
near  in  date  to  FitzHamon's  charter  that  its  evidence  on  this 
point  may  be  taken  without  modification,  the  entry  relating  to 
Burford  is  as  follows  : 

Albericus  Comes  tenuit  de  terra  episcopi  Bureford  Ibi  sunt 
viii  hide  Terra  xx  carucarum  Nunc  in  dominico  iiii  carucae 
et  iii  servi  et  xxii  villani  et  xviii  bordarii  habent  xii  carucas 
Ibi  ii  molini  de  xxv  solidis  et  xxv  acrae  prati  Pastura  i  leu 
in  longitudine  et  in  latitudine  Valuit  xvi  libras  modo  xiii 
libras. 

Nothing  is  indicated  here  beyond  a  village  community  of  a 
usual  Domesday  type,  and  of  a  size  that  could  give  it  no  special 
place  among  the  villages  of  the  hundred  or  the  shire.    Of  other 

'  Chancery  Misc.  (P.  R.  O.).  Certificates  of  Gilds,  bundle  45,  no.  388. 
The  Certificate  will  be  found  transcribed  in  full  infra.  Part  III,  p.  301. 


6    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

villages  in  the  same  hundred,  Stanton  Harcourt,  for  instance, 
was  larger,  and  Bampton,  with  its  four  mills,  fisheries,  salt- 
ings, and  market,  was  more  than  six  times  as  valuable. 

The  bestowal  of  liberties  upon  a  community  so  small  and 
devoid  of  any  special  resources  demands  some  explanation. 
What  motive  and  what  intention  directed  the  alteration  of  its 
status  ?  An  answer  to  this  question  is  perhaps  to  be  found  in 
the  history  of  the  lordship  of  the  manor  at  this  period. 

In  1088  Robert  FitzHamon,^  in  reward  for  his  support  of 
William  Rufus  against  the  rebellion  of  Bishop  Odo,  received 
a  large  gift  of  lands  formerly  held  by  the  Bishop,  and  among 
them  the  manor  of  Burford.  He  incorporated  it  into  the  Honour 
of  Gloucester — the  most  valuable  part  of  his  new  possessions — 
and  it  remained  for  some  centuries  a  manor  of  that  Honour, 

In  this  way  Burford,  from  having  been  in  all  probability  the 
principal  seat  of  a  manorial  lord,^  became  an  outlying  depen- 
dency of  a  lord  with  far  more  important  places  in  which  to 
reside.*  As  a  source  of  supplies  in  kind  it  was  insignificant.* 
There  might  easily  therefore  be  every  inclination  on  the  part 
of  a  lord  reviewing  his  nejv  territories  to  make  the  place  a 
source  of  monetary  revenue  by  erecting  in  it  a  market  which 
would  pay  him  tolls  and  a  court  which  would  collect  fees.  He 
would  be  the  more  likely  to  do  this,  since  otherwise  the  inhabi- 
tants of  this  portion  of  his  territories,  remote  from  markets 
subject  to  him,  would  frequent  the  markets  of  other  manors 
and  be  adding  to  the  revenue  of  other  lords. 

'  Hamon  was  lord  of  Corbeille  in  Normandy.  Atkins's  Gloucestershire 
(2nd  ed.),  p.  45- 

•  The  mansion  here  was,  at  any  rate,  more  than  twice  as  large  as  Earl 
Aubrey's  two  other  mansions.    See  Part  II,  p.  158. 

•  He  certainly  had,  besides  Gloucester  Castle,  a  residence  at  Tewkes- 
bury ;  a  charter  of  the  Abbey  there  mentions  '  curiam  cum  domibus 
que  fuerunt  proprie  Roberti  filii  Hamonis  '  :  Charter  Rolls,  28  Edward  I, 
ni.  I. 

•  No  manorial  accounts  of  the  place  are  available  for  so  early  a  date  ; 
but  in  129s  accounts  of  the  Honour  of  Gloucester  show  that  whereas 
the  produce  of  the  manor  of  Tewkesbury,  for  instance,  amounted  to 
115  qrs.  5  bushels  of  wheat  and  202  qrs.  3  bushels  of  oats,  the  produce  of 
the  manor  of  Burford  amounted  to  2^  qrs.  and  65  qrs.  3  bushels  respectively. 
P.  R.  O.,  Min.  Accts.,  1109,  7. 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN  7 

It  is  difficult  to  find  any  other  explanation  than  this  of  the 
grant  of  the  first  charter.  The  motive  cann'ot  have  been  given 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  place.  It  is,  no  doubt,  possible  that 
in  the  years  following  the  Norman  settlement  the  situation  of 
Burford  upon  what  was  to  be  for  centuries  the  main  route  from 
South  Wales  and  Gloucester  to  Oxford,  and  by  Oxford  to 
London,  had  brought  into  the  place  new  inhabitants.  The 
number  of  Welsh  names  found  among  the  population  at  a  later 
date  is  evidence  of  the  passage  of  merchants  and  tradesmen 
along  this  route  from  the  west,  and  traffic  of  that  kind  may 
have  begun  to  affect  Burford  before  the  end  of  the  eleventh 
century.  It  is  also  possible  that  these  travellers,  coming  from 
places  already  large  and  flourishing,  such  as  Gloucester  and 
Tewkesbury,  may  have  discerned  in  this  situation  an  oppor- 
tunity for  trading-profits.  But  it  is  not  possible  to  suppose 
that  in  the  twenty  years  between  the  date  of  Domesday  and 
the  year  1107,  during  which  the  first  charter  must  have  been 
granted,  the  village  had  become  so  profoundly  modified  in 
character  as  to  make  a  movement  towards  market  privileges 
and  liberties.  It  is  more  reasonable  to  regard  the  grant  of 
liberties  as  an  act  by  the  lord  of  the  manor  in  development  of 
his  estate  ;  and  that  explanation  will  be  found  to  accord  with 
such  knowledge  as  we  have  of  the  effects  of  the  charters  upon 
the  life  of  the  place  during  the  earliest  period  of  their  operation. 

§  3 

This  period  is  conveniently  set  for  us  by  the  fact  that  in  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  we  come  to  the  beginning  of 
the  records  preserved  in  the  town,  so  that  it  is  natural  to  make 
the  first  stage  in  the  town's  history  run  from  its  enfranchise- 
ment to  that  date.  Moreover,  this  division  coincides  so  clearly 
with  a  distinct  grouping  into  which  the  town  charters  fall  that 
it  becomes  a  real,  and  not  merely  a  convenient  division. 

The  first  six  of  the  documents  coming  under  this  head  m^iy 

properly  be  called  charters,  four  of  them  emanating  from  lords 

of  the  manor  and  two  from  the  Crown.*    The  remainder  are 

Letters  Patent  of  Confirmation,  obtained  by  the  town  from 

•  See  Part  III,  p.  298. 


8    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

the  Chancery  at  the  beginning  of  every  new  reign,  with  the 
exception  of  two,  from  the  accession  of  Edward  III  to  that  of 
James  I.* 

One  effect  of  this  grouping  of  the  charters  is  to  show 
markedly  that  the  town  had  in  its  earHest  period  no  con- 
ception of  burghal  liberties  or  of  the  tenure  of  a  borough  in 
independence  of  a  manorial  lord.  The  two  royal  charters  do 
not  tell  against  this  view.  For  it  is  clear  from  their  phrasing 
that  neither  was  really  granted  to  the  town.  They  were 
obtained  from  Henry  II  by  William,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  and 
are  confirmations  of  his  rights  and  privileges  with  special 
clauses  relating  to  Burford.  They  are  not,  therefore,  royal 
charters  to  Burford  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  but  are 
royal  confirmations  of  manorial  grants,  belonging  to  a  period 
before  the  Chancery  had  developed  the  system  of  Letters 
Patent  of  Inspeximus. 

The  significance  of  this  fact  becomes  more  striking  when  we 
observe  that  these  are  the  only  royal  documents  of  our  first 
period.  In  other  words,  the  reigns  of  Richard  I  and  John — 
a  singularly  active  time  in  the  securing  of  privileges  and 
liberties  by  English  towns — are  wholly  unrepresented  in  our 
series.  The  manorial  history  of  Burford  makes  this  blank 
particularly  noticeable.  For  John's  marriage  with  Isabella, 
daughter  of  Earl  William  of  Gloucester,  brought  him,  among 
the  territories  assigned  to  him  by  Richard  in  1189,  the  Honour 
of  Gloucester.  He  was  thus  lord  of  the  manor  of  Burford,  and 
he  retained  the  manor  for  seven  years  after  his  accession.  It 
might  have  been  expected  that  this  special  association  with 
the  Crown,  at  the  very  time  when  the  granting  of  borough 
charters  had  been  discovered  to  be  a  source  of  revenue,  and 
was  therefore  being  expanded  and  elaborated  beyond  any 
point  hitherto  reached,  would  have  offered  an  opportunity 
which  the  men  of  Burford  could  hardly  miss.  Yet  they  made 
no  attempt  to  take  advantage  of  it,  either  for  clearer  definition 
of  their  liberties,  or  for  effecting  the  passage — easy  to  them 

*  The  two  exceptions  are  the  reigns  of  Edward  V  and  Richard  III. 
Not  all  the  Letters  Patent  are  now  extant,  but  there  is  evidence  that  those 
now  missing  from  the  series  were  duly  obtained  at  the  time. 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN  9 

when  their  manorial  lord  was  also  the  king — from  subjection 
to  a  mesne  lord  to  direct  responsibility  under  the  Crown. 

It  is,  no  doubt,  necessary  to  remember  that,  as  the  Chancery 
developed  the  contents  and  phraseology  of  borough  charters, 
the  fees  due  to  the  Exchequer  would  also  be  developed,  and 
Burford  must  have  been  far  from  wealthy.  Yet  a  place  like 
Godmanchester,  no  less  immature  than  Burford  as  a  commer- 
cial centre,  rose  to  the  obtaining  of  quite  an  important  charter 
from  King  John.^  The  idea  of  such  a  degree  of  independence, 
rather  than  the  means  of  obtaining  it,  must  have  been  lacking. 

This  conclusion  is  emphasized  by  the  character  of  the  last 
charter  of  our  first  group.  It  is  in  the  name  of  Richard 
de  Clare,  and  is  therefore  to  be  dated  between  1230  and  1262.2 
He  grants  to  the  burgesses  of  Burford  '  eas  libertates  et  liberas 
consuetudines  quas  habent  a  predecessoribus  nostris  comitibus 
Gloucestriae  '.  There  is  no  suggestion  here  of  the  town's  privi- 
leges having  passed  in  any  sense  beyond  what  previous  Earls  of 
Gloucester  had  granted,  or  beyond  what  Richard  de  Clare  could 
grant  in  the  exercise  of  a  mesne  lord's  powers.  It  is  clear  that 
the  charters  of  Henry  II  had  not  been  intended  as  an  enhance- 
ment of  the  previous  charters  by  privileges  which  the  Crown 
alone  could  bestow  upon  a  town,  and  equally  clear  that  they 
had  not  been  interpreted  by  the  burgesses  in  any  such  way. 

This  persistence  in  their  original  status  may  be  held  to 
support  strongly  the  view  that  the  motive  for  the  town's  en- 
franchisement resided  wholly  on  the  side  of  the  lord,  and  not 
at  all  on  that  of  the  inhabitants.  So  complete  a  detachment 
from  the  general  movement  of  English  boroughs  during  the 
late  twelfth  and  early  thirteenth  centuries  towards  more 
precise  definition  of  liberties  and  more  detailed  and  authorita- 
tive charters  could  hardly  have  been  shown  by  a  community 
>t'ith  any  conception  of  burghal  independence.  It  is,  however, 
quite  comprehensible  on  the  theory  that  the  grants  of  privi- 
leges were,  so  to  speak,  imposed  on  the  town  from  without, 
by  the  lord  of  the  manor  for  his  own  purposes,  and  were  in 
origin  unrelated  to  aspirations  of  the  inhabitants. 

•  Webb,  English  Local  Government,  Manor  and  Borough,  i,  i8i. 
•      »  P.  R.  O..  Inq.  P.  M.,  Hen.  III.  file  27.  no.  5,  m.  41. 


10    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

§4 

An  examination  of  the  terms  of  the  charters  will  be  found 
to  lead  to  the  same  conclusion.  They  are  throughout  vague 
and  rudimentary  ;  and  they  contain,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  establishment  of  a  Gild  Merchant,  no  organizing  or 
structural  clauses  at  all. 

Three  of  the  six  are  but  confirmations  in  general  terms  of 
existing  liberties,  and  refer  to  '  liberties  and  free  customs  ' 
without  specifying  them.  Another,  the  charter  of  Earl  William 
of  Gloucester,  is  an  express  repetition  of  the  original  charter 
of  Robert  FitzHamon.  Thus,  of  effective  charters,  there  only 
remain  two — that  of  FitzHamon  and  one  of  the  charters  of 
Henfy  II. 

The  franchises  conveyed  in  the  former  are  as  follows  : 

Ut  unusquisque  domum  et  terram  et  omnem  pecuniam 
suam  possit  vendere  et  in  vadimonio  ponere  et  de  filio  et 
filia  vel  uxore  et  de  quolibet  alio  absque  ipsius  domini  requi- 
sicione  heredem  faciat  et  gildam  et  consuetudines  quas 
habent  Burgenses  de  Oxenford  in  Gildam  mercatorum  et 
quicunque  ad  mercatum  venire  volunt  veniant  et  in  ipso 
mercato  habeant  licenciam  emendi  quecunque  volunt  preter 
lanam  et  corea  nisi  homines  ipsius  ville.^ 

The  charter  of  Henry  II  is  as  follows  : 

H  Rex  Angliae  et  Dux  Normjanniae  et  Aquitaniae  et  Comes 
Andegaviae  Episcopo  Lincolnensi  et  lusticiariis  et  vice- 
comitibus  et  omnibus  ballivis  suis  de  Oxenfordscira  salutem 
Mando  vobis  et  firmiter  precipio  quod  homines  Willelmi 
^comitis  Gloecestriae  de  Boreford  et  de  Mora  sint  ita  bene  et 
in  pace  et  quieti  de  omnibus  querelis  et  ita  teneant  omnes 
terras  suas  et  omnia  tenementa  sua  cum  sak  et  soc  et  tol 
et  theam  et  infanghenethef  et  cum  omnibus  aliis  libertatibus 
et  liberis  consuetudinibus  suis  sicut  melius  et  liberius  tenue- 
runt  tempore  Regis  H  avi  mei  Testibus  Reginaldo  comite 
Cornubiae  et  Umfredo  de  Bohun  dapifero  et  Warenno  filio 
Geroldi  comite  apud  Norhampton. 

These  documents  give  us  the  setting  up  first  of  burgage 
tenure  with  the  right  of  testamentary  disposition,   a  Gild 

•  The  charter  is  imperfect  on  the  Gild  Certificates,  but  enough  remains 
to  show  that  the  charter  of  Earl  Willijim  which  follows  it  was  a  verbal 
repetition. 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN  ii 

Merchant,  and  a  market  with  a  ban  of  wool  and  hides  to  the 
inhabitants  ;  to  which  were  added  by  the  later  document 
two  jurisdictional  privileges — freedom  from  external  pleas/ 
and  cognizance  of  minor  offences  under  the  phrase  '  sak  et  soc 
et  tol  et  theam  et  infanghenethef  '.* 

Now  these  franchises  would  not  strike  us,  in  relation  to  any 
period  up  to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II,  as  inadequate 
for  an  enfranchised  community,  nor  the  phrases  conveying 
them  as  unusually  vague.  When,  however,  we  find  them 
existing  unmodified  in  the  fourteenth  century,  at  which  time 
they  have  to  stand,  as  vehicles  of  burghal  liberties,  beside  the 
charters  wherein  other  boroughs  had  laid  their  foundations 
firmly  during  the  reigns  of  Richard  and  John  and  then  built 
up  systematic  constitutions  under  succeeding  sovereigns,  their 
limited  nature  becomes  very  apparent.  The  privileges  obtained 
are  seen  to  be  insignificant  beside  those  that  might  have  been 
obtained.  The  holding  of  the  borough  at  farm,  the  return  of 
writs,  the  right  to  appoint  a  reeve  or  other  chief  officer,  the 
right  to  appoint  coroners,  freedom  from  the  Hundred  and 
Shire  Courts  with  the  right  to  appear  before  the  Justices  in 
Eyre  by  twelve  representatives  of  the  town — none  of  these 
privileges,  so  generally  sought  by  the  boroughs  of  the  time, 
find  place  in  the  Burford  charters. 

Thus  from  another  direction  we  come  to  the  same  view  of 
the  motive  for  the  charters.     If  it  had  resided  in  the  inhabi- 

*  This  must.  I  think,  be  the  purport  of  the  phrase  sint  ita  bene  et  in 
pace  et  quieti  de  omnibus  querelis.  Liberty  from  external  pleas  was  usually 
granted  in  more  exact  terms  (Ballard,  Borough  Charters,  pp.  1 15-21)  ; 
but  if  the  phrase  does  not  bear  this  meaning  it  is  difficult  to  give  it  any 
interpretation.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Ballard's  instances  are 
mostly  of  a  period  when  the  phraseology  of  charters  had  been  rather 
more  highly  developed. 

*  I  do  not  agree  with  Mr.  Ballard  in  reading  this  phrase  as  a  grant  to 
the  inhabitants  as  individuals,  for  the  following  reasons  :  (i)  There  is 
nothing  in  the  form  of  the  phrase  to  differentiate  it  from  that  used  in 
many  other  charters  in  which  it  is  found  in  exactly  the  same  conjunction 
with  house  and  land  tenure,  (ii)  The  parallel  Mr.  Ballard  draws  with 
a  grant  to  '  the  19  burgesses  of  Warwick  with  their  19  masures '  is  not 
to  the  point,  since  there  is  no  question  here  of  a  grant  to  a  limited  number 
of  burgesses ;  the  charter  is  addressed  to  the  men  of  Burford.  (iii)  The 
evidence  for  the  early  existence  here  of  a  Borough  Court  makes  it  quite 
unnecessary  to  give  any  unusual  interpretation  to  the  phrase,  since  its 
customary  application  is  not  out  of  accord  with  facts. 


12    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

tants  there  must  have  been  some  modification  of  the  contents 
and  phraseology  of  the  grants,  since  that  motive,  during  a 
period  of  active  burghal  development,  could  hardly  have 
remained  stationary.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  motive 
resided  in  the  lord  of  the  manor,  there  would  be  less  need  for 
modification.  His  object  being  to  convert  a  place  compara- 
tively useless  to  him  in  its  agricultural  activities  into  a  source 
of  monetary  revenue,  he  would  be  under  no  necessity  to 
provide  more  than  the  minimum  of  executive  machinery  for 
that  purpose.  The  singular  absence  of  detail  in  the  charter 
of  Richard  de  Clare,  and  the  apparent  sufficiency  of  its  general 
reference  to  the  grants  of  previous  Earls,  may  be  taken  as  the 
final  proof  that  this  is  the  true  interpretation  of  the  whole 
group  of  charters. 

§5 

Of  the  nature  of  the  executive  which  in  fact  came  into  being 
under  the  charters  we  are  but  scantily  informed  during  this 
first  period.  I  have  been  able  to  find  only  five  references  which 
distinctly  indicate  the  beginnings  of  incorporation.  Two  are 
in  a  grant  and  quit-claim  of  circa  1250  ;  the  execution  of  the 
deed  is  ratified  by  the  use  of  *  commune  sigillum  de  Bureford  '  ; 
and  the  list  of  witnesses  closes  with  the  words  *  et  curia  burgen- 
cium  de  bureford  '.^  The  third  is  in  an  indenture  of  lease  dated 
1264  between  the  Abbey  of  Cold  Norton  and  Walter  Adgar 
of  Burford,  in  which  the  tenant  binds  himself  to  certain  cove- 
nants concerning  repairs,  &c., 

et  ad  ista  predicta  fideliter  observanda  supponit  se  et  omnia 
catalla  sua  mobilia  et  immobilia  sub  pena  dimidie  marce 
solvende  dictis  priori  et  canonicis  et  ballivis  de  bureford.^ 

The  fourth  occurs  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  in  an  entry  concerning 
lands  at  Nether  Worton  held  by  John  Giffard  of  Brimpsfield  : 

Idem  lohannes  tenet  de  Comite  Glov'nie  de  feodo  de  Bureford 
redditu  xs.  et  secta  curiae  de  iii  septimanis  in  iii  septimanas 
de  Bereford  pro  omni  servicio.' 

•  Muniments  of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford  :   Burford  Leases,  i. 

*  B.  N.  C.  Mun.  :   Burford  Leases,  3. 
»  Hundred  Rolls  (ed.  1818),  ii.  842. 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN  13 

The  fifth  is  in  an  Inquisition  Post  Mortem  concerning  the  lands 
of  Gilbert  de  Clare  in  1314,  in  which  the  following  entry  occurs 
among  his  possessions  at  Burford  : 

Et  sunt  ibi  xiii  burgenses  qui  reddunt  per  annum  xiiis.  vid. 
ad  iiii  terminos  videlicet  ad  festum  nativitatis  beati  lohannis 
Baptiste  Beati  Michaelis  Beati  Thome  Apostoli  et  festum 
palmarum  equis  porcionibus.* 

This  evidence,  though  not  great  in  quantity,  is  at  any  rate 
fairly  precise.  It  establishes  the  existence,  first,  of  a  Common 
Seal  at  an  early  date ;  secondly,  of  a  Borough  Court  of  the 
regular  three-weekly  type ;  thirdly,  of  Bailiffs  of  the  town  ; 
and  fourthly,  of  a  limited  body  of  inhabitants  discharging 
some  kind  of  fixed  rental. 

The  reference  to  the  common  seal  is  especially  interesting.^ 
For  it  speaks,  not  of  the  common  seal  of  the  Burgesses,  but 
of  the  common  seal  of  Burford.  We  can  already  discern  the 
presence  of  that  idea  of  the  town's  personality — of  the  town 
as  something  other  than  the  mere  sum  of  its  inhabitants — 
which  Maitland  finds  so  elusive  in  the  early  history  of 
boroughs. 

In  the  Court  of  the  Burgesses  and  the  thirteen  Burgesses 
mentioned  as  a  body,  we  can  equally  discern  a  repository  for 
this  idea — a  group  of  men  in  which  the  town's  personality 
was  beginning  to  be  seen  as  residing.  In  other  words,  there 
was  already  a  kind  of  Corporation  formed  inside  the  general 
body  of  enfranchised  inhabitants.  This  is  not  a  direct 
corollary  of  the  charters.  So  far  as  they  go,  they  only  incor- 
porate the  town  in  the  very  rudimentary  sense  of  combining 
into  a  privileged  community  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants 
without  exception.  The  charter  of  FitzHamon  conveys 
'  omnibus  meis  hominibus  de  Burford  '  the  right  to  have 
a  Gild  Merchant.  Even  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century  a  literal  application  of  the  words  would  not  have 
been  impossible.     There  were  hardly  more  than  a  hundred 

'  Inq.  p.  M.  (P.  R.  O.),  Edw.  II,  file  42. 

•  The  ancient  Common  Seal  still  extant,  and  now  in  the  possession  of 
Mrs.  Cheatle,  is  quite  possibly  the  very  one  here  referred  to.  The  late 
Sir  William  Hope  dated  it  at  circa  1250  (LI.  Jewitt  and  St.  John  Hope, 
Corporation  Plate,  ii.  258). 


14    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

free  inhabitants  to  share  in  the  privileges  of  the  Giid.^  But 
as  those  privileges — the  right  to  pre-emption  in  the  market, 
the  exclusive  right  to  sell  by  retail  in  the  town,  and  so  on — 
were  very  real  advantages,  there  would  be  a  tendency  quite 
early  to  limit  the  membership,  whether  by  imposing  an 
entrance  fee  or  by  demanding  some  qualification  for  entrance. 
Whether  the  Curia  Burgensium  was  at  this  date  (as  we 
know  it  was  later)  co-extensive  with  the  limited  Gild  we  have 
no  evidence  to  show.  But  since  this  was  a  body  acting 
officially  and  using  a  common  seal,  and  since  the  only  body 
that  had  been  called  into  existence  by  the  charters  was  the 
Gild,  the  two  may  be,  provisionally  at  least,  identified.^ 
It  is  at  any  rate  clear  that  a  concentration  of  the  town's 
personality,  capable  of  becoming  later  an  incorporation  of 
that  personality,  had  taken  placq.  For  the  description 
'  burgensis  '  is  beginning  to  have  a  limited  application.  It 
was  ultimately  to  be  the  official  title  of  a  member  of  the 
Corporation ;  and  even  in  the  thirteenth  century  it  was 
ceasing  to  be  used  at  Burford  in  the  general  sense  for  any 
holder  of  a  burgage  tenement.  The  description  for  these 
tenants  in  documents  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  is  '  liberi  tenentes '  ;  they  appear  so  in  all  the 
Inquisitions  Post  Mortem  of  that  period.  Hence  a  reference 
to  thirteen  people  as  '  burgenses  ',  occurring  as  it  does  in 
a  document  of  that  very  class,  must  be  a  deliberate  designa- 
tion by  a  formal  title.  The  particular  number  of  men  thus 
designated  is  not  without  significance.  The  Burford  Corpora- 
tion, when  it  emerges  fully  constituted,  was  composed  with 
more  or  less  regularity  of  two  Bailififs,  an  Alderman,  and  teh 
Burgesses.  The  number  was  not  very  strictly  held,  and  in 
the  sixteenth  century  was  slightly  exceeded.  But  the  varia- 
tion was  never  very  great.  It  can  hardly  be  a  mere  coincidence 
that  the  mention  of  certain  men  in  1314  under  a  description 
not  applied  generally  to  the  townsmen  should  give  us  a 
number  closely  corresponding  with  the  number  of  the 
Corporation  at  later  periods, 

»  See,  e.g..  Inq.  P.  M.  (P.  R.  O,),  Edw.  I.  file  91.  no.  2. 
*  This  point  is  discussed  at  greater  length  infra,  pp.  24-6. 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN  15 

There  is  thus  enough  evidence  to  establish  the  important 
fact  that  the  Curia  Burgensium,  whether  co-extensive  with 
the  Gild  or  not,  was  certainly  not  co-extensive  with  the 
population  of  the  enfranchised  area.  This  constitutes  the 
vital  step  in  the  history  of  a  borough  at  which  a  limited 
number  of  the  inhabitants  begin,  by  the  use  of  a  common 
seal  which  can  be  described  as  the  seal  of  the  town,  to  act 
as  the  town. 

We  may  have  a  glimpse  of  a  chief  officer  of  this  body  in 
an  Inquisition  of  1294,  when  one  of  the  jurors  was  Robertus 
le  Maior.*  The  head  of  the  established  Corporation  of  a  later 
date  was  always  called  the  Alderman.  But  titles  of  borough 
officials  during  the  thirteenth  century  were  not  very  rigidly 
employed  ;  and  the  chief  officer  of  Burford  may  occasionally 
have  been  called  the  Mayor. 

We  may  have  also  a  glimpse  of  a  minor  official  called  the 
Marshal.  One  William  le  Maryschal  or  le  Mareschal  de 
Bureford  appears  in  various  documents. ^  He  was  constantly 
present  on  the  juries  of  Inquisitions  ;  yet  his  assessment  in 
the  Lay  Subsidies  is  a  small  one.  He  may,  therefore,  have 
served  on  the  juries  by  reason  of  an  official  position  ;  and 
he  may  have  been  the  officer  whose  title  later  on  was  that 
of  Seneschal  or  Steward. 

The  reference  to  the  BaiHffs  shows  that  they  were  commonly 
regarded  as  officers  of  the  town.  But  there  is  another  reference 
to  them  within  the  first  period  which  provides  a  warning  of 
the  limits  within  which  even  so  distinctly  formed  a  Corpora- 
tion has  to  be  considered.  In  the  Close  Roll  for  1301  there 
is  a  case  of  replevin  of  land  forfeited  by  default  '  before  the 
bailiffs  of  Ralph  de  Monte  Hermeri  and  Joan  his  wife,  in 
their  Court  of  Burford  \^  The  position  of  the  Bailiffs  was 
equivocal  throughout  the  history  of  the  town,  owing  to  the 
manner  of  their  appointment.  The  custom  was  for  the 
Burgesses  to  nominate  four  men  annually  to  the  steward 

»  Inq.  P.  M.  (P.  R.  O.).  Edw.  I,  file  77,  no.  3. 

•  Inq.  P.M.,  Edw.  I,  file  91,  no.  2;  Edw.  II,  file  42;  Inq.  A.  Q.  D., 
file  14s  ;  Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordsh.  161,  8  and  9. 

»  Cal.  Close  Rolls,  Edw.  I  (i 296-1 302),  p.  491.  Ralph  de  Monthermer 
held  the  manor  at  this  time  as  guardian  of  the  young  Gilbert  de  Clare. 


i6    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  who  thereupon  selected  two  of  them 
to  be  Bailiffs.^  Naturally,  as  the  corporate  life  of  the  town 
strengthened,  the  Bailiffs  became  more  and  more  identified 
with  the  Corporation.  But  at  this  early  date  it  is  clear  that 
they  could  still  be  regarded  as  manorial  officers. 

The  same  warning  applies  also  to  our  estimate  of  the 
Borough  Court.  Not  only  does  the  reference  just  quoted 
speak  of  it  as  the  Court  of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  but  the 
reference  from  the  Hundred  Rolls  quoted  earlier  shows  that 
in  practice  it  was  used  for  manorial  purposes,  since  it  was  in 
this  Court  that  John  Giffard  owed  suit  for  his  holding.  Quite 
evidently  the  charters,  in  the  view  of  the  lord  of  the  manor, 
had  been  designed  to  alter  merely  the  function,  and  not  the 
status  of  Burford.  Just  as  the  Court  Leet  and  the  Homage 
of  a  village  were  his,  and  yet  acted  as  a  kind  of  self-govern- 
ment for  the  village,  so  the  Borough  Court  and  the  Burgesses, 
however  much  they  were  beginning  to  incorporate  the  town, 
were  his.  They  were  different  in  kind,  because  the  function 
of  a  town  in  producing  a  monetary  revenue  required  different 
machinery — a  more  frequently  sitting  and  more  authoritative 
Court  and  a  more  concentrated  executive — from  that  of 
a  place  producing  only  agricultural  supplies.  But  in  theory 
(if  one  may  for  the  moment  speak  as  if  theory  on  such  a  point 
could  have  existed)  they  were  the  same. 

§6 

This  accounts  for  the  state  of  things  we  find  when  we  turn 
from  the  embryo  Corporation  itself  to  the  question  of  what 
it  administered — the  scope  and  nature  of  its  functions.  For 
of  town  affairs,  as  such,  there  is  no  trace  at  all ;  everything 
seems  to  be  the  affair  of  the  lord  of  the  manor  . 

There  were  three  heads  under  which  the  place  would 
produce  revenue :  (i)  The  burgage  rents  ;  (ii)  The  market, 
mills,  &c. ;  (iii)  The  Court.  Of  course,  in  every  borough 
these  sources  of  revenue  were  in  some  sense  the  affair  of  the 

•  There  is  no  record  of  the  appointment  of  bailiffs  at  this  period  ;  but 
as  the  later  form  bears  such  signs  of  the  manorial  system  it  may  safely 
be  read  back  to  early  times. 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN  17 

overlord,  whether  the  charter  proceeded  from  a  private 
individual  or  from  the  Crown.  For  the  fee-farm  was  a  pay- 
ment in  consideration  of  the  loss  of  these  profits  by  the  lord 
as  a  result  of  handing  over  to  the  borough  the  whole  of  its 
internal  affairs.  But  in  Burford  they  were  directly,  and  not 
indirectly,  the  affair  of  the  lord  ;  the  evidence  of  Inquisitions 
during  this  first  period  goes  to  show  that  under  all  three 
heads  the  revenue  was  paid  in  detail  to  the  lord  of  the  manor. 
The  town  was  never  held  at  farm. 

There  is,  indeed,  one  instance  of  the  use  of  the  phrase 
'  firma  burgi '.  An  Account  of  Escheats  of  1231  includes  the 
following : 

Oxonia.  Et  de  vii/z.  viis.  xd.  et  obolo  de  firma  forinseca  de 
Bureford  de  hoc  anno  et  termino  S  Michaelis  anni  precedentis 
Et  de  liiii^.  iiii^.  de  firma  burgi  molendini  et  fori  Et  de  c  & 
•vs.  de  operationibus  parvis  ad  firmam.^ 

The  '  firma  burgi '  here  may  possibly  be  the  same  item  as  the 
135.  6d.  paid  by  the  thirteen  Burgesses  in  1314 ;  it  must  at 
any  rate  have  been  a  small  sum,  since  the  total  of  this  rent  and 
the  rents  of  the  mill  and  market  only  amounted  to  54s.  4^. 
Possibly  also  the  same  item  may  be  traced  in  an  Inquisition 
of  1337,  iJ^  which  Eleanor,  wife  of  Hugh  le  Despenser,  who 
was  then  in  possession  of  the  manor,  appears  seised 

de  octodecim  solidis  uno  denario  uno  obolo  et  uno  quadrante 
Redditus  assisi  per  annum  de  quibusdam  liberis  tenentibus 
in  Bureford.^ 

This  small  sum  can  hardly  be  a  true  '  firma  burgi '.  More- 
over, the  details  given  in  other  Inquisitions  make  it  perfectly 
clear  that  the  town  was  not  held  at  farm.  In  1297  there  is 
an  entry  of 

cv  liberi  tenentes  qui  reddunt  per  annum  xxli.  xiiis.  vd.  ad 
quatuor  anni  terminos  ...  est  ibi  quoddam  mercatum  quod 
valet  per  annum  simul  cum  feria  stallagio  et  tolneto  cervisie 
ibidem  xii/z.  .  .  .  est  apud  Upton  quoddam  molendinum 
aquaticum  quod  valet  per  annum  \xs.  .  .  .  placita  et  perquisita 
curiae  et  visus  ibidem  valent  per  annum  xx5.^ 

•  Min.  Accts.  (P.  R.  O.),  bundle  1117,  no.  13. 
»  Inq.  P.  M.  (P.  R.  O.).  Edw.  III.  file  51. 
»  Inq.  P.  M.  (P.  R.  O.),  Edw.  I.  file  91. 

2304  C 


i8    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

In  1304  the  entries  are  as  follows  : 

Sunt  in  eadem  villa  cum  hameletto  predicto  xxxlibr.  vid.  de 
quodam  redditu  per  annum,  .  .  .  tolloneum  dicte  ville  valet 
per  annum  xilibr.  xviii^.  Et  est  ibi  unum  molendinum  ad 
predictam  villam  pertinens  quod  valet  per  annum  1x5.  .  .  . 
placita  et  perquisita  curie  valent  per  annum  xxvs.  \id} 

In  1314  the  entry  relating  to  the  thirteen  Burgesses  is  the 
only  mention  of  town  rents  ;   other  profits  appear  thus  : 

Et  quoddam  mercatum  per  annum  per  diem  Sabbatis  cuius 
proficuum  valet  una  cum  Nundinis  ibidem  die  Nativitatis 
beati  lohannis  Baptiste  existentibus  valent  {sic)  per  annum 
xli.  Et  placita  et  perquisita  curie  eiusdem  ville  valent  per 
annum  \xs. 

In  the  Inquisition  of  1337  which  gives  the  rental  already 
mentioned  to  Eleanor  le  Despenser,  the  market  toll  is  put 
at  505.,  the  fair  on  St.  John's  Day  at  26s.  8d.,  the  view  of 
frank-pledge  at  35.  ^d.,  and  the  Court  pleas  at  135,  4^. 

From  these  documents  it  is  evident  that  no  branch  of  the 
town's  activities  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Corporation  except 
as  agent  for  the  lord  of  the  manor.  There  is,  however,  one 
document  coming  within  this  period  which  did  raise  for 
a  short  time  a  revenue  to  be  paid  to,  and  administered  by, 
men  of  the  town  without  responsibility  to  the  lord  of  the 
manor.  In  1322,  the  bridge  over  the  river  having  fallen 
into  disrepair,  Edward  II  issued  at  the  instance  of  Hugh  le 
Despenser  Letters  Patent  addressed  '  probis  hominibus  de 
Bureford  ',  granting  them  the  right  to  levy  tolls  for  a  period 
of  three  years  upon  all  merchandise  passing  over  the  bridge 
for  sale.2 

After  the  warnings  which  other  references  have  given 
against  assuming  at  this  stage  too  much  '  personality  '  or 
corporate  entity  in  the  character  of  the  town,  this  grant  may 
be  used  as  a  corrective  on  the  other  side.  The  Letters  Patent 
are  addressed  to  '  the  men  of  Burford  ',  in  the  general  formula 
employed  in  the  charters.  But  it  is  obvious  that  the  business 
arising  under  the  grant  must  have  been  transacted  by  some 
smaller  body  than  the  inhabitants  at  large.     It  must  have 

>  Inq.  P.  M.  (P.  R.  O.),  Edw.  I,  file  128. 
»  Pat.  Rolls,  16  Edw.  II,  ps.  2,  m.  i. 


THE  ORIGINS  OF  THE  TOWN  19 

devolved  upon  the  limited  group  of  Burgesses.  Moreover, 
the  grant  may,  without  undue  conjecture,  be  regarded  as 
rendered  possible  only  by  a  generally  accepted  recognition 
of  this  group  as  embodying,  in  however  rudimentary  a 
degree,  the  town.  Otherwise  it  would  almost  certainly  have 
been  made  to  the  lord  of  the  manor.  It  is  important  to  note, 
too,  that  the  grant  must  have  accelerated  the  tendencies 
towards  incorporation  of  the  town  in  this  body.  The  col- 
lection and  expenditure  of  a  revenue  not  derived  from  the 
townsfolk,  and  not  payable  to  the  lord,  would  make  the 
position  of  the  group  of  Burgesses  less  purely  domestic,  so 
to  speak,  than  it  had  hitherto  been  ;  and,  since  their  responsi- 
bility under  the  Letters  Patent,  for  the  proper  disposal  of 
the  money  accruing  and  for  the  observance  of  the  time  limit 
of  the  grant,  was  to  the  Crown  direct,  they  would  be  by  so 
much  removed  from  the  manorial  supremacy. 

Another  corrective  of  our  estimate  of  the  Burgesses' 
position  is  to  be  found  in  the  Hundred  Rolls.  The  town  there 
appears  as  claiming  the  important  liberty  of  the  return  of 
writs  :  '  Qui  eciam  alii  a  Rege  clamant  habere  returnum 
brevium  et  alias  libertates,  etc'  ^  In  one  way  the  claim 
need  not  be  taken  very  seriously.  It  was  put  forward  after 
the  close  of  the  long  reign  of  Henry  III,  when  the  country 
was  full  of  encroachments  upon  the  rights  of  the  Crown  ;  it 
appears  in  the  Rolls  only  in  the  course  of  the  Extractum 
Inquisicionum  specially  made  for  the  use  of  the  Justices, 
concerning  liberties  unwarrantably  assumed  ;  ^  there  is  no 
record  of  any  attempt  to  uphold  it  in  the  Quo  Warranto 
proceedings  which  followed  the  Inquisitions,  and  no  trace 
at  any  time  of  the  appointment  of  coroners  in  Burford. 

The  validity  of  the  claim,  therefore,  need  not  concern  us. 
The  fact  of  its  having  been  made  is  the  point  of  interest. 
No  clause  in  the  charters  would  justify  it  for  a  moment. 
Therefore  the  fact  of  its  having  been  made  means  that  the 

»  Hundred  Rolls  (ed.  of  1818),  ii.  37. 

'  Curiously  enough,  Burford  appears  in  the  Rolls  only  in  this  Extractum  ; 
it  is  absent  from  the  fuller  Inquisitions  of  7  Edw.  I.  This  is  unfortunate, 
since  it  deprives  us  of  the  detailed  information  about  the  status  of  the 
inhabitants  which  is  available  for  other  Oxfordshire  towns. 

C2 


20    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

burghal  consciousness  was  strong  enough  to  conceive  of 
rights  as  belonging  automatically  to  the  place  as  a  borough. 
The  corporate  entity  of  the  Burgesses  was  sufficiently  marked 
to  cause  them  to  act,  upon  occasion,  in  the  same  way  as 
bodies  which  were  by  charter  incorporations  of  towns. 

That  is,   in  reality,   the  formula  upon  which   the  whole 
evolution  of  the  Burford  Corporation  proceeded. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  GROWTH  OF  CORPORATE  RESPONSIBILITY : 

1350-1500 

§1 

The  opening  of  the  series  of  Burford  Records  preserved 
in  the  town  itself,  which  has  already  been  noted  as  marking 
the  second  period  of  its  history,  is  of  importance  from  more 
than  one  aspect.  Obviously  it  may  be  expected  to  provide 
more  ample  information  about  the  character  of  the  burgensic 
body.  But  it  may  also  be  regarded  as  an  indication  of  a  new 
spirit  at  work  in  the  life  and  affairs  of  the  town. 

That  new  spirit  must,  it  is  true,  be  but  cautiously  inter- 
preted. It  is  not  to  be  seen  wholly  as  marking  the  advance 
in  a  conception  of  town  government  and  the  purport  of 
incorporation.  For  only  a  very  small  portion  of  the  existing 
Records  can  be  called  strictly  municipal  records,  and  of  that 
portion  not  one  item  belongs  to  the  period  now  under  con- 
sideration. Two  fragments  of  a  book  covering  parts  of  the 
years  1596,  1597,  and  1598  are  all  that  survive  to  represent 
the  work  of  the  Borough  Court.  The  only  volume  that  could 
be  classed  as  a  Minute  Book  or  Memorandum  Book  of  the 
Corporation  is  a  thin  volume  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which 
contains  a  number  of  entries  of  meetings  and  resolutions  of 
the  Corporation,  records  the  names  of  Bailiffs  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  century,  and  preserves  some  notes  on 
the  mode  of  election  and  the  duties  of  certain  officials.  But 
it  is,  throughout,  a  note  book  rather  than  a  systematic 
Minute  Book.  A  roll  of  1605  records  the  Rules  of  the  Fellow- 
ship of  Burgesses,  with  the  signatures  of  all  the  Burgesses 
from  that  date  down  to  the  extinction  of  the  Corporation 
in  1861.  A  copy  of  a  judgement  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer 
in  1620  concerning  the  town's  liberties,  and  a  mass  of  papers 
relating  to  a  Royal  Commission  in  1738  and  a  subsequent 
Chancery  suit,  may  be  added  to  the  list. 


22    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

With  these  exceptions,  practically  all  the  Records,  amount- 
ing to  over  four  hundred  documents  and  some  thirty  volumes 
of  accounts  and  memoranda  kept  during  the  seventeenth, 
eighteenth,  and  nineteenth  centuries,  are  concerned  with  the 
administration  of  certain  public  properties,  chiefly  for 
charitable  purposes.  Indirectly  a  good  deal  of  knowledge  of 
the  constitution  and  methods  of  the  Corporation  is  to  be 
derived  from  these  sources  ;  but  in  character  they  are  nearer 
to  the  churchwardens'  accounts  of  a  village  than  to  the 
muniments  of  a  town. 

This  fact  gives  us  the  principal  reason  for  the  beginning 
of  a  systematic  preservation  of  records  in  the  town.  We 
have  to  find  this,  not  in  a  new  sense  of  corporate  unity  and 
continuity,  but  simply  in  the  responsibilities  arising  from  the 
foundation  of  a  number  of  charities.  We  are  now  in  the  most 
prosperous  period  of  the  Cotswold  country — the  great  period 
of  the  English  wool  trade.  At  Burford,  as  elsewhere,  much 
of  this  wealth  was  given  to  the  service  of  religion — the 
building  and  adornment  of  the  church,  the  foundation  and 
endowment  of  chantry  chapels,  and  the  relief  of  the  poor. 
Some  of  these  funds  came  directly  to  the  Gild  as  such,  for 
the  maintenance  of  its  chapel  and  priest  and  the  welfare  of 
its  members.  Indirectly  a  partial  responsibility  for  almost 
all  the  funds  would  tend  to  be  laid  upon  the  same  body, 
partly  because  its  continuity  would  secure  the  trusts,  and 
partly  for  the  reason  that  in  a  small  community  the  men  of 
wealth  and  standing  who  would  naturally  be  sought  as  the 
guardians  of  trusts  would  inevitably  be  members  of  the  Gild. 

But  while  the  nature  of  the  Records  compels  us  to  see  in 
this  the  principal  reason  for  their  preservation,  there  is 
another  consideration  which  permits  us  not  to  be  content 
with  it  as  the  only  reason,  and  to  discern  also  traces  of  a  new 
conception  of  the  borough  and  burghal  life.  It  is  to  be  found 
in  that  grouping  of  the  charters,  which  marks,  quite  as 
distinctly  as  the  preservation  of  records,  the  difference 
between  the  first  and  second  periods  of  the  town's  history. 
The  second  group  of  charters  has  two  outstanding  features 
which  distinguish  it  from  the  first;    the  series  of  Letters 


PLATE    I.     FIFTEENTH- CENTURY    ARCH 

FORMERLY     IX     AN     END     WALL     OF     THE     MASOn's     ARMS,    WITNKV     STREET 


CORPORATE  RESPONSIBILITY  :    1350-1500       23 

Patent  of  Confirmation,  of  which  it  is  composed,  is  homo- 
geneous, and  it  is  continuous.  The  Letters  Patent  of 
Edward  III,  obtained  in  1351,  are  followed  in  the  series  by 
similar  Confirmations  purchased  from  the  Chanceries  of 
Richard  II,  Henry  IV,  Henry  V,  Henry  VI,  Edward  IV,  and 
Henry  VII.*  Thus  only  the  reign  of  Richard  III  is  omitted, 
since  we  need  not  consider  the  brief  reign  of  Edward  V. 
The  corpus  of  the  Letters  Patent  is  the  same  throughout ; 
each  document  in  turn  recites  as  its  substantive  portion  the 
two  charters  of  Henry  II. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  deduce  from  these  two  features  of 
the  series  an  advance  in  the  clearness,  though  not  in  the 
scope,  of  the  burgensic  body's  conception  of  its  position. 
We  have  left  behind  that  indeterminate  outlook  which  had 
returned  from  the  first  Royal  confirmations  to  a  belated 
manorial  confirmation  ;  and  had  also  allowed  the  town  to 
remain  outside  the  vigorous  movement  of  the  boroughs  in 
general  during  the  thirteenth  century.  Even  yet  there  is  no 
sign  of  mistrust  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  existing  grants. 
Recital  of  the  charters  of  Henry  II  bestowed  no  more  than 
the  set  of  franchises  examined  in  the  previous  chapter.  But 
the  making  of  a  different  kind  of  effort  to  render  them  secure 
and  to  maintain  them  constantly  means  that  the  burgensic 
body  was  regarding  itself  in  a  new  light,  even  if  it  continued 
to  regard  its  functions  in  the  old  light. 

§2 
The  existence  of  this  body  as  a  distinct  entity  formed 
within  the  general  body  of  inhabitants,  and  enjoying  the 
description  '  Burgess  '  as  a  title,  is  estabhshed  beyond  doubt 
very  soon  after  the  opening  of  our  second  period.  In  a  con- 
veyance of  1367  Robert  le  Cotelir  is  described  as  '  Senior 
Burgensis  de  Boreford  ',  a  formula  which  would  have  had 
next  to  no  meaning  unless  the  Burgesses  were  an  official 
group.     In  seventy-five  conveyances  dated  before  the  end 

*  I  am  here  dealing  only  with  the  period  up  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Similar  Confirmations  were  obtained  from  the  Chanceries  of 
Henry  VIII.  Mary,  Edward  VI,  Elizabeth,  and  James  I  ;  but  the  Letters 
Patent  of  Elizabeth  have  been  lost. 


24    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

of  the  fifteenth  century  only  five  cases  of  the  application  of 
the  description  '  Burgensis  '  are  to  be  found  ;  and  in  seven 
cases  in  which  the  property  conveyed  is  specifically  written 
down  as  a  burgage' the  owners  are  not  described  as  '  Burgensis '. 

In  view  of  this  limited  use  of  the  word  the  evidence  of, 
the  phraseology  of  the  Letters  Patent  becomes  conclusive. 
Those  of  Richard  II  confirm  the  existing  liberties  '  hominibus 
et  Burgensibus  de  Bureford  .  .  .  prout  iidem  homines  et 
Burgenses  libertatibus  et  consuetudinibus  predictis  rationa- 
biliter  uti  et  gaudere  consueverunt'.  This  duality  of  address 
is  not  found  in  any  earlier  charter,  and  implies  that  there  was 
now  in  the  town  some  recognizable  recipient  of  liberties  other 
than  the  whole  body  of  inhabitants.  The  Letters  Patent 
of  Henry  IV  move  a  step  further  in  making  the  Confirmation 
'  hominibus  et  Burgensibus,  de  Bureford  et  successoribus  suis 
.  .  .  prout  iidem  homines  et  Burgenses  et  antecessores  sui 
libertatibus  et  consuetudinibus ',  &c.  A  formal  entry  of 
successors  and  predecessors  is  not  usual  in  documents  of 
the  Chancery  except  in  relation  to  an  official  body  possessing 
legal  permanence.  Finally,  a  charter  of  Henry  VII,  bestowing 
a  fair  upon  the  town  in  addition  to  the  one  already  belonging 
to  the  lord  of  the  manor,  is  granted  '  dilectis  ligeis  nostris 
Ballivis  Burgensibus  et  inhabitantibus  ville  nostre  de  Bourford '. 
Short  of  specific  incorporation,  these  documents  go  as  far  as  is 
possible  in  recognizing  a  definite  official  status  in  the  Burgesses. 

The  identification  of  the  Burgensic  body  with  the  Gild 
also  passes  now  beyond  doubt.  One  of  the  difficulties  of 
identification  in  the  first  period  is  that  nowhere,  except  in 
the  early  charters,  is  there  any  mention  of  the  Gild  in  docu- 
ments of  the  period.  The  reason  may  be  that  in  documents 
originating  outside  the  town  itself,  as  was  the  case  with  all 
the  documents  upon  which  we  have  to  rely  for  that  period, ^ 
the  official  group  was  naturally  recognized  rather  by  its 
function — that  is  to  say,  as  a  Court  and  as  discharging  the 
duties  of  a  borough,  as  a  Curia  and  Burgenses — than  by  its 

•  This  is  obviously  the  case  with  the  Crown  and  manorial  documents  ; 
the  only  other  documents,  the  Brasenose  leases,  would  be  much  more 
likely  to  be  drawn  up  by  the  officials  of  the  Abbey  of  Cold  Norton  than 
by  any  one  in  the  small  community  of  Burford. 


CORPORATE  RESPONSIBILITY  :    1350-1500       25 

constituting  principle,  that  is  to  say,  as  a  Gild.  When, 
however,  we  come  to  documents  originating  inside  the  town, 
references  to  the  burgensic  body  are  much  more  likely  to 
bear  traces  of  its  primary  form  ;  more  especially  when  the 
contents  are  concerned  with  religious  and  charitable  bequests. 

The  use  of  the  term  '  Gild  '  is,  in  fact,  frequent ;  and 
fortunately  in  several  instances  in  such  conjunction  with  the 
word  '  Burgesses  ',  or  with  borough  matters,  as  to  leave  no 
reasonable  doubt  of  identity.  A  lease  of  1404  is  granted  by 
persons  specifically  described  as  officers  of  the  Gild,  the  rent 
is  to  be  received  by  the  Proctors  of  the  Gild,  and  the  tenant 
is  to  be  allowed  to  cut  wood  for  the  repair  of  the  house  '  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Gild  '.  But  the  lease  is  made 
'  with  the  assent  of  all  the  Burgesses  of  the  town  '.^  Now  the 
Gild  can  have  been  under  no  necessity  to  consult  the  wishes 
of  the  general  body  of  the  inhabitants  or  burgage  tenants  ; 
nor,  if  the  advice  of  '  the  Gild  '  (not  merely  the  officers  of 
the  Gild)  were  sufficient  for  the  cutting  of  timber,  can  any 
one  outside  the  Gild  have  had  any  legal  interest  in  the  lease. 
Consequently  the  provision  of  the  assent  of  *  all  the  Burgesses 
of  the  town  '  must  mean  that  the  Burgesses  were  co-extensive 
with  the  Gild. 

Almost  equally  strong  is  the  evidence  of  a  phrase  in  the 
bequest  of  the  Novum  Hospitium  Angulare  in  1422  ^  to 
Thomas  Spycer  with  reversion  to  church  purposes.  Here 
reference  is  made  to '  capella  beate  marie  in  eodem  cimeterio  que 
est  burgi '.  The  Chapel  of  Blessed  Mary  was  the  Gild  Chapel. 
This  method  of  describing  it  shows  clearly  that  the  '  burgus  ' 
as  an  entity  was  regarded  as  synonymous  with  the  Gild. 

In  the  lease  of  1404,  quoted  above,  one  of  the  officers  men- 
tioned is  '  Senescallus  Gilde '.  In  a  lease  of  1465  an  officer 
is  described  as  '  Seneschal  of  Burford  '.^  There  is  no  evidence 
of  the  existence  at  any  time  of  two  Seneschals  ;  so  that 
apparently  an  officer  could  be  equally  well  described  as  an 
officer  of  the  Gild  or  as  an  officer  of  the  town. 

'  Burford  Records,  bundle  CC,  S  4. 
*  Burford  Records,  bundle  A,  CH  5, 
»  Burford  Recotds,  bundle  A.  CH  16. 


26     HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

Evidence  of  a  rather  different  kind  is  provided  by  a  con- 
veyance of  the  Fifteen  Lands  dated  1382.*  This  piece  of 
property  was  held  on  trust  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the 
burden  upon  the  town  when  a  tax  of  tenths  or  fifteenths 
was  levied.  That  would  be  business  of  the  town  at  large, 
and  no  charge  is  made  upon  the  rents,  in  this  or  any  other 
document  concerning  the  trust,  for  religious  or  Gild  purposes. 
Yet  the  conveyance  is  made  by  the  two  heads  of  the  Gild 
'  consensu  fratrum  nostrorum  dicte  Gilde  '. 

It  is  true  that,  unless  the  later  Corporation  of  Burford 
could  be  definitely  classed  as  of  the  Gild  type,  this  evidence 
might  still  leave  room  for  the  view  that  there  were  really 
two  bodies  growing  up — a  Gild  and  a  Court  of  Burgesses, 
only  identified  by  the  accidental  circumstance  that  in  a  small 
town  the  same  group  of  leading  men  would  tend  to  form 
both  bodies.  But  since  the  Corporation  at  its  highest 
development  bears  all  the  characteristics  of  a  Gild — being 
a  close,  self-electing  body,  with  an  Alderman  as  its  head, 
discommoning  members  for  breach  of  its  rules,  and  describing 
itself  formally  as  a  Fellowship  of  Burgesses — the  evidence 
just  given  is  enough  to  establish  the  identification  as  essential 
and  not  merely  accidental. 

§3 

For  our  knowledge  of  the  organization  and  constitution  of 
the  burgensic  body  at  this  period  we  are  forced,  in  the 
absence  of  any  early  custumals  or  records  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Gild  or  the  Court,  to  rely  upon  such  casual  information 
as  is  given  by  the  ancient  conveyances  and  leases. 

There  is  as  yet  no  instance  of  the  use  of  the  term  '  Alderman  ' 
or  of  any  other  term  singling  out  an  individual  as  head  of  the 
Burgesses.  The  only  hint  of  any  position  of  leadership  in  the 
Gild  is  to  be  found  in  three  references  to  persons  described  as 
'  Seniors  '.  In  1367  Robert  le  Cotelir  is  called  '  Senior  Bur- 
gensis  de  Boreford  '  ;  ^  in  1382  John  Wenryche  and  Thomas 
Spycer  are  described  as  '  Senior  Gilde  Borfordie  '  and  '  Senior 

•  Burford  Records,  bundle  BB,  T  i. 

*  Brasenose  Muniments  :   Burford  Leases,  4. 


CORPORATE  RESPONSIBILITY  :    1350-1500       27 

dicte  Gilde  '  respectively  ;  ^  in  1404  Thomas  Spycer.  again  is 
described  as  '  Gilde  Senior  '.^  But  this  was  hardly  the  title 
of  a  chief  officer.  At  later  dates,  after  the  establishment  of  an 
Alderman  as  head  of  the  Corporation,  there  are  still  references 
to  the  Seniors  ;  for  instance,  in  the  Rules  of  1605  the  Bur- 
gesses are  bidden  to  '  give  reverence  and  place  to  the  Senyors 
and  elder  brethren  according  to  the  oulde  and  Auncyente 
custome  of  this  said  Brotherhoode  '.  The  title  and  status  of 
a  Senior  evidently  did  not  pass  into  that  of  the  Alderman  ; 
and  therefore  he  cannot  have  been  in  the  same  sense  head  of 
the  Corporation.  Probably  the  system  was  simply  that,  in 
order  to  meet  the  practical  requirements  of  having  certain 
people  to  keep  the  Common  Box,  to  take  the  lead  at  meetings 
of  the  Burgesses,  and  to  act  in  any  matter  touching  the 
dignity  or  internal  well-being  of  their  company,  two  at  least 
of  the  older  members  were  regarded  and  spoken  of  as  Seniors, 
and  exercised  in  that  way  a  kind  of  authority. 

This  would  account  for  the  small  number  of  references  to 
the  Seniors.  If  they  had  held  a  more  formal  headship,  there 
would  have  been  more  numerous  instances  of  use  of  the  title 
in  documents,  partly  for  the  extra  validity  conferred  thereby 
upon  the  transaction,  partly  as  a  supplementary  dating  of  the 
deed.  Neither  purpose  would  be  effectively  served  by  the 
mention  of  a  position  which  was  little  more  than  an  arrange- 
ment of  convenience,  and  would  by  its  very  nature  be  held  for 
long  by  the  same  men. 

The  truth  is  that  the  Bailiffs  were  the  real  heads  of  the 
town.  For  they  presided  in  the  Borough  Court;  and  thus 
discharged  the  duties  which  are  of  the  essence  of  the  chief 
officer  of  a  town — those  of  a  chief  magistrate.    They  are  the 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  BB,  T  i. 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  DD,  S4.  It  is  the  form  of  this  last  reference 
which  justifies  the  reading  of  the  word  Senior  in  the  other  cases  as  a  title 
in  conjunction  with  the  words  Burgensis  or  Gilde,  and  not  in  conjunction 
with  the  name  of  the  man  in  each  case  as  a  distinction  from  another 
person  of  the  same  name  but  younger.  In  any  event  the  former  reading 
would  be  the  more  probable,  since  the  distinction  between  an  elder  and 
a  younger  man  is  usually  only  made  when  the  younger  is  intended  to  be 
understood,  the  word  Junior  being  added.  But  all  doubt  is  set  at  rest 
by  this  occurrence  of  the  word  Senior  after  the  word  Gilde,  and  not  after 
the  man's  name. 


28     HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

only  officers  who  make  any  appearance  among  the  charters  : 
that  of  Henry  VII  already  quoted  is  a  grant  '  Ballivis  Burgen- 
sibus  et  inhabitantibus  de  Bourford  '.  A  letter  from  Warwick 
the  King-maker,  during  his  lordship  of  the  manor,  is  addressed 
to  '  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  ',  This  was,  in  fact,  throughout 
the  whole  career  of  the  Corporation  the  normal  description  in 
use.  It  may  be  added  that  the  position  of  the  Bailiffs  comes 
out  in  less  deliberate  ways  in  the  Records.  They  are  the  only 
officers  of  whom  a  systematic  list  was  ever  kept ;  from  1504 
to  1861  the  list,  with  a  few  intervals,  is  complete.  It  is  signi- 
ficant, too,  that  the  earliest  list  appears  in  a  Memorandum 
Book  the  keeping  of  which  began  in  1554.  That  is  to  say,  at 
the  time  of  the  highest  development  of  the  Corporation  some 
trouble  was  taken  to  go  back  over  a  period  of  fifty  years  to 
recover  the  names  of  Bailiffs  ;  but  nothing  of  the  kind  was 
attempted  for  the  Aldermen. 

To  minor  officials  very  few  references  are  to  be  found.  There 
were  Proctors  or  Pronotours,  who  discharged  the  duties  of  the 
Chamberlains  of  a  later  date  in  receiving  and  sometimes  also 
in  disposing  of  the  rents  of  property  held  for  public  purposes.^ 
A  single  instance  occurs  of  the  mention  of  Chamberlains  as 
such.2  There  was  also  a  Serjeant.^  But  the  most  important 
of  the  minor  officials  was  evidently  the  Seneschal  or  Steward. 
The  earliest  reference  to  this  office  is  in  1404,  when  it  was  held 
by  Henry  Coteler  ;  *  and  as  Robert  le  Cotelir  had  been  Senior 
Burgess  in  1367  it  is  clear  that  the  post  of  Seneschal  was  not 
below  the  dignity  of  the  more  important  families  of  the  town. 
Still  more  remarkable  is  a  reference  of  1465  in  which  Sir  Robert 
Harecourte  appears  as  Seneschal.^  But  that  remains  the  sole 
instance  of  the  holding  of  the  office  by  a  man  of  rank. 

§  4 
While  we  are  thus  rather  more  definitely  informed  of   the 
nature  of  the  body  of  Burgesses,  and  officials  of  the  town, 

*  See,  for  instance,  Burford  Records,  bundle  CC,  S  4  ;  and  Brasenose 
Muniments  :    Burford  Leases,  11. 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  BB,  T  2. 

'  Burford  Records,  bundle  A,  CH  18. 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  CC,  S  4.  . 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  A,  CH  16. 


CORPORATE  RESPONSIBILITY  :    1350-1500       29 

we  remain  almost  completely  in  the  dark  as  to  their  public 
functions.  No  book  of  record,  or  fragment  of  such  a  book, 
survives  to  reveal  to  us  the  Burgesses  at  their  periodical 
meetings  or  at  the  sittings  of  the  Court. 

We  have  to  be  content  with  being  able  to  see  that  they  must 
have  had  such  functions,  and  were  steadily  leaving  behind  the 
status  of  a  Gild  and  approximating  to  that  of  a  Borough 
authority.  Evidence  of  this  advance  is  provided  by  two 
features  in  the  organization  of  the  town.  The  first  is  the 
absence  throughout  this  period  of  an  Alderman.  If  the  Gild 
influence  had  been  the  guiding  principle,  a  period  of  such 
length,  especially  when  coinciding  with  a  notable  increase  in 
wealth,  could  not  have  passed  without  a  single  reference  to 
the  characteristic  chief  officer  of  a  Gild.  When  we  find  that, 
on  the  contrary,  the  tendency  was  clearly  towards  regarding 
the  Bailiffs,  the  characteristic  Borough  chief  officers,  as  at  the 
head  of  the  Burgesses,  the  reasonable  conclusion  is  that  the 
latter  were  more  occupied  in  Borough  affairs  than  in  purely 
Gild  affairs. 

The  second  feature  is  the  increasing  formality  of  this  con- 
junction of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses.  In  our  first  period  the 
position  of  the  Bailiffs  was  seen  to  be  at  the  best  equivocal, 
and  on  occasion  capable  of  being  treated  as  wholly  manorial. 
Some  trace  of  this  uncertainty  may  be  discerned  in  the  fact 
that  not  until  1435  do  the  names  of  Bailiffs  appear  upon  leases 
or  conveyances  of  the  town  or  charity  lands.  There  may  have 
been  a  reluctance  to  admit  to  participation  in  such  business 
officers  whose  association  with  it  might  have  been  used  by 
some  lord  of  the  manor  as  an  acknowledgement  of  a  right  of 
interference  on  his  part.  But  as  the  fifteenth  century  pro- 
gresses, the  participation  of  the  Bailiffs  becomes  more  and 
more  frequent.  When  to  this  kind  of  conjunction  is  added 
that  of  the  charter  of  Henry  VII  and  the  letter  of  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  it  may  be  concluded  that  the  Bailiffs  on  their  side  were 
tending  to  find  their  authority  rather  in  their  headship  of  the 
Borough  than  in  their  connexion  with  the  lord  of  the  manor. 

We  have  two  sidelights  of  another  kind  upon  the  position 
which  the  Burgesses  were  coming  to  occupy  in  the  town. 


30     HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

One  is  given  by  the  subject  of  Warwick's  letter.  There  had 
been  in  Burford  from  an  early  date  a  small  foundation  of  a 
religious  nature,  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist. 
Among  the  few  references  to  it  are  two  concerning  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  new  Master  of  the  Hospital.  In  1327  an  entry  in 
the  Close  Rolls  records  the  admission  to  the  Mastership  of 
Robert  le  Glasiere,  one  of  the  brethren,  the  presentation  of 
Robert  being  made  on  this  occasion  by  the  brethren  to  the 
King,  *  by  reason  of  the  lands  of  Hugh  le  Despenser  and 
Eleanor  his  wife  being  in  the  King's  hands  '.^  Again,  in  1389 
the  Crown  appointed  one  of  the  Royal  clerks,  also  at  a  time 
when  the  manor  was  in  the  hands  of  the  King,  under  the 
attainder  of  Thomas  le  Despenser.^  One  other  record  of 
presentation  has  been  found  ;  but  on  these  two  alone  the 
patronage  can  be  attributed  to  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and  to  no 
one  else.  Yet  the  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Warwick  preserved 
among  the  Burford  Records,  requests  of  the  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  that  they  will  allow  him  the  next  presentation.^ 
In  itself  the  patronage  can  have  had  no  importance ;  the 
Hospital  was  of  little  value  and  no  influence.  All  that  is 
interesting  is  the  indication  that  the  right  to  the  patronage 
had  evidently  been  neglected  during  the  fifteenth  century  by 
those  to  whom  it  belonged,  and  that  in  these  circumstances 
the  position  of  the  Burgesses  was  such  that  they  stepped  in 
and  assumed  it  without  question. 

The  other  sidelight  is  given  by  the  bequest  of  one  Thomas 
Pole  or  Poole,  citizen  and  tailor  of  London,  in  1500.  He  gave 
two  messuages,  a  close  and  dovecot,  and  twenty-two  acres  in 
the  common  fields,  to  be  put  in  feoffment  to  the  Burgesses 
with  the  intent  that  after  a  small  weekly  dole  to  the  poor  in 
the  Almshouse  the  rents  should  be  bestowed  for  the  good 
continuance  of  the  fraternity,  especially  by  the  provision  of 
funds  for  paying  the  Chancery  fees  for  the  confirmation  of  the 
charters,  and  thereafter  for  any  purpose  thought  by  the 
Burgesses  to  be  for  the  common  good  of  the  town.*    Now  in 

'  Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  Edw.  Ill  (1327-30),  p.  195. 

*  Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  Ric.  II  (1388-92),  p.  156. 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  GG,  A  i. 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  EE.  P  18. 


m 

^ 


K 
X 


CORPORATE  RESPONSIBILITY  :    1350-1500       31 

one  sense  this  bequest  seems  to  differ  very  little  from  trusts 
which  the  Burgesses  were  already  administering.  But  there 
is  just  enough  difference  in  the  special  concern  for  the  charters 
and  in  the  recognition  of  the  Burgesses'  discretion  as  to  the 
common  good  of  the  town  to  separate  this  from  the  old  Gild 
bequests  and  trusts,  and  to  make  of  it  rather  more  of  a 
Borough  trust. 

But  when  the  utmost  has  been  extracted  from  the  docu- 
ments available  for  this  period,  the  result  is  still  vague  and 
formless.  The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  dimly 
descried  group  of  Burgesses  of  our  first  period  has  undergone 
just  enough  definition  of  outline  and  modification  of  character 
to  prepare  the  way  in  some  degree  for  that  display  of  authority 
which  the  ampler  records  of  the  next  century  will  reveal. 
Although  the  only  public  activity  of  the  Burgesses  of  which 
we  have  so  far  any  record  is  no  more  than  the  administration 
of  public  property,  and  of  that  property  only  one  item,  the 
Fifteen  Lands  (with  the  addition  at  the  very  end  of  the  period 
of  Poole's  Lands),  can  be  regarded  as  other  than  the  old  chari- 
table work  of  a  Gild,  yet  the  burghal  character  of  the  body  has 
been  strengthening  and  the  Gild  character  weakening.  Slight 
as  the  indications  may  be,  the  most  has  to  be  made  of  them, 
since  otherwise  the  developments  of  the  next  century  would 
be  so  startling  as  to  be  almost  incapable  of  explanation. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600 

§  I 

At  the  very  outset  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  on  the 
most  superficial  survey  of  the  Records,  a  distinct  change  is 
apparent.  Not  only  are  the  documents  far  more  numerous, 
but  they  also  begin  to  include  Records  of  a  class  not  found  in 
previous  centuries,  and  at  the  same  time  the  Records  of  a  less 
important  class,  such  as  those  which  have  hitherto  been  the  sole 
sources  of  information,  are  so  much  changed  both  in  content 
and  form  as  almost  to  take  rank  with  true  Borough  records. 

The  second  of  these  points  is  obviously  the  most  significant. 
But  the  other  two  are  not  without  weight.  An  increase  in  the 
number  of  documents  preserved  means  that  the  duties  which 
had  first  dictated  the  keeping  of  muniments  had  become  more 
systematic  and  more  continuous  ;  and  this  in  turn  means 
that  the  body  in  charge  of  the  duties  had  become  aware  in  a 
new  way  of  its  own  continuity  and  corporate  responsibility. 
This  is,  in  fact,  put  beyond  doubt  by  the  third  feature  of  this 
new  period  in  the  Records — the  change  in  their  content  and 
form. 

There  were  by  this  time  four  classes  of  property  held  in 
trust.  Firstly,  there  were  lands  and  tenements  given  to  the 
Church ;  secondly,  lands  and  tenements  belonging  to  the  Gild  ; 
thirdly,  the  Fifteen  Lands  held  for  the  relief  of  the  burden  of 
taxation  ;  and  fourthly,  Poole's  Lands.  It  is  remarkable  that 
in  every  one  of  these  classes  we  come  during  the  early  part  of 
the  sixteenth  century  upon  a  document  containing  a  specific 
declaration  of  the  nature  of  the  trust.  This  cannot  be  an  acci- 
dental circumstance.  It  must  imply  that  in  each  case,  as  it 
became  necessary  to  re-convey  the  property  owing  to  the  death 
of  previous  feoffees,  opportunity  was  taken  to  put  the  trust 
upon  record.  For  Church  and  Gild  property  this  was  done 
in  1502,  1508,  1512,  1537,  and  1538 ;    for  the  Fifteen  Lands 


CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600      33 

in  1546  ;  and  for  Poole's  Lands  in  1502  and  1530.  Moreover, 
in  each  case,  while  the  body  of  the  conveyance  is  still  in 
Latin,  the  declaration  of  the  '  intent '  of  the  conveyance  is 
written  in  English.  The  nature  of  the  trust  was  therefore 
being  declared  to  the  public,  and  was  not  stated  for  legal 
purposes. 

So  much  for  the  change  of  content ;  the  change  in  form  is 
slighter  but  not  to  be  missed.  More  care  is  taken  to  record  the 
official  standing  of  new  feoffees.  This  begins  to  be  traceable 
towards  the  end  of  the  preceding  century ;  but  it  is  a  constant 
feature  of  the  feoffments  of  the  sixteenth  century — so  constant 
that  it  may  almost  be  said  to  have  been  a  rule  that  Burgess- 
ship  should  be  a  qualification  for  appointment  as  a  feoffee. 
There  is  also  a  very  marked  tendency  to  enlarge  the  numbers 
of  the  men  put  in  charge  of  the  properties.  Towards  the  end 
of  the  century  the  bodies  of  feoffees  become  almost  unwieldy; 
but  quite  at  the  beginning  they  show  a  departure  from  the 
old  practice  of  being  content  with  the  nomination  of  two  or 
three  men.  Many  of  the  fifteenth-century  documents  might, 
so  far  as  the  form  goes,  be  private  conveyances  in  the  ordinary 
processes  of  sale.  It  is,  indeed,  difficult  in  some  instances  to 
be  quite  sure  of  the  stage  at  which  the  property  actually 
passed  to  public  uses.  No  document  of  the  sixteenth  century 
is  open  to  any  such  doubt ;  the  public  nature  of  those  con- 
nected with  the  town  or  charity  lands  is  fully  apparent. 

The  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  these  new  qualities  in 
documents  of  the  older  class  are  such  that,  although  Records 
of  the  regular  Borough  type  do  not  occur  till  after  the  middle 
of  the  century,  we  need  not,  in  our  view  of  the  corporate  body 
and  its  work,  be  at  pains  to  distinguish  between  stages  in  this 
period.  We  can  take  the  century  as  a  whole,  since,  even  if 
the  facts  are  actually  drawn  from  documents  of  the  latter  half, 
there  is  none  which  could  not  reasonably  be  predicated  of  such 
a  body  as  the  other  documents  allow  us,  though  in  less  detail, 
to  perceive. 

§  2 

The  Corporation,  reaching  now  the  full  development  of  its 
type,  consisted  of  an  Alderman,  a  Steward,  and  a  number  of 

a304  D 


34    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

Burgesses,  usually  fourteen  or  fifteen.^  The  Alderman  seems 
to  have  held  office  for  life,  or  until  he  resigned,  and  not  to  have 
been  an  annually  elected  chief  officer.  Six  men  are  to  be  found 
described  in  various  documents  as  Alderman  in  the  course  of 
the  century  :  Peter  Eynesdale  in  1530  and  1537,  Richard 
Manyngton  in  1540  and  1553,  Simon  Wisdom  in  ten  years 
at  short  intervals  between  1559  and  1581,  Richard  Chadwell 
in  1586  and  1589,  William  Symonds  in  1596,  and  Richard 
Merywether  in  1598  and  1599.^  Now  it  is  true  that  the  mention 
of  any  one  man  in  two  separate  years  as  Alderman  need  not 
mean  that  he  held  office  all  the  time  between  those  years  ; 
two  documents  might  happen  to  coincide  with  two  entirely 
distinct  tenures  of  an  annual  office  by,  let  us  say,  Peter  Eynes- 
dale. But  it  is  rather  too  much  to  suppose  that  the  same 
coincidence  should  occur  in  the  cases  of  three  other  Aldermen 
in  the  same  century  ;  and  altogether  too  much  to  suppose 
that  it  could  have  happened  ten  times  in  the  case  of  Simon 
Wisdom.  In  no  instance  does  the  name  of  any  other  holder 
of  the  office  interpose  between  two  mentions  of  the  same  man 
as  Alderman.  The  facts  accord  with  no  view  except  that 
the  Alderman  was  not  annually  elected,  but  held  office  con- 
tinuously. Thus  he  is  revealed  as  rather  a  Gild  official  than 
a  Borough  officer,  and  the  Corporation  is  seen  at  its  highest 
point  as  deriving  its  organization  from  the  original  Gild 
Merchant. 

The  Steward — probably  the  official  who  has  previously 
appeared  as  the  Marshal  and  the  Seneschal — was  the  second 
officer  of  the  Corporation,  and  he  also  seems  to  have  held 
office  indefinitely.  This  case  is  not  so  clear  as  that  of  the 
Alderman,  because  there  are  not  so  many  consecutive  refer- 
ences to  the  same  holder  of  the  office.  Richard  Hans  in  1540, 
Simon  Wisdom  in  1553,  Edmund  Sylvester  in  1566,  occur  only 
in  these  single  instances  as  Stewards.  John  Hans,  however, 
is  described  as  Steward  on  six  occasions  between  1568  and 
1581,  again  without  the  interposition  of  any  other  name  during 

*  The  account  of  the  Corporation  is  mostly  derived  from  the  Memo- 
randum Book  :  see  Part  III,  p.  410. 

2  For  references  for  these  dates  see  the  hst  of  Aldermen,  Part  II,  p.  102. 


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CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600      35 

that  period  ;  and  Symon  Symons,  who  was  Steward  in  1598 
and  1599,  held  the  post  also  in  1605.1  Naturally  the  Steward- 
ship would  be  less  likely  to  be  held  for  life  than  the  chief 
dignity  of  the  Corporation.  For  one  thing,  the  Steward  might 
rise  to  the  higher  rank  ;  three  of  the  Stewards  of  the  sixteenth 
century  did  so  rise.  Failing  that,  he  would  be  more  likely  to 
resign  after  some  years  an  office  which  involved  as  much 
attention  to  duty  as  that  of  the  Alderman,  but  was  less  highly 
regarded.  There  is  enough  evidence  to  lead  to  the  opinion 
that  at  any  rate  he  was  not,  any  more  than  the  Alderman, 
annually  elected. 

Minor  officers  of  whom  we  have  record  are  the  town  clerk, 
the  Serjeant,  the  constables,  and  the  wardsmen.  The  town 
clerk's  duties  were  mainly  at  the  Borough  Court.  The  one 
reference  to  the  appointment  of  a  new  clerk  does  not  make 
clear  who  appointed  him,  but  the  form  of  it  implies  that  it  was 
the  Corporation,  He  received  an  annual  fee  of  135.  4d.  from 
the  Bailiffs  and  took  the  '  profits  of  the  Courts  '  ;  ^  he  also 
made  an  income  out  of  such  business  as  the  drawing  up  of 
feoffments  for  the  town  and  charity  lands.  The  serjeant  also 
was  a  town's  officer,  being  paid  by  the  Corporation.^ 

The  constables  and  the  wardsmen,  on  the  other  hand, 
retained  much  of  the  character  of  manorial  officials.  The 
manner  of  appointment  of  the  constables  was  that  four 
*  honest  inhabiters  '  were  nominated  by  the  Burgesses  to  the 
steward  of  the  lord  of  the  manor  at  the  annual  law-day,  and 
he  selected  two  to  serve  for  the  following  year.  The  duties  of 
the  wardsmen,  of  whom  there  were  four,  were  to  bring  in 
writing  to  the  Steward  at  the  annual  law-day  a  statement  of 
the  *  deffawtys '  committed  during  the  year  in  their  respec- 
tive wards.*  Thus  neither  constables  nor  wardsmen  were  true 
Borough  officers. 

There  is  only  one  reference  to  ale-tasters  and  clerks  of  the 
market.*     They  were  apparently  not  quite  the  subordinate 

*  See  the  list  of  Stewards,  Part  II,  p.  103. 

2  Memorandum  Book,  fol.  9  rev.  '  Memorandum  Book,  passim. 

*  Memorandum  Book,  fol.  38. 

^  Borough  Court  Book,  fol.  19 ;  and  Burford  Records,  bundle  EE, 
P23. 

D2 


36     HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

officials  that  they  were  apt  to  be  in  other  towns.  The  names 
of  one  of  the  ale-tasters  and  one  of  the  clerks  of  the  market  in 
1596  are  found  on  the  list  of  Burgesses  in  1599.  The  single 
reference  to  them  records  a  swearing-in  by  the  Bailiffs  at  the 
Borough  Court,  which  would  make  them  Borough  officials  and 
not  manorial. 

The  general  body  of  Burgesses  retained,  as  strongly  as  its 
chief  officers,  the  marks  of  its  Gild  origin.  It  was  constituted 
by  close  election  within  the  body,  and  new  members  paid  an 
entrance  fee  of  20s.^  There  was  a  rota  of  seniority,  since  in 
one  case  the  new  Burgess  '  in  consideracyon  of  his  towardnes 
was  placed  in  Senyoryte  next  to  John  Lymme  then  beyng  one 
of  the  Baylyffes  of  the  towne'.^  The  chief  object  of  the  rota 
may  have  been  to  secure  that  the  responsibility  of  taking  the 
office  of  Bailiff  was  properly  laid  upon  each  Burgess  in  turn. 
But  it  also  conferred  a  certain  dignity  and  right  to  precedence 
on  public  occasions. 

§  3 

This  account  of  the  Corporation  differs  mainly  in  positive- 
ness  of  statement  from  those  which  can  be  put  together  out 
of  the  documents  of  earlier  periods.  The  constitution  of  the 
Burgess  body  has  been  made  clearer  by  the  greater  mass  and 
improved  character  of  the  sixteenth-century  Records.  When 
we  come  to  deal  with  the  Bailiffs,  on  the  other  hand,  the  strik- 
ing feature  is  not  the  more  extended  view  of  their  function, 
but  the  complete  change  in  the  nature  of  their  relation  to  the 
town  on  the  one  side  and  the  lord  of  the  manor  on  the  other. 

The  formal  mode  of  their  appointment  remained  the  same. 
The  record  of  the  Court  held  at  Burford  in  1546,  when  the 
manor  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Crown,  contains  the  entry  : 

And  thereon  the  bailiffs  aforesaid  came  and  placed  their 
offices  in  the  hands  of  the  King  on  which  the  Seneschal  of 
the  King  elected  in  their  places  Robert  Payne  and  William 
Hewys  to  perform  the  duties  in  the  proper  way  and  to  per- 
form them  for  one  year  and  they  took  oath.^ 

1  Memorandum  Book,  fol.  3  rev.,  23,  32  rev. 

2  Ibid.,  fol.  32  rev. 

3  Court  Rolls  (P.  R.O.),  Portf.  197,  no.  15.  This  is,  unfortunately, 
the  only  Burford  Court  Roll  I  have  been  able  to  find. 


CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600      37 

But  the  significance  of  the  formal  appointment  must  by 
this  time  have  become  entirely  obscured.  Throughout  the 
sixteenth  century  the  Bailiffs'  office  appears  to  be  wholly 
identified  with  the  interests  of  the  Burgesses,  and  their  duty 
to  be  owed  to  the  town  alone.  This  fact  can  be  traced  both 
directly  in  the  tenor  and  phrasing  of  certain  documents,  and 
indirectly  in  the  nature  of  transactions  with  which  the  Bailiffs 
were — rather  remarkably — associated. 

The  charter  of  Henry  VII  granting  a  second  annual  fair  in 
Burford  has  already  been  quoted.  It  may  bereferred  to  again, 
although  it  actually  belongs  to  the  fifteenth  century,  because 
of  its  bearing  upon  this  altered  situation  of  the  Bailiffs.  The 
fair  was  granted  to  '  the  Bailiffs,  Burgesses,  and  Inhabitants  ' 
of  Burford,  without  any  reservation  to  the  lord  of  the  manor, 
and  the  profits  of  the  fair,  together  with  the  profits  and  fines 
of  a  Court  of  Pie  Powder,  are  specifically  given  to  them.  The 
earlier  fair  belonged  to  the  lord  of  the  manor.^  Considering 
how  jealously  the  right  to  a  fair  was  guarded,  it  is  not  likely 
that,  if  the  Bailiffs  could  in  any  serious  degree  be  identified 
with  the  interests  of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  the  town  would 
have  risked  associating  them  with  a  fair  of  their  own  ;  since 
there  would  have  been,  in  that  case,  a  danger  of  the  lord  laying 
some  claim  through  his  officials  to  an  interest  in  the  fair. 

Even  more  striking  evidence  is  afforded  by  the  entries  of 
fines  inflicted  for  refusing  the  office  of  Bailiff.  In  the  Memoran- 
dum Book  under  date  1561  the  following  occurs  : 

yt  ys  agreyd  by  the  consent  of  all  the  bretherne  that  Rychard 
Dawby  schall  pay  for  his  fyne  for  Reffusyng  the  baylyffe 
weke  thys  last  yere  xs.  upon  the  condicion  that  he  schalle 
not  Reffuse  the  same  the  next  yere  or  otherwyse  to  pay  the 
whole  sum  wyche  ys  xl^.* 

Now  in  the  case  of  an  office  to  which  the  appointment  was 
made  by  the  lord's  Steward  the  fines  for  refusing  the  office 
should  certainly  have  been  adjudged  by  and  paid  to  the 
Steward,  according  to  the  usual  manorial  custom.  When  we 
find  them  being  inflicted  by  the  Corporation,  it  is  a  fair  con- 

*  See,  e.  g..  Cal.  Charter  Rolls,  vol.  iii,  p.  453. 

*  See  Part  III,  p.  412. 


38    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

elusion  that  the  Bailiffs  had  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  manorial 
officers,  and  that  the  lord  of  the  manor  was,  if  not  consenting 
to,  at  any  rate  not  contesting,  their  change  of  status. 

As  indirect  evidence  of  the  change  three  references  are  worth 
quoting.  One  is  in  a  conveyance  of  the  Bridge  Lands  in  1571, 
made  by  '  Ballivis  Libertatis  ville  de  Burford  '.^  -  '  Bailiffs  of 
the  Liberty  '  is  a  phrase  customarily  employed  of  towns 
possessing  the  most  complete  kind  of  enfranchisement ;  and 
its  use  here,  even  though  it  has  no  parallel  among  the  Records, 
implies  that  the  manorial  allegiance  had  become  in  practice 
obsolete.  It  may  also  be  remarked  in  passing  that  this  view 
of  the  Bailiffs  holding  the  Bridge  Lands,  one  of  the  Burgesses' 
trusts,  shows  that  there  was  no  longer  any  tendency  to  keep 
them  aloof  from  the  Corporation's  affairs  in  mistrust  of  their 
divided  obligations. 

Much  the  same  deduction  may  be  drawn  from  the  fact  that 
on  one  occasion,  in  1561,  the  office  of  Bailiff  was  actually  held 
in  conjunction  with  that  of  Alderman.  True,  it  is  noted  that 
*  Thys  presydent  hadd  never  byn  seen  beffore  that  any  affter 
beyng  electyd  Alderman  to  have  the  office  any  more  of  the 
Bayliffe  '.^  But  that  it  could  have  happened  once  is  significant 
enough,  since  the  combination  of  the  offices  would  certainly 
have  been  avoided  by  the  Burgesses  of  an  earlier  date. 

But  the  most  striking  piece  of  indirect  evidence  is  given  by 
the  first  recorded  instance  of  the  expulsion  of  a  Burgess  from 
the  Fellowship.  It  is  of  the  year  1591,  and  the  discommoning 
order  is  signed  first  by  the  Steward  of  the  Fellowship  and 
secondly  by  the  Bailiffs.  No  doubt  the  Bailiffs  were  members 
of  the  Fellowship,  and  would  as  such  be  entitled  to  take  part 
in  the  expulsion  of  one  of  their  number.  But  that  they  signed 
as  Bailiffs  implies  that  they  regarded  their  official  standing  as 
an  authority  within  and  of  the  Fellowship. 

§  4 
Of  this  body  of  the  Bailiffs,  Alderman,  and  Burgesses  acting 
as  a  town  authority  the  ampler  documents  of  our  present 

^  Burford  Records,  bundle  C,  B  10. 
2  See  Part  III.  p.  415. 


CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :   1500-1600      39 

period  give  us  for  the  first  time  an  adequate  view.  In  that 
capacity  they  had  their  corporate  existence  in  the  Borough 
Court,  which,  Hke  all  Borough  Courts,  was  at  once  a  judicial 
and  an  executive  instrument. 

As  a  court  of  law  ^  it  had  cognizance  of  civil  actions 
involving  sums  of  money  less  than  405., ^  and  of  criminal  cases 
as  a  court  of  first  instance.  Of  the  civil  cases  the  greater 
proportion  were  actions  for  debt,  but  there  were  also  actions 
for  detention  of  goods  and  for  valuation  of  goods  of  which 
the  price  had  been  disputed.  The  Court  could  inflict  fines 
for  non-appearance,  and  could  issue  distraints  for  the  non- 
payment either  of  fines  or  of  debts  for  which  judgement  had 
been  given.  A  small  fee  could  be  charged  for  the -adjournment 
of  an  action  at  the  request  of  either  party  to  it,  but  on  the 
other  hand  there  are  many  entries  of  adjournments  without 
the  payment  of  a  fee.  The  Court  could  also  award  costs  in 
its  judgement  and  distrain  for  the  payment  of  them. 

Actions  are  frequently  entered  by  or  against  persons  not 
of  the  town,  and  sometimes  not  of  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood. There  are  cases  of  litigants  from  as  far  away  as  Wilt- 
shire and  Berkshire  and  the  more  distant  parts  of  Gloucester- 
shire. In  several  instances  both  litigants  were  non-residents. 
Presumably  in  all  these  cases  the  matter  of  dispute  had 
arisen  in  the  town,  either  at  the  market  or  the  fairs,  or,  as 
in  one  case  at  least,  in  connexion  with  the  administration 
of  the  goods  of  a  deceased  resident. 

It  is  not  possible  to  make  out  with  any  clearness  from  our 
Records  what  differences  of  standing  before  the  Court  applied 
to  residents  and  non-residents  respectively.  In  many  cases 
sureties  are  entered,  sometimes  for  one  of  the  parties,  some- 
times for  both  ;  but  no  system  can  be  deduced  from  the 
entries.  It  does  seem  to  be  clear  that,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
no  Burgess  ever  had  to  provide  a  surety.  It  would  also  be 
expected  that  on  the  other  hand  every  non-resident  should 
appear  by  surety,  since  the  Court  would  require  a  security 

^  A  transcript  of  the  fragments  of  the  Borough  Court  Book,  from  which 
every  fact  in  this  account  is  taken,  will  be  found  in  Part  III,  p.  522. 
2  See  Part  III,  p.  375. 


40    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

in  cases  in  which  it  obviously  would  be  unable  to  issue 
distraint.  There  are,  indeed,  very  few  cases  of  non-residents 
appearing  without  sureties,  and  in  several  of  these  the  matter 
in  dispute  was  settled  out  of  hand,  by  agreement  between 
the  parties.  It  may  perhaps  be  concluded  that  the  rule  was 
that  non-residents  should  appear  with  sureties,  but  that  the 
rule  was  often  waived  where  the  Court  had  to  do  no  more 
than  recognize  an  agreed  settlement.  The  standing  of 
residents  who  were  not  Burgesses  is  even  more  hazy.  On 
the  whole  they  seem  to  have  been  able  to  appear  without 
sureties,  but  there  are  many  cases  of  residents  providing 
sureties,  and  one  in  which  a  resident  litigant  did  so,  while  the 
other  part^,  a  non-resident,  did  not.  It  may  be  added  that 
any  resident  might  act  as  surety.  From  one  entry  recording 
that  a  defendant,  non-resident,  had  not  paid  the  fee  of  the 
Court,  '  nor  for  the  second  Court ',  it  might  be  supposed  that 
non-residents  had  this  further  difference  of  standing — that 
they  had  to  pay  fees  for  the  hearing  of  their  cases,  whereas 
a  resident  would  have  a  right  of  free  entrance  to  the  Court. 
But  there  is  no  other  reference  bearing  on  this  point.  Fees 
can  hardly  have  been  chargeable  in  any  case  arising  from  the 
market  or  fairs,  since  it  was  of  the  essence  of  the  being  of 
such  a  Court  to  be  available  for  such  cases.  The  case  in 
which  a  fee  is  mentioned  was  between  two  residents  in 
neighbouring  villages  concerning  a  debt ;  the  rule  may  have 
been  that  the  Court  could  be  appealed  to  by  non-residents 
in  matters  not  arising  within  the  town  when  it  suited  their 
convenience  to  make  use  of  a  Court  near  at  hand,  but  in 
such  matters  payment  of  a  fee  was  exacted. 

The  criminal  cases  recorded  are  very  few.  There  are  two 
charges  of  assault,  or  '  bloodshed  ',  each  of  which  ended  in 
the  taking  of  bail  to  keep  the  peace.  One  case  of  petty 
larceny  occurs,  the  prisoner,  a  woman,  being  expelled  from 
the  town  by  the  Court  on  pain  of  a  whipping  if  she  should 
be  brought  before  the  Court  again.  There  is  also  a  case  of 
trespass.  The  single  case  of  a  more  serious  nature  is  a  charge 
of  sheep-stealing ;  the  end  of  it  is  not  clear,  but  apparently 
the  defendant  was  held  to  bail,  presumably  for  the  Assize. 


CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600      41 

In  this  Court  the  Alderman,  Steward,  and  Burgesses  sat 
with  the  BaihfTs.  But  it  may  be  doubted  whether  their 
presence  was  vital  to  the  composition  of  the  Court.  Thte 
Court  Book  speaks  frequently  of  judgements  of  '  the  Court ', 
adjournments  granted  by  '  the  Court ',  and  evidence  given 
to  '  the  Court '.  On  the  other  hand  it  speaks  also  of  judge- 
ments of  the  Bailiffs  ;  and  in  view  of  references  of  an  earlier 
date  it  would  seem  safer  to  regard  the  Bailiffs  rather  as 
judges  sitting  with  assessors  than  as  presiding  members  of 
a  homogeneous  body. 

The  Bailiffs  were  certainly  in  judicial  matters  the  executive 
of  the  town.  The  oath  for  the  Steward  of  the  Fellowship 
charges  him  to  '  assiste  the  Baylyffs  of  this  towne  in  the 
execucon  of  their  office  to  see  Justice  mynystered  '.  They 
were  responsible  for  the  stocks  and  pillory.  It  was  to  the 
Bailiffs'  custody  that  prisoners  sentenced  at  Assizes  in  Bur- 
ford  were  committed  by  the  Judges. 

Of  the  Court  as  a  burghal  executive,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Bailiffs  were  in  no  way  predominant  members.  Assess- 
ments for  Crown  Subsidies,  whether  of  Tenths  and  Fifteenths 
or  special  Subsidies  for  military  purposes,  as  well  as  assess- 
ments charged  upon  the  town  for  robberies  committed  and 
assessments  for  purely  internal  affairs  such  as  the  repair  of 
the  church  and  the  keeping  of  a  poor  child,  were  levied  by 
Burgesses  acting  without  the  Bailiffs.  It  may  also  be  noted 
that  when,  in  1557,  there  was  a  desire  for  recording  deeds  of 
sale  of  houses  in  the  town,  the  record  appears  not  in  the 
Court  Book  but  in  the  Burgesses'  Memorandum  Book. 

§5 
Thus  the  ampler  Records  of  the  sixteenth  century  enable 
us  to  be  positive  about  certain  aspects  of  the  development  of 
town  life  in  Burford  which  have  up  to  this  period  been  rather 
dimly  discernible.  That  it  was  in  some  degree  a  conscious 
development  may  be  gathered  from  a  curious  entry  in  the 
Memorandum  Book.  It  puts  on  record  a  definition  drawn 
up  by  contemporary  lawyers  of  the  phrase  '  sac  and  soc  and 
toll  and  theam  and  infangenthef  '   in  the  first  charter  of 


42    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

Henry  II.  This  entry  must  mean  that  the  Burgesses  were 
taking  a  new  kind  of  interest  in  the  scope  of  authority  that 
might  be  claimed  under  their  charters ;  they  wanted  to 
know  exactly  what  legal  powers  the  phrase  conferred. 

Now  conscious  questioning  by  a  corporate  body  of  its 
position  is  very  rare  in  the  history  of  town  government  in 
England.  Powers  were  exercised  as  the  opportunity  or  the 
need  arose  ;  and  the  distinctions  that  modern  criticism  can 
draw  between  one  and  another  aspect  of  burghal  unity  have 
no  historical  reality.  It  becomes  necessary  therefore  to  find 
some  reason  for  this  manifestation  by  the  Burgesses  of 
Burford  of  a  new  interest  in  their  constitution  ;  and  a  reason 
can  be  suggested. 

Their  existence  as  a  body  had  originally  been  determined 
by  the  erection  under  the  earliest  charters  of  a  Gild  ;  and 
their  continued  corporate  entity  had  been  assured  much 
more  by  the  administration  of  Gild  affairs  than  by  their 
association  with  a  Court  of  which  the  essence  resided  in  the 
Bailiffs.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century — ^just  before 
the  date  of  the  significant  entry  in  the  Memorandum  Book — 
the  course  of  national  events  suddenly  interrupted  this 
channel  of  continuity. 

The  first  of  those  sequels  of  the  Reformation  which  so 
much  affected  local  life  in  England,  namely  the  Dissolution 
of  the  Monasteries,  need  concern  us  here  very  little.  The 
Hospital  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  the  sole  religious  founda- 
tion in  Burford,  was,  as  has  already  been  said,  only  a  small 
institution,  possessing  no  more  property  in  the  town  than 
a  house  or  two  and  some  closes  of  land.  The  Master  sur- 
rendered the  foundation,^  and  it  was  granted  in  1544  to 
Edmund  Harman,  one  of  the  King's  Barber  Surgeons.^  He 
also  obtained  in  1546  a  grant  of  the  Rectory  of  Burford,  the 
one  other  piece  of  monastic  property  here,  which  had  belonged 
to  the  Abbey  of  Keynsham.^  But  these  grants  had  no  effect 
upon  the  town,  for  the  passage  of  ecclesiastical  property 
into  lay  hands  did  not  mean  here  the  advent  of  a  new  lord 

1  Augm.  Court  Proc.  (P.  R.  O.).  13,  10. 

2  Particulars  for  Grants  (P.  R.  O.),  541.  »  Ibid.,  542. 


CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600      43 

of  the  manor.  The  Priory  had  never  had  any  manorial  rights 
in  Burford.  Even  when  Harman,  a  few  years  later,  added 
to  his  possessions  some  manorial  rights,  the  town  remained 
unaffected.  His  lease  was  only  of  the  agricultural  portion 
of  the  manor,  which  had  always  been  outside  the  scope  of 
the  charters,  1  and  he  was  never  lord  of  the  town.  The 
Dissolution  therefore  brought  no  disturbance  to  the  Corpora- 
tion. 

But  another  Act  of  confiscation  followed  which  must 
have  given  it  a  severe  shock.  This  was  the  Act  of  Edward  VI, 
dissolving  the  Gilds  and  Chantries  and  alienating  their  pos- 
sessions to  the  Crown.  The  Fellowship  of  the  Alderman, 
Steward,  and  Burgesses  had  indeed  passed  in  practice  far 
enough  beyond  the  limitations  of  its  Gild  origin,  however 
clear  the  Gild  type  remained  in  its  constitution,  to  escape 
absolute  extinction.  It  was  not  now  a  Gild  within  the 
meaning  of  the  Act — a  body  existing  solely  for  mutual 
benevolence,  the  maintenance  of  a  chapel,  and  the  observance 
of  obits.  Yet  there  was  hardly  a  single  piece  of  its  property 
which  was  not  held,  so  to  speak,  on  Gild  terms,  that  is  to 
say,  which  did  not  impose  upon  the  Fellowship,  as  a  condition 
of  holding  the  property,  the  duty  of  observing  an  anniversary, 
of  paying  a  priest  for  the  saying  of  memorial  Masses,  or  at 
the  least  of  making  some  annual  payment  for  the  upkeep  of 
lights  or  other  accessories  of  church  services  classed  by  this 
Act  as  superstitious.  Even  Poole's  Lands,  given  as  they 
were  for  the  benefit  of  the  Corporation  and  the  maintenance 
of  its  charters,  were  subject  to  a  direction  that  the  people 
in  the  Almshouse,  who  were  to  be  the  recipients  of  a  small 
weekly  dole,  should  pray  for  the  souls  of  Thomas  Poole  and 
his  wife ;  and  that  apparently  unimportant  phrase  was 
enough  to  vitiate  the  obviously  secular  intentions  of  the 
testator  and  bring  his   bequest  under  the  Act. 

The  result  was  that  the  Burgesses  found  themselves 
stripped  of  all  that  property,  the  administration  of  which  had 

1  Misc.  Bks.  Land  Revenue  (P.  R.  O.).  vol.  189,  fol.  88.  The  actual 
date  of  the  lease  has  not  been  filled  in.  but  it  is  entered  as  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI. 


44    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

provided  them  with  their  most  continuous  public  activity 
and  their  strongest  impulse  towards  cohesion.  The  process 
appears  to  have  been  a  gradual  one.  For  a  considerable 
time  after  the  passing  of  the  Act  some  of  the  properties 
continued  to  be  administered  by  the  Burgesses  ;  a  few  were 
successfully  defended  against  the  claims  of  the  Crown's 
officers,  and  one  or  two  pieces  were  never  brought  to  ques- 
tion.^  But  on  the  whole  the  effects  of  the  Act  were  sweeping, 
and  during  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
Records  show  an  almost  complete  blank  in  that  series  of 
leases  and  enfeoffments  which  previously  provided  our  chief 
material  for  knowledge  of  the  borough  system. 

Here,  then,  is  a  very  natural  explanation  of  the  sudden 
appearance  in  the  Memorandum  Book  of  a  definition  of  the 
jurisdiction  conferred  by  the  sac  and  soc  phrase.  The  entry 
is  not  dated,  but  from  its  position  in  the  book  it  must  have 
been  made  after  1560,  and  it  was  between  1560  and  1570 
that  the  alienation  of  the  charity  lands  became  most  stringent. 
The  Burgesses,  finding  that  nothing  was  left  to  them  as 
a  Gild  to  administer,  had  a  new  concern  for  that  other  sphere 
in  which  their  entity  subsisted,  the  work  of  the  Borough 
Court. 

This  entry  does  just  allow  us  to  go  so  far  as  to  discern  in 
the  Burgesses  a  consciousness  of  two  distinct  spheres  of 
activity,  and  a  deliberate  turning  from  one  to  the  other. 
But  the  distinction  can  hardly  be  made  before  it  is  obliterated 
again  ;  the  turning  from  one  sphere  to  the  other  had  been 
merely  by  force  of  circumstances,  and  the  Burgesses  set 
themselves  to  correct  the  circumstances.  It  would  appear  to 
a  modern  mind  that,  so  long  as  the  Borough  Court  remained 
secure,  the  town's  corporate  vitality  was  ensured ;  and, 
indeed,  that  any  circumstances  which  tended  to  concentrate 
the  existence  of  the  Burgess  body  rather  in  the  Court  than 
in  charity  administration  were  for  the  good  of  the  town  and 
required  no  correction.  But  the  slight  distinction  which  the 
Burgesses  evidently  made  did  not  amount  to  any  perception 
of  such  differences.  They  were  incapable  of  perceiving  the 
1  Part  III,  p.  373. 


CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600      45 

constitutional  distinction  between  themselves  as  adminis- 
trators of  town  lands  and  themselves  as  members  of  the 
Borough  Court.  All  their  functions  were  to  them  upon  the 
same  plane  of  corporateness,  if  the  phrase  may  be  allowed, 
and  none  of  them  could  be  lost  with  equanimity. 

It  is  necessary  therefore  to  pursue  further  the  history  of 
the  charity  lands.  In  detail  it  is  rather  obscure.  No  docu- 
ment gives  a  list  of  the  property  at  the  moment  of  confisca- 
tion ;  we  have  to  derive  our  knowledge  of  what  happened 
from  the  grants  of  confiscated  estate  made  to  individuals  by 
the  Crown,  and  from  some  proceedings  of  the  Court  of 
Exchequer,  1  until  in  the  year  1599  the  town  Records  become 
again  our  source  of  information  after  the  recovery  by  pur- 
chase of  most  of  the  lost  lands  and  tenements.  The  docu- 
ments in  the  Public  Record  Office  are  confusing,  and  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  identify  all  the  various  pieces  of  property 
at  all  the  stages.    But  a  rough  outline  of  events  can  be  given. 

The  bulk  of  the  property  passed  into  the  hands  of  private 
individuals  having  previously  no  connexion  with  Burford, 
who  may  be  said  in  modern  phrase  to  have  taken  it  as 
a  speculation.  The  first  of  these,  Richard  Venables,  sold 
eight  lots  to  a  Burford  man,  which  thus  became  private 
property  and  ceased  to  serve  charitable  purposes.  Venables 
obtained  his  grant  in  1549  ^t  twenty-five  years'  purchase. 
He  evidently  let  the  speculation  drop,  for  several  of  his 
properties  appear,  together  with  others  not  previously 
granted,  in  the  next  speculation,  when  in  1563  two  men 
named  Smith  and  Devyse  obtained  a  sixty-years'  lease  from 
the  Crown.  They  seem  to  have  sold  none  of  the  property, 
but  again  to  have  let  their  speculation  drop,  since  after 
twenty-seven  years  of  their  lease  had  run  the  property  was 
granted  to  two  other  men  named  Typper  and  Dawe. 

Meanwhile,  in  1567,  proceedings  were  taken  in  the  Court 
of  Exchequer  concerning  a  few  houses  and  pieces  of  land 
which  had  escaped  confiscation.  They  were  claimed  by  the 
Crown,  but  without  success,  and  remained  in  the  hands  of 
local  feoffees.  Some  of  these  were  put  to  a  use  calculated 
»  See  Part  III.  pp.  373.  647. 


46    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

to  protect  them  against  further  claims  by  the  Crown,  being 
made  part  of  the  foundation  endowment  of  the  Grammar 
School  in  1571.  Other  portions,  in  spite  of  the  verdict  of 
the  Court  of  Exchequer,  were  included  by  Typper  and  Dawe 
in  their  application  for  lands  and  passed  into  their  possession. 

The  final  stage  in  these  transactions  was  reached  in  1598, 
when  the  Burgesses  recovered  nearly  all  the  old  charity  lands 
by  purchase  from  Typper  and  Dawe.  In  each  group  of  the 
charities  the  series  of  leases  and  conveyances,  interrupted  at 
the  middle  of  the  century,  begins  again  in  1599  with  a  con- 
veyance by  two  of  the  prominent  Burgesses,  Richard  Mery- 
wether  and  Toby  Dallam,  to  certain  other  Burgesses,  the 
conveyance  being  made  by  Merywether  and  Dallam  '  in 
discharge  of  the  trust  and  confidence  reposed  in  them  by 
their  fellows  '.  This  phrase  is  explained  by  an  entry  in  one 
of  the  Corporation  Account  Books,  in  which  a  list  of  the 
charity  lands  dated  1600  is  prefaced  by  the  statement  that 
the  lands  and  tenements  had  been  purchased  by  Simon  Green, 
Richard  Merywether,  and  Toby  Dallam  '  whoe  were  putt  in 
trust  for  the  purchase  thereof  Amountinge  to  the  some  of 
fower  score  pounds  '.  The  Burgesses  had  clearly  subscribed 
for  the  repurchase  of  the  properties. 

They  proceeded  at  once  to  re-establish  the  charities  in 
a  way  which  shows  considerable  business  ability.  The 
property  must  all  have  been  in  a  very  bad  condition.  Even 
in  1563  most  of  it  is  described  as  ruinous  ;  and  although 
Smith  and  Devyse  obtained  their  grant  on  easy  terms  upon 
an  undertaking  to  effect  the  necessary  repairs,  it  is  certain 
from  later  documents  that  neither  they  nor  Typper  and 
Dawe  did  more  than  the  minimum  required  to  keep  the  houses 
standing.  The  Burgesses  dealt  with  this  state  of  affairs  by 
leasing  the  houses,  not  directly  and  singly  to  the  occupiers, 
but  in  groups  to  prominent  Burgesses.  These  leases  were 
for  long  periods,  eighty  or  ninety  years,  at  small  rentals, 
the  lessees  undertaking  repairs.  In  each  case  the  old  leases 
obtained  from  the  Crown  grantees  were  surrendered,  and 
a  fine  paid  for  the  new  lease,  these  fines  amounting  in  all  to 
about  £100. 


CORPORATION  AT  ITS  ZENITH  :    1500-1600      47 

By  these  measures  the  property  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  individuals  who  could  afford  to  lay  out  capital  on  putting 
the  houses  into  good  condition  and  take  interest  on  their 
money  in  the  rents  received  from  their  sub-tenants.  The 
rents  received  for  the  charities  from  the  chief  lessees  were 
indeed  small ;  but  this  was  at  any  rate  better  than  the  total 
suspension  of  the  charities  for  the  preceding  fifty  years,  and 
better  also  than  leasing  the  houses,  for  the  sake  of  immediate 
rents,  to  single  occupiers  in  whose  hands  they  would  soon 
fall  into  a  condition  in  which  they  would  become  untenantable 
and  produce  no  rent. 

Now  in  every  aspect  this  re-establishment  of  the  ancient 
charities  is  also  a  deliberate  recovery  of  ground  on  the  part 
of  the  Burgess  body.  There  was,  to  begin  with,  no  particular 
reason  for  re-establishing  the  charities  at  all.  They  had, 
through  no  fault  of  the  Burgesses,  practically  ceased  to 
exist,  and  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  feeling  against  the 
conversion  of  charity  lands  into  private  property  in  the 
cases  in  which  that  happened.  The  men  who  found  the 
money  for  the  purchase  from  Typper  and  Dawe  might  just 
as  well  have  regarded  the  transaction  as  a  private  investment 
on  their  own  behalf.  Or  again,  granted  that  they  had  some 
charitable  intention,  they  might  have  founded  the  charities 
anew  in  their  own  names  instead  of  merely  carrying  on  the 
old  foundations.  They  followed  neither  of  these  lines,  but 
carried  the  business  through  simply  as  a  public  duty  falling 
upon  them  as  Burgesses. 

This,  at  the  close  of  a  century  in  which  they  had  attained 
to  the  complete  exercise  of  functions  which  we  should  now 
recognize  as  a  sufficient  expression  of  corporate  borough 
life,  is  significant.  It  means  that  the  Burgesses  were  incapable 
of  differentiating  between  one  kind  of  function  and  another. 
To  them  everything  which  they  did  or  had  done  as  a  Burgess 
body  was  necessary  to  their  continued  existence  as  a  body. 
The  point  is  important  because  of  its  corollary — that  of  the 
true  borough  liberties  the  Burgesses  had  a  very  imperfect 
appreciation.  Unable  to  distinguish  between  one  kind  of 
function   and   another,    they   failed   to   distinguish   between 


48    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

their  status  in  exercising  one  and  their  status  in  exercising 
the  other.  Because  they  were,  as  the  Burgess  body,  the 
undoubted  authority  in  the  matter  of  the  Charity  lands,  they 
assumed  that  their  position  in  any  other  duties  discharged 
by  them  as  Burgesses  was  on  the  same  plane. 

It  never  occurred  to  them,  therefore,  to  question  the 
efficacy  of  their  charters.  They  continued  throughout  the 
sixteenth  century  to  obtain  from  the  Chancery  Letters 
Patent  of  Confirmation,  which  neither  expanded  the  rudi- 
mentary charters  of  Henry  II  nor  in  any  way  gave  definition 
or  validity  to  the  corporate  constitution.  Events  were  soon 
to  occur  which  reveal  the  true  character  of  the  apparently 
great  developments  of  this  century. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES:   1600-1700 

§1 

That  the  Burgesses  themselves  were  at  this  time  quite 
unconscious  of  any  uncertainty  in  their  position  is  well  seen 
in  one  of  the  first  documents  to  confront  us  among  the 
Burford  Records  of  the  seventeenth  century.  A  large  vellum 
roll  dated  January  1605/6  contains  '  The  Auncyente  Ordy- 
naunces  Rules  Constytucions  and  customes  of  the  Corpora- 
cion  and  Fellowshippe  of  the  Burgesses  of  this  Towne  and 
Burroughe  of  Burfford'.^  It  is  the  only  extant  custumal  of 
the  town  ;  and  although  it  contains  references  to  earlier 
enactments  of  rules  and  ordinances,  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  these  had  ever  been  reduced  into  a  written 
constitution  in  some  custumal  now  lost.  The  Roll  of  1605/6 
nowhere  speaks  of  any  previous  document  of  the  same  kind, 
and  nowhere  quotes  an  ancient  rule ;  it  only  mentions  in 
general  terms  that  there  had  been  such  rules. 

The  first  thing,  therefore,  to  be  noticed  about  the  Roll  is 
that  the  Burgesses  of  Burford  were  singularly  late  in  pro- 
viding themselves  with  a  written  constitution.  From  this 
we  may  deduce  that  they  had  also  been  late  in  taking  upon 
themselves  the  exercise  of  any  considerable  public  duties. 
The  need  for  such  rules  as  are  here  inscribed  would  only 
become  apparent  as  the  Burgesses  became  more  and  more 
a  public  body  whose  proceedings  affected  the  general  mass 
of  inhabitants  outside  the  limits  of  their  Fellowship. 
Practically  this  must  mean  that,  while  we  need  not  think  of 
all  the  developments  of.  the  sixteenth  century  as  sudden  or 
unexplained  by  tendencies  of  earlier  date,  it  was  not  until 

*  This  roll  has  been  printed  in  full  by  the  Historical  MSS.  Commission 
{Various  Collections,  vol.  i,  1901,  p.  34),  and  is  therefore  not  reprinted 
in  the  present  work. 

3304  E 


50    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

that  century  that  the  Burgesses  approximated  effectively  to 
a  town  incorporation. 

Detailed  examination  of  the  Roll  shows  that  they  never 
did  more  than  approximate.  The  ordinances  are  not  those 
of  a  town  corporate  forming  an  entity  of  the  realm  and  respon- 
sible to  the  laws  of  the  realm  directly.  They  are  the  rules 
of  a  body  regarding  itself  as  assistant  to  the  chief  officers 
of  the  borough  in  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  order  and 
the  administration  of  law ;  its  relation  to  the  Crown  sub- 
sisting in  the  fact  that  these  officers  were  officials  of  the 
Crown — *  the  Prynce's  chiefe  officers  of  this  saide  Towne  ' 
(Article  2).  The  body  is  a  close  one,  self-electing  (Article  20), 
and  its  members  are  responsible  to  no  one  but  fellow-members 
for  the  discharge  of  their  duties  (Articles  7,  16,  17,  18)  ; 
punishment  for  breach  of  the  Rules  is  inflicted  by  the 
Fellowship,  and  fines  and  fees  are  paid  into  a  common  fund 
disposable  for  purposes  of  the  Fellowship  (Article  18).  The 
Gild  tradition  is  very  strongly  present ;  as  for  instance  in 
Article  6,  forbidding  members  to  '  procure  or  ingrosse  or 
cause  to  be  procured  or  ingrossed  '  from  other  members 
houses,  lands,  or  anything  '  that  ys  parte  or  parcell  of  their 
lyvinge  '  ;  in  Articles  8  and  9  concerning  the  relief  of  poor 
and  aged  members  of  the  Fellowship  and  the  attendance 
of  members  at  the  funeral  of  one  of  their  number ;  and  in 
Articles  10  and  20  providing  for  reform  of  the  '  great  charges  ' 
which  had  fallen  upon  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  at  their 
election  in  feasting  the  brethren. 

At  no  point  do  the  Burgesses  show  themselves  as  responsible 
to  the  townspeople,  or  as  exercising  functions  on  their  behalf. 
The  elected  officers  are  responsible  to  the  Fellowship,  and 
modifications  of  their  duties,  whether  concerning  the  Fellow- 
ship alone  or  affecting  such  public  matters  as  the  market 
and  tolls,  may  be  made  upon  the  vote  of  the  Fellowship 
(Article  11).  None  of  the  Rules  appHes  to  any  inhabitant  of 
the  borough  other  than  members  of  the  Fellowship,  and  no 
control  of  the  borough  is  contemplated  except  in  administra- 
tion of  the  common  law  by  the  Crown's  officers. 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES  :    1600-1700  51 

§2 

Now  it  is  precisely  in  the  fact  that  the  chief  officers  of  the 
borough  are  thus  spoken  of  as  the  Crown's  officers  that  we 
are  to  look  for  the  clue  to  the  Burgesses'  view  of  their  position. 
For  the  Roll  of  1605/6  is  at  once  a  correct  interpretation  of 
the  charters,  as  it  professes  to  be  (Article  i),  and  a  com- 
pletely mistaken  deduction  from  them.  The  constitution  of 
the  Gild  was  right  and  proper ;  but  when  the  chief  officers 
of  the  town  were  described  as  '  the  Prynce's  chiefe  officers  ' 
the  Burgesses  were  being  misled  by  the  Crown's  tenure  of 
the  manor  into  supposing  that  their  position  was  as  inde- 
pendent of  intermediate  lordship  as  a  fully  chartered  borough 
held  at  fee-farm  from  the  Crown. 

In  order  to  understand  the  blow  which  was  now  to  fall  upon 
the  place,  it  is  necessary  to  summarize  briefly  the  past  rela- 
tions between  the  town  and  the  manorial  lords  who  had 
owned  it.  From  the  time  when  it  became  an  appanage  of 
the  Honour  of  Gloucester,  Burford  had  been  an  unimportant 
item  in  the  possessions  of  a  succession  of  great  lords,  none  of 
whom  had  ever  resided  in,  or  even  near,  the  place.  From 
the  first  Earls  of  Gloucester  it  had  passed  to  the  De  Clares, 
then  to  the  Despensers,  and  from  them  to  the  Earls  of 
Warwick.  Though  the  agricultural  part  of  the  manor  had 
often  been  in  the  hands  of  tenants,  the  town  had  nearly 
always  remained  in  the  direct  holding  of  the  chief  lord ; 
and  even  when,  for  a  short  period,  a  tenant  for  life  had  held 
the  town,  he  also  was  a  man  of  considerable  possessions, 
John  Giffard  of  Brimpsfield,  who  did  not  reside  in  the  place 
and  had  no  close  relations  with  it.^ 

The  inevitable  result  of  these  conditions  was  that,  as  the 
Burgesses,  advancing  in  importance  and  capability,  began  to 
take  more  share  in  the  affairs  of  the  town,  they  would  be 
confronted  by  no  very  strict  assertion  of  the  manorial  supre- 
macy. Constantly  associated  with  the  work  of  the  Borough 
Court  and  with  the  supervision  of  the  market,  they  would 
tend  gradually,  and  perhaps  even  unconsciously,  to  regard 

^  For  more  detailed  information  about  the  descent  of  the  manor  see 
Part  II,  p.  82. 

E  2 


52    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

these  as  their  own  Court  and  market.  The  way  in  which  the 
interests  of  the  Baihffs  came  to  be  identified  with  the  town 
rather  than  with  the  lord  of  the  manor  is  a  very  distinct 
sign  of  this  tendency.  When,  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  manor  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown, 
the  process  of  encroachment  on  the  manorial  rights  must 
have  been  much  accelerated.  The  Records  of  the  century 
show  that  in  almost  every  department  the  Burgesses  were 
in  effective  occupation  of  what  did  not  belong  to  them.  The 
Bailiffs  excused  from  office  pay  their  fine  to  the  Burgesses. 
The  Borough  Court  profits  are  allotted  to  the  clerk  of  the 
Court  as  his  remuneration.  The  Burgesses  let  the  stalls  in 
the  market  and  fix  the  market  tolls.  They  even  went  so 
far,  in  one  curious  instance,  as  to  deal  with  the  waste  inside 
the  town,  levying  fines  on  the  inhabitants  of  Sheep  Street 
for  the  sheep  pens  erected  on  the  open  spaces  before  their 
houses.^  Not  one  of  the  sources  of  burghal  profit  had  been 
held  at  a  rent  from  the  lord  ;  the  proceeds  had,  as  we  have 
seen,  been  paid  direct  to  him.  The  only  conclusion  to  be 
drawn  from  the  sixteenth-century  Records  is  that,  under 
a  remote  and  weakening  manorial  control,  this  money  had 
begun  to  find  its  way  into  the  common  box  of  the  Burgesses. 

Now  when  a  town  in  these  circumstances  happened,  by 
the  accidental  conditions  of  the  tenure  of  the  manor,  to 
have'its  chief  officers  appointed  by  the  Crown,  it  was  natural 
that  the  Burgesses  should  fall  into  the  belief  that  they  were 
as  other  boroughs  responsible  to  the  Crown  and  forget  their 
manorial  status.  They  could  not  possibly  have  the  constitu- 
tional knowledge  to  distinguish  between  the  appearance  and 
the  reality.  Events  were  now  to  bring  it  home  to  them  in 
a  disastrous  manner. 

In  1601  the  Crown  alienated  the  town  and  manor  of  Burford 
by  sale  to  Sir  John  Fortescue,  for  a  long  period  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  under  Queen  Elizabeth.  This  transaction 
had  no  more  immediate  effect  upon  the  place  than  the  ancient 
lordships  had  had,  and  for  the  same  reason.  Fortescue  was  a 
very  rich  man,  whose  chief  seat  was  at  Saldan  in  Buckingham- 
1  See  Part  III,  p.  416. 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES  :    1600-1700  53 

shire  ;  and  since  there  was  no  manorial  mansion  at  Burford 
he  probably  did  not  concern  himself  much  with  the  town. 
With  him,  however,  the  long  disjunction  of  Burford  and  its 
lords  ended.  His  executors  sold  the  town  and  manor  in 
1617  to  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield,  who  was  already  resident  at 
Burford,  being  described  in  the  deed  of  sale  as  '  of  the  Priory 
near  Burford  '.^ 

Thus  at  a  late  date,  and  by  an  accidental  combination  of 
tenures,  the  Dissolution  of  the  Monasteries  was  to  have  here 
the  same  effect  as  it  had  immediately  and  directly  elsewhere 
— the  introduction  of  a  new  lord.  Harman  had  never  resided 
at  the  Priory,  probably  because  the  old  religious  building 
must  have  been  poor  and  insignificant,  and  he  could  not,  or 
did  not  care  to,  spend  money  on  the  erection  of  a  mansion  ;  nor 
had  he  ever  obtained  the  lordship  of  the  town.  Tanfield,  rich 
enough  to  build  a  great  house  and  to  add  to  his  importance  by 
acquiring  the  lordship  of  the  town,  became  the  first  resident 
lord  of  the  manor  Burford  had  had  since  the  Norman  Conquest.^ 

In  any  case  such  a  change  would  necessarily  have  brought 
about  some  difficulties  in  a  town  whose  Burgesses  had 
acquired  the  exercise  of  their  functions  so  largely  by  default 
of  the  manorial  control.  But  it  was  peculiarly  unfortunate 
for  Burford  that  the  change  came  with  a  man  like  Tanfield. 
Corrupt  and  avaricious  in  his  public  life,  he  was  grasping 
and  overbearing  as  a  territorial  lord.  In  his  other  manor  of 
Great  Tew  he  seized  upon  lands  and  rights  to  which  his 
tenants'  title  was  not  in  dispute.  He  was  not  likely  to  spare 
the  rights  of  Burgesses  whose  position  was,  to  say  the  least, 
open  to  very  serious  question. 

§3 

Within  two  years  of  his  purchase  of  the  lordship  of  the 

town  and  manor  of  Burford  the  Burgesses,  in  the  persons  of 

six  of  their  number,  were  put  on  their  defence  in  the  Court 

of  Exchequer  by  a  writ  of  Quo  Warranto  on  the  charge  of 

*  Priory  Deeds. 

'  For  a  further  account  of  Tanfield  and  his  origins  see  Chap.  XI  (Part  II, 
p.  268). 


54    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

usurping  certain  liberties  and  privileges  to  which  they  had 
no  title.  Tanfield's  name  appears  nowhere  in  the  record  of 
the  case.  The  proceedings  were  instituted  on  information 
lodged  by  the  Attorney-General,  Sir  Henry  Yelverton.  But 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Tanfield  had  set  the  case  in 
motion.  To  begin  with,  there  was  no  particular  reason  why 
the  Burgesses'  position  should  be  called  in  question  just  at 
this  time,  except  that  a  new  lord  had  entered  upon  the 
manor,  and  manorial  dues  had  been  usurped  by  the  Burgesses. 
Secondly,  there  is  evidence  in  connexion  with  his  other  manor 
that  this  new  lord  was  very  far  from  being  complaisant  or 
mild  in  his  holding  of  a  manor ;  a  petition  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Great  Tew  to  the  House  of  Lords  complains  that  he  had 
interfered  with  common  rights  there,  had  enclosed  pieces 
of  tenants'  lands,  stopped  rights  of  way,  and  so  on.^  It  may 
be  that  the  petition  is  not  wholly  to  be  relied  on,  but  it  could 
not  have  been  made  without  some  reasonable  grievance 
behind  it ;  and  even  if  Tanfield  had  been  within  his  rights, 
the  petition  shows — what  is  enough  for  our  present  purpose — 
that  he  sharply  exacted  his  rights.  In  other  words,  he  would 
have  been  likely  to  assert  his  rights  in  Burford,  and  to 
institute  proceedings  such  as  those  which  took  place.  Thirdly, 
local  tradition  has  always  pointed  to  Tanfield  as  the  cause 
of  the  town's  loss  of  liberties  ;  this  would  be  unimportant 
if  it  were  not  that  the  proceedings  against  the  Burgesses  were 
such  as  would  be  instituted  by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and 
that  this  lord  of  the  manor  was  precisely  the  kind  of  man  to 
institute  them. 

The  reason  why  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  record  of 
the  case  is  obvious.  He  was,  as  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer, 
the  presiding  judge  in  the  Court  before  which  the  case  came. 
It  began  on  June  17,  1620  (Trinity  Term,  18  James  I),  and 
judgement  on  the  various  points  was  given  by  degrees,  the 
final  points  receiving  judgement  a  year  later,  on  June  16, 
162 1.  A  transcript  of  the  judgements  is  among  the  Burford 
Records.2    It  sets  forth  that,  on  an  information  lodged  by  the 

^  J.  A.  R.  Marriott.  Life  and  Times  of  Lucius  Cary,  p.  48. 
2  Burford  Records,  bundle  MM,  Part  III.  pp.  374-85. 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES  :    1600-1700  55 

Attorney-General,  William  Taylor,  William  Bartholomew, 
Simon  Simons,  Leonard  Mills,  Thomas  Silvester,  and  John 
Hunt,  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  borough  of 
Burford  were  charged  with  exercising  without  warrant  or 
royal  grant  the  following  liberties,  privileges  and  franchises  : 

i.  The  holding  of  a  weekly  market  on  Saturdays ; 
ii.  The  holding  of  two  annual  fairs,  viz.  one  on  the  feast 

of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  one  on  the  feast  of  the 

Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross,  or  Holyrood  Day  ; 
iii.  The  taking  of  picage  and  stallage  at  the  market  and 

fairs  and  the  exercising  of  other  jurisdictions  therein  ; 
iv.  The  levying  of  toll  on  goods  exposed  for  sale  and  on  all 

live  stock  brought  for  sale  and  the  converting  of  this 

toll  to  the  use  of  the  defendants  ; 
v.  The  right  to  felons'  goods  and  chattels  ; 
vi.  The  right  to  waifs  and  strays  ; 
vii.  The  right  to  appoint  a  Seneschal  of  the  town  ; 
viii.  The  right  to  appoint  a  Deputy  Alderman  ; 
ix.  The  right  to  remove  officials  from  their  offices  ;  ] 
X.  The  right  to  hold  a  Borough  Court  every  three  weeks, 

and  to  convert  to  the  use  of  the  defendants  all  profits 

of  the  Court ; 
xi.  The  right  to  try  in  that  Court  all  cases  involving  a  sum 

of  less  than  405,,  to  administer  oaths  in  the  hearing 

of  cases  and  to  examine  witnesses  on  oath  ; 
xii.  The  right  to  make  statutes  and  by-laws  and  to  fine  or 

imprison  persons  for  breaches  thereof  ; 
xiii.  The  right  to  put  persons  on  oath  to  keep  the  by-laws. 

Now  if  we  set  against  this  list  the  list  of  privileges  which 
Tanfield  had  bought  from  Fortescue  and  Fortescue  from  the 
Crown,  as  set  out  in  the  deeds  of  sale  and  in  the  Letters 
Patent  which  Tanfield  obtained  from  James  I  in  confirmation 
of  his  purchase,  the  reason  for  these  proceedings  of  Quo 
Warranto  is  quite  clear.  The  privileges  thus  ahenated  by 
the  Crown  to  the  new  lords  of  the  manor  included,  with  the 
manor  and  borough,  the  market  and  the  fair  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist  with  their  stallage  and  tolls,  the  Stewardship  of  the 
borough  with  the  profits  of  the  Courts,  and  the  right  to 
waifs  and  strays  and  felons'  goods.  Clearly  the  Crown  had 
regarded  itself  as  owning  these  privileges  and  profits  by  right 
of  the  manor,  and  Tanfield,  in  view  of  his  purchase  deed  and 


56    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

Letters  Patent,  cannot  be  blamed  for  bringing  to  question 
the  Burgesses'  occupation  of  them. 

Some  of  the  impeached  privileges  were  not  defended  at  all 
by  the  Burgesses.  The  right  to  appoint  a  Deputy  Alderman, 
the  power  to  administer  oaths  to  witnesses  in  the  Borough 
Court  and  to  examine  them  on  oath,  the  right  to  imprison  for 
breaches  of  the  by-laws,  and  the  right  to  put  persons  upon 
oath  to  keep  the  by-laws  were  abandoned.  Whether  they 
were  only  accidentally  omitted  from  the  pleadings  for  the 
defence,  or  whether  they  were  deliberately  given  up,  does 
not  appear.  Judgement  was  forthwith  pronounced,  seizing 
these  privileges  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown  and  inhibiting 
the  defendants  from  exercising  them. 

On  the  other  points  the  defence  was  twofold,  consisting 
first  of  the  import  of  the  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  III, 
and  secondly  of  the  plea  that  the  Bailiffs,  Alderman,  and 
Burgesses  had  exercised  these  franchises  from  time  of  which 
the  memory  of  man  ran  not  to  the  contrary.  In  other  words, 
the  privileges  were  claimed  partly  by  grant  and  partly  by 
prescription. 

The  plea  of  prescription  was  referred  to  a  jury.  The 
privileges  claimed  on  this  ground  were  the  Saturday  market, 
the  two  fairs,  and  the  tolls  and  stallage  of  the  market  and 
fairs.  It  is  obvious  that  this  plea  could  not  hold  water. 
Documents  have  been  quoted  in  previous  chapters  which 
show  clearly  that  market  profits  and  tolls  at  Burford  were 
reckoned  among  the  revenues  of  the  lords  of  the  manor ;  ^ 
and  the  fair  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  besides  appearing  at 
early  dates  among  those  revenues,  had  been  specifically 
regranted  to  Hugh  le  Despenser.^  A  curious  point  is  that 
the  fair  of  Holyrood  Day  was  not  separately  defended  in  the 
pleadings.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  this  fair  had  been  dis- 
tinctly granted  to  the  Bailiffs,  Alderman,  and  Burgesses  by 
charter,^  that  charter  was  not  put  in  evidence,  and  the  two 
fairs  were  dealt  with  on  the  same  basis.  It  may  be  that  the 
defendants  perceived  that  to  produce  a  separate  charter 
for  one  fair  would  react  unfavourably  upon  their  claim  to 

*  See  p.  17.  2  See  Part  III,  p.  572.  '  See  p.  24. 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES  :    1600-1700  57 

the  other  fair  and  the  market,  and  decided  that  all  these 
sources  of  profit  must  stand  or  fall  together. 

Stand  they  could  not.  The  Burgesses  had  certainly  not  owned 
these  profits  time  out  of  mind,  and  the  jury  gave  a  verdict  to 
that  effect.  The  Court  gave  judgement  upon  the  verdict,  and 
these  privileges  in  turn  were  seized  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown 
and  the  Burgesses  were  inhibited  from  the  enjoyment  of  them. 

The  plea  of  the  charter  of  Edward  HI  was  dealt  with  by 
the  Court  itself.  The  judgement  as  recorded  is  not  what 
would  nowadays  be  called  a  reasoned  judgement,  and  there- 
fore we  do  not  know  on  what  ground  this  plea  was  held 
invalid  by  the  lawyers  of  the  time.  But  that  it  was  so  held 
can  hardly  surprise  us.  No  attempt  had  ever  been  made  by 
the  Burgesses  to  obtain  a  charter  which  should  amplify  or 
render  more  precise  the  rudimentary  phrases  of  the  first 
grants  from  the  Crown — the  two  charters  of  Henry  H.  These 
gave  the  burgage  tenure,  set  up  a  market,  authorized  the 
establishment  of  a  Gild  ;  and  one  of  them  included  the  sac 
and  soc  clause.  No  charter  the  Burgesses  had  ever  obtained 
conferred  any  other  franchise  ;  throughout  the  whole  series 
the  sole  effective  portion  of  each  document  is  a  recital  of  the 
grants  of  Henry  H;  and  it  was  upon  the  first  Royal  confirma- 
tion of  them  that  the  defence  relied.  It  was  bound  to  fail, 
because  no  clause  gave  the  town  to  be  held  by  the  Burgesses, 
and  no  clause  conferred  upon  them  any  right  except  as  men 
of  a  manor.  In  Henry  IPs  first  charter  they  are  '  homines 
Willelmi  comitis  Gloecestrie  de  Boreford  ',  and  in  the  second 
they  are  '  liberi  Burgenses  ville  comitis  Willelmi  de  Bureford  '. 

The  flaw  in  the  legal  position  of  Burford  is  very  clearly 
shown  by  a  certain  letter  from  the  Corporation  of  Oxford, 
which  is  among  the  Burford  Records.^  It  is  dated  25  Sep- 
tember, 18  James  I  (1620),  and  is  a  certificate  under  the 
Common  Seal  of  Oxford  concerning  the  right  of  the  Mayor 
and  Commonalty  of  that  city  to  waifs  and  strays,  felons' 
goods,  picage,  stallage,  and  tallage.  The  Bailiffs,  Alderman, 
and  Burgesses  of  Burford  had  applied  to  be  certified  on 
these  points,  according  to  the  usage  customary  between 
^  Burford  Records,  bundle  PP.  no.  4. 


58    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

towns  when  one  had  been  expressly  granted  in  charters  the 
free  customs  of  another,  as  was  the  case  here.  The  Mayor 
and  Commonalty  of  Oxford  replied  that  they  had  the  rights 
in  question  '  as  part  of  that  wee  hould  by  fee  farme  and  for 
which  wee  pay  the  same  '.*  In  that  passage  lies  the  whole 
difference  between  the  position  of  Oxford  and  that  of  Burford. 
The  Burgesses  of  Burford  had  nevej  paid  any  rent  for  the 
sources  of  profit  which  they  had  taken  into  their  hands,  and 
obviously  therefore  had  no  right  to  them. 

On  considerations  presumably  of  this  kind  the  Court  held 
invalid  the  plea  of  charter  with  regard  to  the  remaining 
privileges — the  right  to  waifs  and  strays,  the  right  to  elect 
a  Seneschal  or  Steward,  the  right  to  hold  a  Borough  Court, 
the  making  of  ordinances  and  by-laws  and  to  impose  fines 
for  breach  thereof.  Judgement  was  given  seizing  these 
franchises  also  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown,  and  inhibiting 
the  Burgesses  from  the  enjoyment  of  them. 

The  disaster  was  complete ;  but  it  enables  us  to  see  the 
meaning  of  the  advance  in  burghal  activity  during  the 
sixteenth  century  and  the  comparative  lack  of  any  such 
activity  in  the  previous  century.  It  had  arisen  partly  from 
the  universal  decay  of  the  manorial  system  after  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses,  and  partly  from  the  particular  circumstances 
at  Burford  which  had  put  the  manor  into  the  hands  of  the 
Crown.  The  Burgesses,  finding  themselves  acting  as  a  Court 
and  managing  a  market  and  fairs  without  being  called  to 
account  by  any  one  for  the  revenues,  and  then  observing 
that  their  chief  officers  were  appointed  by  the  Crown,  had 
passed — quite  probably  without  any  deliberate  intentions 
of  encroachment — into  the  belief  that  their  position  was  the 
same  as  that  of  other  boroughs  which  in  appearance  pre- 
sented the  same  conditions.  They  omitted  to  notice  that 
in  those  boroughs  the  privileges  were  accompanied  by 
responsibilities — that  boroughs  under  the  Crown  owed  duties 
to  the  Crown  and  paid  for  their  franchises. 

^  Evidently  this  certificate  was  applied  for  in  connexion  with  the  Quo 
Warranto  proceedings  ;  the  date  of  it  is  between  the  date  of  the  Attorney- 
General's  information  and  the  date  of  the  first  hearing  of  the  defence. 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES  :    1600-1700  59 

The  mistake  cost  them  dear.  From  this  time  forth  Burford 
has  not  even  the  shadow  of  likeness  to  the  great  boroughs. 
The  long  series  of  Letters  Patent  from  the  Crown  confirmirig 
liberties  comes  to  an  end  with  those  issued  by  the  Chancery 
of  James  1.  There  are  no  more  Borough  Court  Books,  and 
no  Memorandum  Books  of  any  importance. 

§4 

One  thing,  indeed,  survived  the  disaster,  and  that  was  the 
Corporation  itself.  Nothing  had  passed  to  prevent  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  a  body  under  the  title  of  the  Alderman 
and  Burgesses  of  Burford.  But  that  existence  would  probably 
not  have  been  as  long  as  it  actually  was,  and  certainly  not 
as  important,  if  the  Burgesses  of  the  sixteenth  century  had 
not,  by  that  curious  stroke  of  foresight,  taken  pains  to 
recover  into  their  hands  the  ancient  Charity  Lands.  In  the 
control  of  them  the  Burgesses  had  work  that  held  them 
together  and  gave  them  still,  in  a  much  modified  sense,  a 
public  position. 

Even  this  remaining  fragment  of  authority  was  now  to  be 
challenged.  In  1628  a  Royal  Commission,  appointed  under 
the  Elizabethan  Act  '  concerning  the  Mislmployment  of 
Lands  heretofore  given  to  Charitable  Uses  ',  held  an  inquiry 
at  Burford,  and  made  decrees  which  were  intended  to  destroy 
the  supremacy  of  the  Burgesses  in  the  management  of  the 
charities. 

Again,  although  no  motive  for  the  appointment  of  the 
Commission  appears  on  the  existing  records,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  discover  the  reason  for  the  proceedings.  This  is  to  be 
found  in  the  form  which  the  recovery  of  the  Charity  Lands 
had  taken.  They  had  been  purchased  from  two  men  who 
had  obtained  a  grant  of  them  from  the  Crown.  Now  of  course 
the  Crown  did  not  grant  confiscated  lands  for  nothing,  and 
the  Letters  Patent  of  the  grant  to  Typper  and  Dawe  reserved 
certain  quit-rents  to  the  Crown.  The  same  rents  were 
reserved  in  the  deeds  of  sale  to  the  Burgesses  who  made  the 
purchase.  But  the  payments  to  the  Exchequer  had  not  been 
kept  up  ;   a  document  of  163 1  shows  that  they  had  ceased  in 


6o    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

1603.1  It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  the  Officials  of  the 
Exchequer  would  allow  this  state  of  things  to  continue  for 
long  without  an  explanation  ;  and  it  seems,  from  certain 
passages  in  the  Commission's  decrees,  that  the  Burgesses  in 
reply  had  questioned  the  validity  of  the  transactions  with 
Typper  and  Dawe,  pleading  that  the  lands  had  been  wrong- 
fully confiscated  and  ought  never  to  have  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  Crown  or  consequently  in  the  possession  of  Typper 
and  Dawe.  This  plea  would  require  investigation,  and 
provides  us  with  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  appointment  of 
the  Commission. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Commission's  decrees  are  so  plainly 
unfriendly  to  the  Burgesses  that  there  may  have  been  also 
some  element  of  criticism  of  their  control  at  work  to  bring 
about  an  inquiry.  Tanfield  had  died  in  1625.  But  Lady 
Tanfield,  who  was  certainly  almost  as  energetic  as  her  husband 
in  the  controversies  with  the  tenants  of  Great  Tew,  and 
therefore  probably  took  her  share  in  all  that  had  taken  place 
at  Burford,  lived  until  1628.  She  may  have  brought  influence 
to  bear  upon  the  Exchequer  which  caused  the  Commission 
to  have  in  mind  other  considerations  than  those  of  the  unpaid 
quit-rents  alone,  when  the  inquiry  began. 

The  Decrees,  at  any  rate,  are  a  drastic  reconstitution  of 
the  charitable  trusts  over  the  heads  of  the  Burgesses  and 
a  termination  of  the  Burgesses'  complete  control.  Briefly, 
the  Decrees  are  as  follows  :  The  Commissioners  first  lay  it 
down  that  the  lands  under  investigation  were  anciently  given 
upon  trust  for  certain  purposes,  which  they  set  forth  specifi- 
cally, ordering  that  for  the  future  the  rents  shall  be  used 
for  those  purposes  alone ;  secondly,  they  find  that  in  nearly 
every  case  the  rents  then  being  received  were  inadequate, 
and  they  order  the  cancelling  of  all  the  long  leases  granted 
after  the  recovery  of  the  lands,  with  instructions  that  for 
the  future  no  leases  shall  be  granted  for  a  longer  period  than 
twenty-one  years  or  for  rents  lower  than  those  which  in 
each  instance  the  Commissioners  proceed  to  fix ;  thirdly, 
they  find  that  Typper  and  Dawe  had  obtained  their  Letters 
*  Burford  Records,  bundle  K,  nos.  2  and  3. 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES :   1600-1700  61 

Patent  by  fraud,  the  lands  not  being  justly  subject  to  con- 
fiscation, and  the  ancient  status  of  the  charities  is  thereby 
restored  ;  fourthly,  the  Commissioners  appoint  a  new  body 
of  trustees,  including  a  number  of  members  of  county  families 
from  the  immediate  neighbourhood  with  a  limited  repre- 
sentation from  among  the  Burgesses. 

Of  actual  misuse  of  the  charities  the  Commissioners  have 
little  to  say.  One  house,  the  capital  messuage  of  which  the 
rental  was  a  main  part  of  the  support  of  the  Almshouse,  had 
been  sold  outright — a  transaction  which  was,  of  course,  forth- 
with declared  void.  Otherwise  there  is  no  accusation  of  techni- 
cally illegal  proceedings.  There  is  only  the  general  implication, 
alike  in  the  raising  of  rents  and  in  the  cancelling  of  existing 
leases  and  in  the  appointment  of  trustees  of  a  new  character 
to  lessen  the  Burgesses'  control,  that  the  Corporation  had  not 
discharged  its  duty  faithfully,  but  had  taken  advantage  of 
the  disturbed  and  equivocal  position  of  the  Charity  Lands  under 
various  Tudor  Acts  of  Parliament  to  bring  into  its  absolute 
power  property  in  which  it  should  never  have  had  more  than 
a  trust  interest. 

The  cancelling  of  the  transactions  with  Typper  and  Dawe 
is  at  the  root  of  the  whole  of  the  Decrees,  and  was  for  the 
Corporation  the  vital  portion  of  them.  While  those  trans- 
actions remained  valid,  the  rentals  received  were  not  altogether 
unsatisfactory  and  the  long  leases  had  a  good  reason,  for,  as 
we  have  seen,  they  were  based  upon  a  perfectly  comprehensible 
and  not  unenlightened  policy  of  paying  for  the  repurchase  and 
placing  the  property  in  the  hands  of  responsible  men  with 
some  inducement  to  them  to  repair  the  houses  and  keep  them 
well  tenanted.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  property  was  still 
subject  to  the  old  forms  of  trust,  and  had  never  legally  passed 
out  of  them,  then  the  Burgesses  were  to  blame  for  not  con- 
testing the  fraud  of  Typper  and  Dawe,  and  for  the  state  of 
disrepair  into  which  their  acquiescence  had  allowed  the  houses 
to  fall. 

Again,  if  the  transactions  remained  valid,  the  Commissioners 
would  have  been  acting  in  a  very  high-handed  way  in  appoint- 
ing a  fresh  body  of  trustees  and  dehberately  infusing  into  it  so 


62     HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

large  a  proportion  of  men  outside  the  Burgess  body  and  even 
outside  the  town.  Indeed,  they  might  have  been  acting  ultra 
vires.  But  once  the  lands  were  restored  to  their  ancient  basis, 
the  Commissioners  could  quite  properly  make  any  arrange- 
ments they  chose  for  the  future  administration. 

Thus  in  this  matter,  as  in  the  Quo  Warranto  proceedings, 
the  Burgesses  had  brought  trouble  upon  their  own  heads.  If 
the  proper  manorial  payments  had  been  made  to  Tanfield, 
they  might  have  gone  on  sitting  in  the  Borough  Court  and 
otherwise  conducting  affairs.  If  the  Crown  had  continued  to 
receive  the  quit-rents  of  the  recovered  Charity  Lands — a  total 
sum,  after  all,  of  no  more  than  195.  2d.  a  year — the  Royal 
Commission  of  1628  might  never  have  been  appointed.  We 
need  not  suppose  that  it  was  from  greed  or  parsimony  that  the 
payments  in  either  case  were  withheld.  The  feeling  in  the 
minds  of  the  Burgesses  may  very  well  have  been  rather  one  of 
objection  to  acknowledgement  of  a  higher  authority,  and  of 
desire  to  act  in  complete  independence.  But  that  does  not 
render  the  results  of  their  attitude  less  disastrous. 

§  5 
The  circumstances  of  the  time  tended  to  obscure,  a  few 
years  later,  the  effects  both  of  the  judgement  of  1620-1  and 
the  Decrees  of  1628.  In  general  the  Civil  War  has  left  but  the 
slightest  traces  on  the  Burford  Records.  The  place  was  indeed 
the  scene  of  a  skirmish  or  two,  and  of  Cromwell's  famous 
handling  of  the  Levellers,  so  that  the  register  of  burials  has 
not  escaped  the  marks  of  the  time.  But  there  are  no  signs  of 
internal  confusion  or  interruption  of  the  town's  life.  Two 
reasons  may  be  assigned  for  this.  One  is  that  the  loss  of 
borough  privileges  would  remove  any  necessity  for  public 
decisions  of  poHcy  or  pubHc  action  in  support  of  either  side. 
The  other  is  that  the  town  was  by  that  time  in  the  hands  of 
a  lord  of  the  manor  whose  official  position  would  quite  suffi- 
ciently shelter  it  from  the  need  for  decision.  Lord  Falkland, 
who  had  inherited  the  town  and  manor  with  the  Priory  by  his 
father's  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Sir  Lawrence  and  Lady 
Tanfield,  sold  them  in  1637  to  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES  :   1600-1700  63 

the  Long  Parliament.^  His  influence,  from  all  we  know  of  him, 
would  be  of  a  kind  to  keep  the  town  passive  and  opportunist 
in  its  attitude. 

Indirectly,  however,  the  Civil  War  must  have  affected  one 
important  part  of  the  Decrees  of  1628 — the  part  which  set  up 
the  new  body  of  Trustees.  That  would  in  any  case  have  been 
extremely  likely  to  become  a  dead  letter.  It  was  all  very  well 
to  appoint  county  gentry  as  Trustees ;  but  in  practice  the 
actual  business  of  the  charities  would  soon  fall  back,  when 
the  novelty  had  worn  off,  into  the  hands  of  the  resident 
members  of  the  body,  and  since  those  residents  would  naturally, 
as  men  of  standing  in  the  town,  be  Burgesses,  the  Corporation 
would  in  fact  recover  its  control.  When  events  followed  which 
must  have  sufficiently  occupied  the  minds  of  the  county  gentry, 
if  only  on  the  question  of  how  to  secure  their  own  property 
and  persons,  they  would  be  less  and  less  inclined  to  spare 
attention  for  the  affairs  of  Burford. 

Consequently,  although  the  names  of  the  external  Trustees 
appear  with  all  due  formality  upon  the  leases  of  charity  pro- 
perty, the  detailed  management,  the  reception  and  disposal 
of  the  rents,  reverted  to  the  Corporation.  The  proof  of  this 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Account  Books  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
There  is  one  of  general  charity  accounts  in  which  the  entries 
run  from  1602  to  1658  ;  another  containing  entries  from  1656 
to  1737 ;  and  a  book  of  school  accounts  from  1644  to  1735. 
The  whole  tenor  of  the  entries  is  that  of  management  by  the 
Corporation.  No  record  appears  of  a  decision  being  taken  by 
any  meeting  of  persons  other  than  members  of  the  Corpora- 
tion ;  and  the  accounts  are  rendered  by  the  Bailiffs  to  the 
Burgesses. 

The  obscuring  of  the  effects  of  the  judgement  of  1620-1 
came  in  a  different  and  rather  more  direct  manner.  Preserved 
in  company  with  the  series  of  Letters  Patent  of  Confirmation 
among  the  Burford  Records  are  two  documents  under  the 
Great  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth,  which  did  restore  some 
jurisdiction  in  the  town,  though  not  to  the  town  as  such. 
They  are  commissions  issued,  the  first  in  1649  ^"^  the  second 

^  Priory  Deeds. 


64     HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

in  1659  after  Richard  Cromwell  had  succeeded  to  the  Protec- 
torate, appointing  the  Bailiffs  and  Seneschal  and  two  of  the 
ancientest  Burgesses  of  Burford  to  be  Justices  of  the  Peace 
for  the  town,  in  company  with  William  Lenthall  (and  later 
John  Lenthall,  his  son,  also),  and  to  be  responsible  for  the 
affairs  of  the  town.  This,  of  course,  did  not  restore  the  lost 
corporate  jurisdiction  nor  re-establish  the  Borough  Court. 
But  it  gave  some  semblance  of  the  old  activities  and  the  old 
dignity  to  the  Burgess  body,  and  rendered  less  obvious  the 
stripping  away  of  their  former  authority. 

§6 

The  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  while  it  was  in 
one  respect  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for  Burford,  brought 
no  revival  of  burghal  functions.  In  material  prosperity  the 
town  advanced  considerably.  The  convenience  of  its  position, 
for  the  Burford  Races,  inaugurated  early  in  this  century, 
brought  Charles  II  here  more  than  once,  filled  the  inns  with 
the  Court  and  its  hangers-on,  and  let  loose  at  such  times  a 
flood  of  carelessly  spent  money.  Meanwhile,  the  posting 
system  was  coming  into  being  ;  and  the  situation  of  Burford, 
eighteen  miles  from  Oxford  on  o'ne  of  the  great  roads  to  the 
West — the  main  road  to  Gloucester  and  South  Wales — made 
it  the  inevitable  place  for  breaking  a  journey.  The  rise  of  the 
tanning  and  saddlery  trades,  in  place  of  the  old  subsidiary 
occupations  of  the  wool  trade,  and  still  more  the  rise  of  malting, 
are  plain  indications  of  the  new  life  of  the  town. 

But  the  new  Hfe  had  no  power  to  restore  the  old  conditions. 
Indeed,  even  if  the  Burgesses  had  been  minded  to  challenge  at 
this  date  the  judgement  of  1620-1  they  would  have  been  ill- 
advised  to  make  the  attempt.  The  Crown's  mistrust  of  the 
loyalty  of  the  towns,  and  the  new  policy  of  strengthening  the 
Royal  executive,  were  causing  havoc  in  the  sphere  of  borough 
liberties.  Charters  that  were  of  the  most  ancient  authenticity, 
and  valid  in  law  for  every  item  of  the  jurisdiction  exercised 
under  them,  had  to  be  fought  for,  and  re-established  by  fresh 
grants  jealously  circumscribed.  Short  work  would  certainly 
have  been  made  of  any  claim  to  the  erection  of  liberties  on 


PLATE    IV.     ARCHWAY    FORMERLY    OF 
THE    GEORGE    INN 


LOSS  OF  THE  FRANCHISES  :    1600-1700  65 

charters  against  which  a  court  of  justice  had  already  pro- 
nounced. 

Thus  the  close  of  the  century  following  upon  the  highest 
development  of  the  Corporation  of  Burford  sees  it  but  a  shadow 
of  its  former  self.  The  Bailiffs,  Aldermen,  and  Burgesses  are 
still,  indeed,  the  heirs  of  a  certain  unity  and  of  a  title.  It  is 
noteworthy,  moreover,  that  most  of  the  gifts  of  money  for 
charitable  purposes  (for  loans  to  tradesmen,  for  apprenticing 
youths,  and  so  on),  which  were  frequent  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  were  made  to  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
as  a  body.  They  could  still  stand  in  lesser  degree  for  the 
community  ;  and  a  Burford  man  could  still  feel,  in  making  his 
will,  that  his  town  had  an  enduring  entity  to  which  he  could 
commit  his  charitable  intentions.  He  could. not  discern,  as  we 
can  to-day,  the  state  of  constitutional  insignificance  to  which 
the  Corporation  had  been  reduced ;  nor  was  the  effect  of  that 
insignificance,  in  weakening  the  Burgesses'  self-respect  and 
sense  of  responsibihty,  so  apparent  as  it  was  soon  to  become. 


*3«»4 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   DECLINE   OF   THE   CORPORATION,    AND    ITS 
LAST  STAGES 

§  I 

It  is  a  Corporation  sadly  changed  in  character  that  confronts 
us  when  we  next  obtain  a  clear  view  of  its  activities.  Once 
again  we  owe  this  view  to  a  combination  of  the  proceedings  of 
a  Royal  Commission  and  a  case  in  the  High  Court ;  and  once 
again  the  lord  of  the  manor  is  seen  setting  the  proceedings  in 
motion.  On  this  occasion,  however,  the  ground  of  the  action 
taken  had  nothing  to  do  with  manorial  rights.  No  functions 
remained  to  the  Corporation,  or  had  been  recovered  by  them, 
which  could  provide  a  starting-point  for  a  repetition  of  the 
controversy  with  Tanfield.  The  proceedings  of  the  eighteenth 
century  concerned  the  town  charities  alone  ;  and  the  Burgesses 
of  the  time  are  revealed  to  us,  not  in  the  comparative  dignity 
of  defending,  however  hopelessly,  a  claim  to  burghal  privileges, 
but  simply  on  their  trial  for  mismanagement  of  trust  funds  and 
petty  misdemeanours. 

The  prime  mover  in  the  action  taken  was  Mr.  John  Lenthall;  ^ 
and  he  seems  to  have  been  impelled  to  the  course  he  took  by 
discovering  that  a  charity  fund  established  by  Speaker 
Lenthall,  his  grandfather,  was  in  a  thoroughly  unsatisfactory 
condition.  In  1737  he  brought  before  a  vestry  meeting  a  pro- 
posal to  petition  for  a  Royal  Commission  to  investigate  the 
Burford  charities,  and  it  was  agreed  that  petition  should  be 
made  by  the  churchwardens  and  the  overseers  of  the  poor.'^ 
Lenthall  and  some  others  of  the  principal  persons  engaged 

*  That  Lenthall  was  the  chief  instigator  of  the  proceedings  is  clear, 
first  from  a  copy  in  one  of  the  Corporation  Account  Books  of  a  letter 
addressed  to  him  by  the  Burgesses  (Tolsey  Q)ll.,  Acct.  Bks.,  no.  2),  and 
secondly  from  the  fact  that  in  the  law-suit  which  followed  he  was  made 
principal  respondent.  That  the  Lenthall  charity  was  his  reason  for  inter- 
fering is  rendered  probable  by  the  fact  that  this  charity,  though  one  of 
the  last  to  be  established,  was  the  first  to  be  investigated. 

*  Burford  Records,  bundle  L,  no.  10. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  67 

came  to  an  agreement  as  to  the  costs  of  the  petition,  and  the 
affair  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  solicitor. 

The  Corporation  on  its  side  decided  to  fight.  Various  frag- 
ments of  correspondence  surviving  among  the  Burford  Records 
show  clearly  enough  the  mood  of  the  Burgesses.  They  were 
indignant  rather  than  apprehensive,  though  they  display  some 
anxiety  to  keep  abreast  of  any  steps  taken  by  the  other  side 
during  the  necessary  preliminaries.  At  the  same  time  these 
letters  give  us  our  first  revelation  of  the  depths  to  which  the 
Corporation  was  falling.  To  begin  with,  the  Burgesses  were 
not  united ;  two  or  three  of  them  were  on  Lenthall's  side. 
Meetings  of  the  two  parties  were  being  held  in  separate  inns, 
each  meeting  claiming  to  act  as  a  meeting  of  the  whole  Cor- 
poration. Then  again,  so  slack  had  the  Burgesses  become  that 
they  had  not  at  this  period  either  an  Alderman  or  a  Steward — 
an  irregularity  which  permitted  either  party  to  call  its 
colloguings  a  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  since  one  party 
meeting  without  proper  officers  could  claim  no  greater 
authority  than  a,nother  meeting  without  officers.  The 
Bailiffs,  it  is  true,  were  on  the  side  opposed  to  Lenthall — a 
curious  fact,  since  it  shows  how  completely  these  officials  had 
become  members  of  the  Corporation,  in  spite  of  their  formal 
appointment  by  the  lord  of  the  manor.^  But  the  Bailiffs  had 
not,  strictly  speaking,  authority  within  the  Corporation,  so 
that  their  presence  gave  no  real  validity  to  the  meetings  they 
attended. 

§  2 

A  Royal  Commission  was  appointed,  and  sat  in  1738.  Two 
copie'S  of  its  decrees  are  in  the  Burford  Records,  and  a  tran- 
script in  full  will  be  found  elsewhere.^  The  upshot  of  its  pro- 
ceedings was  briefly  as  follows  :  it  found  that  the  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  had  usurped  the  sole  management  of  funds  in  which 
other  persons  should  have  been  conjoined  with  them  ;  that 
they  had  mismanaged  funds,  in  some  cases  having  lost  money 
by  loans  improperly  made  to  members  of  their  own  body  in  an 
unsound  financial  position,  in  others  having  used  money  for 

'  They  were  still  so  appointed  ;  see  Part  III,  p.  389. 
*  See  Part  III,  p.  391. 

F  2 


68     HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

purposes  for  which  it  had  not  been  intended,  in  others  again 
having  omitted  to  put  the  money  to  any  uses  at  all ;  that  they 
had  allowed  charity  property  to  fall  into  a  scandalous  state  of 
disrepair,  even  where  provision  had  specifically  been  made  for 
the  upkeep  of  the  property ;  that  they  had  allowed  gross 
neglect  at  the  Grammar  School,  so  that  the  Master  was  draw- 
ing the  whole  income  without  any  supervision  of  expenditure, 
and  was  neither  doing  any  work  himself  nor  appointing  an 
usher.  Moreover,  when  the  Commission  was  appointed  the 
Burgesses  had  done  all  they  could  to  delay  its  proceedings  and 
to  withhold  evidence  ;  and  there  was  more  than  a  suspicion 
that  they  had  altered  their  books  before  producing  them,  and 
had  made  away  with  documents. 

Upon  these  findings  the  Commission  based  certain  Orders. 
Lost  money  was  to  be  refunded  ;  damages  were  to  be  paid,  in 
some  cases  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  as  a  body,  in  other 
cases  by  individuals  for  particular  default ;  ^  the  disposition 
of  certain  charity  rents  was  altered,  a  moiety  of  the  rents  of 
Poole's  Lands,  for  instance,  being  ordered  to  be  paid  to  the 
Vicar ;  and  in  almost  every  case  the  absolute  control  of  the 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  was  to  cease,  and  the  charities  to  be 
managed  either  by  the  Bailiffs  and  churchwardens  or  by  the 
Burgesses  and  churchwardens,  the  overseers  of  the  poor  being 
included  in  some  instances.  Finally,  stricter  arrangements 
were  to  be  made  for  the  annual  rendering  of  accounts  ;  a 
schedule  of  all  documents  in  the  possession  of  the  Corporation 
was  to  be  made,  to  prevent  any  attempt  at  suppression  in  the 
future  ;  and  a  fresh  body  of  Trustees  was  nominated,  much 
on  the  lines  of  the  body  nominated  by  the  Commission  of  1628, 
with  the  object  of  bringing  in  country  gentlemen  and  others 
of  the  neighbourhood  likely  to  modify  the  exclusively  town 
element. 

These  Orders  were  drastic  indeed,  and  on  the  face  of  them 

threatened  to  put  a  final  end  to  the  ancient  Corporation  of 

Burford.    If  the  control  of  the  charity  lands  departed  from  it, 

'  Notably  by  Griffiths,  the  schoohnaster ;  and  by  one  Underwood, 
a  Burgess,  who,  having  the  administration  of  a  periodical  gift  of  40s.  to 
maidservants,  had  on  one  occasion  only  paid  it  on  condition  that  the 
recipient  spent  20s.  in  his  shop. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  69 

then  everything  was  gone  which  could  hold  it  together  or  give 
it  importance. 

That  the  Burgesses  perceived  this  themselves  is  clear  from 
the  attitude  they  now  assumed,  an  attitude  very  different 
from  that  in  which  the  Decrees  of  the  Commission  of  1628  had 
been  accepted.  The  Burgesses  of  that  date  had  made  no 
appeal.  The  Burgesses  of  1738,  thus  severely  condemned, 
determined  to  challenge  the  Commission's  Orders,  and  insti- 
tuted a  suit  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  by  petition  to  the  Lord 
Chancellor — ^The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford,  Excep- 
tants V.  Lenthall  and  others,  Respondents.  Of  this  suit,  as  of 
the  Commission,  there  is  very  ample  information  in  the  Bur- 
ford  Records.  Several  copies  of  the  Lord  Chancellor's  judge- 
ment are  extant,  and  also — what  is  far  more  valuable — two 
large  portions  of  copies  of  the  pleadings  and  depositions  on 
either  side.  The  two  portions  are  not  in  the  same  hand- 
writing ;  one  would  appear  to  be  the  copy  for  the  use  of  the 
Exceptants,  and  the  other  that  for  the  use  of  the  Respondents. 
But  it  happens  that  they  supplement  one  another  almost 
exactly,  so  that  for  all  practical  purposes  we  have  a  complete 
set  of  the  pleadings.^ 

The  case  came  on  for  hearing  in  1742.  The  line  taken  by 
the  Exceptants  may  be  said  to  have  been  in  general  a  denial 
of  the  power  of  the  Commission  to  make  the  Orders  to  which 
exception  was  being  taken,  firstly  because  some  of  them 
overrode  Decrees  of  the  Commission  of  1628 ;  secondly 
because  some  of  them  altered  dispositions  properly  made  by 
various  testators  in  wills  duly  proved  ;  thirdly  because  it  was 
ultra  vires  for  the  Commission  to  order  restitution  of  money, 
and  still  more  so  for  it  to  order  payment  of  damages  and  costs. 
The  main  answer  of  the  Respondents  was  that  the  Commission 
had  in  no  case  acted  beyond  its  powers  ;  and  that  the  usurpa- 
tion of  control  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  was  on  the  evi- 
dence so  indefensible,  and  their  management  of  the  funds  so 
incompetent,  if  not  fraudulent,  that  fresh  dispositions  were 
very   necessary.      In   one   or   two    matters   the   Exceptants 

'  For  the  judgement  see  Part  III,  p.  486 ;  and  for  a  summary  of  the 
pleadings.  Part  III,  pp.  398  and  509. 


70    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

pleaded  that  they  had  been  condemned  as  a  body  for  acts 
committed  by  individuals  and  not  corporately.  For  the  rest 
the  pleadings  are  a  mass  of  fiat  assertion  and  counter-assertion. 
Here  and  there  glimpses  are  given  of  the  hostility  to  the  lord 
of  the  manor  which  had  survived  from  the  days  of  Tanfield  ; 
one  of  the  objections  raised  by  the  Exceptants  to  the  conjoin- 
ing with  them  of  the  churchwardens  is  that  the  churchwardens 
for  the  town  were  always  '  under  the  influence  of  the  lord  of 
the  manor  ',  and  that  to  appoint  them  would  be  equivalent  to 
giving  the  lord  of  the  manor  a  power  of  interference  in  purely 
town  affairs. 

Judgement  was  dehvered  in  May  1743.  It  was  a  complete 
triumph  on  points  of  law  for  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses.  On 
nearly  every  issue  they  raised  the  Lord  Chancellor  decided  in 
their  favour.  Their  strong  card  was  evidently  the  plea  that 
the  Royal  Commission  had  no  power  to  vary  the  Decrees  of  a 
previous  Royal  Commission.  This  gave  them  most  of  their 
points  ;  and  their  plea  as  to  the  Commission's  power  to  order 
the  payment  of  damages  and  costs  gave  them  other  points 
which  had  perhaps  been  particularly  disturbing  to  them. 
They  were,  indeed,  compelled  to  make  good  certain  losses  of 
money,  though  in  lesser  degree  than  the  Commission  had 
ordered.  In  their  objection  to  the  inclusion,  of  the  church- 
wardens they  had  their  way  by  pleading  the  earlier  Decrees  ; 
and  they  also  carried  their  point  against  the  nomination  of  a 
fresh  body  of  Trustees.  This  did  not,  it  is  true,  technically 
leave  the  Burgesses  in  absolute  control ;  the  previous  Decrees 
had  joined  with  them  certain  country  gentlemen.  But,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  body  had  become  inanimate  ;  all  detailed 
control  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Burgesses.  By  carrying  their 
point  that  under  the  Decrees  of  1628  the  only  way  to  appoint 
new  Trustees  was  by  feoffment  made  by  the  existing  Trustees 
they  secured  themselves  against  any  introduction  of  new 
members  other  than  such  as  they  agreed  to. 

§  3 
Thus  the  Corporation  found  itself  with  a  stronger  hold  than 
ever  upon  that  source  of  a  public  income,  which  had  always 


DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  71 

been  the  heart  of  its  corporate  existence,  and  for  the  past 
hundred  years  had  constituted  its  sole  common  activity.  We 
may  remark  here  how  firmly  that  hold  had  been  re-established 
against  the  obvious  intentions  of  the  Decrees  of  1628.  For  if 
we  ask  ourselves  by  what  right  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  as 
such  instituted  the  law-suit  of  1742  we  can  find  no  sufficient 
answer  in  their  legal  position  with  regard  to  the  charity  pro- 
perty. The  Commission  had  certainly  named  the  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  in  its  Orders  ;  and  wherever  they  were  condemned 
in  damages  and  costs,  it  was,  no  doubt,  open  to  them  to  appeal. 
But  by  what  right  did  they  contest  the  Commission's  Orders 
as  to  the  future  management  of  the  trusts  or  the  appointment 
of  a  new  body  of  Trustees  .?  If  any  one  had  taken  action  on 
those  points,  it  should  have  been  the  official  body  of  Trustees 
as  appointed  by  the  Commission  of  1628.  The  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  do  not  even  make  the  pretence  of  acting  in  that 
name  ;  they  appear  throughout  in  their  own  title.  No  clearer 
evidence  could  be  desired  of  the  completeness  with  which 
the  Corporation  had  succeeded  in  making  the  charity  property 
a  Corporation  property,  held  indeed  for  the  good  of  the  public, 
but  held  by  them  as  a  Corporation,  not  as  members  of  a  body 
of  Trustees  ;  and  nothing  could  more  clearly  show  the  impor- 
tance this  gave  them  than  the  fact  that  nobody,  even  in  the 
course  of  the  law-suit,  seems  to  have  questioned  their  right  to 
carry  that  assumption  into  the  Courts. 

It  is  evident  that  to  them  the  core  of  the  triumph  they  won 
in  1743  was  not  so  much  the  liberation  from  the  monetary 
damages  as  th^  establishment  of  their  power  of  control.  Some 
of  the  surviving  copies  of  the  judgement,  which  seem  to  have 
been  written  out  by  individual  Burgesses  in  the  enthusiasm 
of  victory,  contain  an  index-summary  of  the  charities  ;  and 
these  indexes  reiterate  the  declaration,  '  the  management  of 
this  charity  remains  in  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  ',  or  some 
such  phrase.  The  supremacy  which  the  Burgesses  had  ac- 
quired at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  by  the  repurchase 
of  the  charity  lands,  had  lost  by  the  Commission  of  1628,  and 
had  since  been  regaining  by  quiet  usurpation,  was  now  theirs 
by  a  legal  judgement.    No  wonder  that,  long  as  the  judgement 


72    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

is,  they  enjoyed  writing  it  out  patiently  in  little  books  to  tell 
those  which  should  come  after. 

Apparently  it  mattered  not  at  all  to  them  that  morally,  on 
the  charge  of  misuse  of  funds  and  misappropriation  of  moneys, 
they  made  the  poorest  kind  of  defence,  and  that  their  victory 
was  won  almost  entirely  on  technical  points  of  law.  It  was, 
perhaps,  inevitable  that  in  the  minds  of  Lenthall  and  those  who 
acted  with  him  the  rottenness  of  the  charity  administration 
should  have  been  held  to  proceed  wholly  from  the  unchecked 
authority  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses,  so  that  the  one  aspect 
of  the  question  could  not  be  dealt  with  except  by  attacking 
the  other.  But  this  had  the  unfortunate  result  of  causing  any 
attempt  at  reform  to  depend  upon  fresh  dispositions  of  respon- 
sibility, which  involved  conflict  with  existing  Decrees  of  a 
Royal  Commission.  By  concentration  on  that  weak  spot  the 
Burgesses  evaded  the  moral  condemnation. 

But  it  remains  on  record  for  any  one  who  peruses  the 
pleadings  and  depositions.  These  leave  no  doubt  of  the  care- 
lessness, incompetence,  smug  favouritism,  and  in  more  than 
one  case  the  dishonesty,  of  the  management  of  the  charity 
property.  Trust  money  was  lent  by  the  Burgesses  to  other 
Burgesses  whom  they  must  have  known  to  be  in  financial 
difficulties,  and  no  security  was  taken  in  spite  of  specific 
directions  to  that  end  ;  appointments  of  aged  widows  to  the 
Almshouses  depended  upon  getting  into  the  Burgesses'  good 
graces  ;  materials  to  be  distributed  under  charitable  bequests 
were  purchased  from  Burgesses  ;  the  rents  of  houses  were 
taken  and  no  money  spent  on  repairs,  even  when  repairs  had 
been  made  a  first  charge  upon  the  charity.  The  case  of  the 
Grammar  School  is  the  worst  of  all,  because  it  must  have  been 
patent  to  the  whole  town  that  the  Master  was  doing  no  work 
at  all,  and  that  the  children  were  being  left  untaught  and 
undisciplined. 

§4 
In  fact,  the  moment  at  which  the  Corporation  is  seen  with 
its  remaining  hold  upon  public  life  more  secure  than  at  any 
previous  period  in  its  history  is  not  the  height,  but  the  very 


DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  73 

depth  of  its  existence.  It  was  not  appointing  its  ancient 
officers  ;  it  was  disunited  and  quarrelsome  ;  it  was  composed 
of  petty  tradesmen,  who  held  their  meetings  at  various  inns, 
and  passed  rules  which  are  those  of  a  drinking  club  rather  than 
a  Corporation, 1 

Yet  the  Burgesses  had  not  wholly  lost  the  memory  of  their 
former  status  as  a  borough.  There  are  signs  that  shortly  before 
the  date  of  the  Royal  Commission  of  1738  they  contemplated 
a  movement  to  recover  the  privileges  which  the  sixteenth- 
century  Burgesses  had  exercised.  Among  the  Burford  Records 
is  an  Indenture  of  Agreement  made  in  1728  between  the 
Bailiffs  of  the  year,  the  Alderman,  the  Chamberlain,  and  six 
of  the  Burgesses,  of  the  one  part,  and  Richard  Griffiths  of  the 
other  part.  It  sets  forth  that  the  lords  of  the  manor  had  '  by 
pretence  of  a  judgement  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer  seized  upon 
the  profits  of  the  markets  '  ;  that  this  judgement  had  been 
obtained  only  against  certain  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  in  their 
private  capacity  ;  that  no  execution  was  ever  taken,  and  the 
franchises  had  not  been  seized  into  the  King's  hands,  but  the 
lord  of  the  manor  had  used  the  judgement  in  order  to  possess 
himself  of  the  franchises  by  intimidating  the  Burgesses.  In 
these  circumstances  the  Bailiffs  had  been  advised  to  sue  out  a 
writ  of  error  to  reverse  the  judgement.  For  this  purpose  the 
rents  of  Poole's  Lands,  given  to  be  used  for  the  confirmation 
of  charters  and  other  objects  in  furtherance  of  the  well-being 
of  the  Corporation,  might  properly  be  employed.  But  as  these 
rents  amounted  only  to  £25  a  year,  the  present  Indenture  of 
Agreement  was  made,  to  the  effect  that  Richard  Griffiths  was 
to  receive  this  sum  of  £2$  a  year  on  trust,  and  if  necessary  a 
capital  sum  of  £10  apiece  from  each  of  the  other  parties  to  the 
agreement,  in  order  to  set  proceedings  on  foot ;  and  mean- 
while an  effort  was  to  be  made  to  mortgage  Poole's  Lands,  with 
the  intent  of  raising  the  sum  required  for  carrying  on  the 
proceedings.^ 

Plainly  to  be  taken  in  conjunction  with  this  Agreement  are 
two  small  pieces  of  paper  containing  notes  on  the  franchises 
anciently  exercised  ;   these  fragments  are  dated  1727. 

'  See,  e.  g.,  Burford  Records,  bundle  RR.  »  Part  III,  pp.  390-1. 


74    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

Now  the  Agreement  was  based  on  a  thorough  misapprehen- 
sion of  the  situation.  The  Burgesses  could  never  comprehend 
that^the  association  of  the  town  of  Burford  with  the  Crown 
was  not  the  proper  constitutional  relation  of  a  borough  held 
at  fee-farm  and  thereby  authorized  to  elect  its  chief  officers 
and  manage  its  own  affairs,  but  the  merely  accidental  relation 
arising  from  the  passage  of  the  manor  into  the  hands  of  the 
Crown.  Consequently,  they  had  never  grasped  the  fact  that 
when  the  Crown  disposed  of  the  town  and  manor  to  a  pur- 
chaser, it  disposed  also  of  all  the  privileges  which  went  with 
the  town.  The  lord  of  the  manor  was  in  enjoyment  of  the 
profits  of  the  markets,  not  by  pretence  of  the  judgement,  but 
by  simple  purchase  ;  the  judgement  only  corrected  the  mis- 
take which  the  original  purchaser  had  made  in  not  assuring 
himself  that  the  vendor  was  in  effective  possession  of  the 
property  sold.  Whether  it  is  true  or  not  that  the  judgement 
had  never  been  put  in  execution,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 
That  process  would  in  any  case  have  been  a  mere  formality, 
and  such  a  lawyer  as  Tanfield  is  not  likely  to  have  omitted  it. 
The  probability  is  that  the  Burgesses  were  misled  by  the 
phrase  '  seized  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown  '.  Seeing  that 
the  privileges  were  not,  in  point  of  fact,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Crown,  they  very  likely  assumed  that  the  judgement  had  not 
been  carried  into  execution.  They  did  not  realize  that  already 
the  privileges  had  been  sold  by  the  Crown  to  another  holder, 
so  that  execution  would  not  bring  the  Crown  back  into  posses- 
sion of  the  town,  but  would  only  secure  the  title  of  Tanfield. 

Even  apart  from  this  fundamental  misapprehension  the 
movement  cannot  be  taken  seriously.  Richard  Griffiths,  who 
was  chosen  to  be  the  repository  of  the  funds,  was  the  school- 
master who  was  ten  years  later  to  be  exposed  as  having  con- 
verted to  his  own  use  the  whole  income  of  the  school,  while 
performing  none  of  the  duties.  His  position  in  that  matter 
was  so  bad  that  he  avoided  appearing  before  the  Commission, 
and  '  did  privately  withdraw  himself  from  Burford  and 
conceal  himself  in  London  until  after  the  Return  or  Close  of 
the  said  Commission  '.^  Before  the  suit  of  1742  was  brought 
•  See  Part  III,  p.  399- 


DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  75 

he  seems  to  have  become  feeble-minded.  If  he  was  to  occupy 
a  position  of  responsibihty  in  the  attempt  to  recover  the 
borough  privileges,  the  proposal  cannot  have  been  launched 
with  much  wisdom.  It  was  probably  little  more  than  a  piece 
of  pot-house  pompousness,  set  on  foot  by  one  of  the  inn- 
frequenting  groups  of  Burgesses. 

At  any  rate  it  went  no  further.  For  one  thing,  the  attack 
made  by  Lenthall  and  his  associates  gave  the  Burgesses 
enough  to  think  about,  and  certainly  enough  opportunity  to 
spend  what  money  they  had  at  their  disposal,  in  defending 
their  position  without  attempting  to  improve  it.  When  that 
trouble  was  safely  over,  they  probably  felt  that  their  new 
security  in  control  of  the  charities  sufficed  for  their  sense  of 
their  own  importance,  No  other  movement  was  ever  made  for 
more  exalted  functions. 

§  5 

With  this  incident,  therefore,  the  history  of  the  Corporation 
of  Burford  comes,  in  one  sense,  to  an  end.  But  the  body  of  the 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  still  survived,  and  the  record  of  its 
existence  must  be  carried  further,  though  it  can  be  hardly 
more  than  a  record  of  increasing  decay. 

In  another  hundred  years  (with  such  regularity  did  the 
Corporation  fall  into  sloughs  of  mismanagement)  a  public 
inquiry  had  again  become  necessary.  A  Report  of  the  Charity 
Commissioners  of  1822  reveals  the  Burgesses  to  us  yet  once 
more  neglecting  their  property,  losing  the  rents,  and  allowing 
some  of  their  own  members  to  misuse  trust  property  for  their 
private  profit. 

As  one  after  another  the  charities  come  under  review  the 
report  of  the  Commissioners  is  almost  monotonously  the  same. 
With  few  exceptions  the  houses  were  in  disrepair — one  was 
actually  a  rrtere  heap  of  rubbish — and  the  rents  heavily  in 
arrear.  From  1805  to  1814  the  office  of_  clerk  to  the  feoffees 
was  held  in  conjunction  with  the  office  of  treasurer  to  the 
Corporation,  by  one  Waters.  '  During  that  period  no  account 
was  ever  delivered  by  him  to  the  feoffees  ;  and  upon  his  death 
no  papers  were  found  from  which  any  account  could  be  made 


76  HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

out '  ;  or,  as  another  reference  puts  it,  '  he  died  suddenly 
in  1814,  having  made  no  entry  whatever  of  any  receipts  or 
disbursements  during  the  whole  of  the  time  he  held  that 
situation.' 

In  several  instances  the  Lord  Chancellor's  judgement  of 
1743  had  been  evaded.  While  relieving  the  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  of  the  heaviest  parts  of  the  payments  ordered  by 
the  Commission,  the  judgement  did  direct  the  refunding  of 
certain  sums  of  money.  These,  it  was  found,  had  never  been 
refunded. 

Five  years  later  the  muddle,  into  which  the  Burgesses  had 
allowed  their  business  to  fall,  came  to  a  head  in  a  manner 
almost  ludicrous,  though  in  the  end  it  was  to  the  good  of  the 
charity  property  that  the  situation  which  arose  in  1827  was 
so  extreme  as  to  require  the  intervention  of  the  law.^  Among 
the  laxities  to  which  the  Commission  of  1822  had  drawn 
attention  (but  in  vain)  was  this  :  that  the  body  of  Feoffees, 
or  Trustees,  which  by  the  constitution  of  the  Trusts  should 
never  have  sunk  below  six  in  number  without  the  making  of 
a  new  feoffment  appointing  fresh  members,  had  actually 
dwindled  to  one  old  man,  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis  Knollis, 
Vicar  of  Burford.  In  1826  he  died,  and  died  intestate,  without 
having  appointed  any  new  Trustees.  Apparently  no  attempt 
had  been  made  to  get  him  to  appoint  any,  until  about  a  year 
before  his  death,  and  he  was  by  that  time  too  feeble  and  too 
forgetful  to  carry  the  matter  through. 

The  position,  then,  was  this  extraordinary  one  :  the  whole 
of  the  charity  property,  Mr.  Francis  Knollis  having  been  the 
sole  surviving  feoffee,  had  passed  by  his  intestacy  to  his  heir- 
at-law,  the  Rev.  James  Knollis,  Vicar  of  Penn,  Buckingham- 
shire ;  and  no  one  could  tell  what  now  became  of  the  title 
to  the  ownership  of  the  property.  Mr.  James  Knollis  could 
hardly  treat  the  charity  lands  as  his  private  possession  ;  but 
on  the  other  hand  the  tenants  might  refuse  to  pay  rent  at  all, 
since  he  was  certainly  not  a  feoffee  under  the  constitution  of 
the  charities.  Fortunately  for  the  town  he  was  a  straight- 
forward man,  and  his  one  desire  was  to  rid  himself  of  the 
'  Burford  Records,  bundle  N,  no.  i. 


DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  77 

embarrassment  by  handing  over  the  property  to  a  new  body 
of  Trustees.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  long  and  costly  processes 
of  law  might  have  been  necessary  to  recover  the  title.  But, 
even  with  all  his  willingness,  the  matter  was  not  so  simple  as 
it  looked.  The  constitution  of  the  trusts  made  no  provision 
for  the  appointment  of  new  Trustees  by  the  heir  of  a  surviving 
feoffee — naturally  enough,  since  every  care  had  been  taken,  as 
far  as  direct  instructions  could  go,  that  the  matter  should 
never  come  to  such  a  pass. 

Had  the  difficulty  arisen  a  few  years  earlier,  there  could 
have  been  no  course  except  to  lay  an  information  before  the 
Attorney- General,  and  move  him  to  proceed — a  most  expen- 
sive business.  But  an  Act  of  Parliament  had  recently  been 
passed,  under  which  it  was  possible  to  rectify  the  situation  by 
petition  to  the  Master  of  the  Rolls.  This  was  done  ;  a  draft 
list  of  new  feoffees  was  by  his  order  submitted  to  one  of  the 
Masters  in  Chancery,  and  from  him  authority  was  obtained 
for  the  transfer  of  the  property  to  them. 

In  the  correspondence  concerning  the  difficulty  there  are 
many  proofs  of  the  carelessness  still  vitiating  the  management 
of  the  charities.  In  a  statement  of  the  case  to  be  submitted  to 
counsel  it  is  remarked  that '  a  leading  member  of  the  Corpora- 
tion ',  one  Tuckwell,  was  tenant  of  a  large  part  of  the  charity 
property,  and  was  at  this  time  at  least  seven  years  in  arrear 
with  the  rents,  owing  some  £400.  All  the  other  tenants  were 
more  or  less  in  arrear.  It  was  known,  too,  that  the  defaulters, 
'  especially  Tuckwell ',  were  watching  for  any  legal  flaw  in  the 
transfer,  to  take  advantage  of  it  in  order  to  escape  payment 
of  their  arrears. 

The  whole  affair  was  very  much  in  the  spirit  of  the  pre- 
ceding century.  With  the  rents  so  heavily  in  arrear  every 
duty  of  the  Corporation  in  regard  to  the  charities  must  have 
been  neglected,  the  property  ruinous,  the  school  inefficient, 
the  poor  unrelieved.  Tradition  was  even  maintained  to  the 
point  of  finding  one  of  the  chief  defaulters  a  member  of  the 
Corporation. 


78    HISTORY  OF  THE  CORPORATION  OF  BURFORD 

§6 

For  the  brief  remainder  of  its  career  the  Burford  Corporation 
has  next  to  no  history,  but  what  there  is  is  decent.  Public 
opinion  was  beginning  to  improve,  and  the  Municipal  Corpora- 
tions Act  of  1835  is  a  sign  of  the  dawning  conviction  that  the 
national  life  was  getting  no  good  from  small  unrepresentative 
bodies  ranking  as  Corporations. 

It  is,  of  course,  unlikely  that  so  slack  and  incompetent  a 
management  of  business  as  was  revealed  by  the  Commissioners' 
Report  of  1822  would  be  other  than  a  reflexion  of  the  managing 
body.  The  Corporation  which  in  1738  had  rendered  an 
inquiry  necessary  was  disunited,  petty  in  outlook,  poor  in 
self-respect.  The  Corporation  of  1822  was  practically  mori- 
bund. The  Commissioners  record  that,  though  there  was  an 
Alderman  again,  there  was  no  Steward,  and  there  were  only 
three  Burgesses  ;  no  meeting  had  then  been  held  for  six  or 
seven  years. 

It  never  really  revived.  The  management  of  the  charities, 
after  the  absurd  muddle  of  1826-7,  was  firmly  vested  in  a 
proper  body  of  Trustees,  and  the  Corporation  was  at  last  in 
the  subordinate  place  to  which  the  Commission  of  1628  had 
unsuccessfully  attempted  to  reduce  it.  For  a  quarter  of  a 
century  yet  the  title  of  the  Bailiffs,  Alderman,  and  Burgesses 
of  Burford  remained  to  represent  one  of  those  wizened  little 
survivals  which  so  curiously  took  rank  as  Corporations  alike 
with  the  vigorous  ancient  bodies  that  had  early  been  subjected 
to  the  healthy  discipline  of  public  responsibility,  and  with  the 
great  modern  Town  Councils,  which  were  the  expression  of  a 
new  element  in  the  nation's  history — the  huge  industrial  con- 
centrations of  population. 

The  end  of  the  Burford  Corporation  came  in  1861.  Even 
the  manner  of  its  abolition  has  some  of  that  accidental  quality 
which  had  marked  its  whole  career.  The  Act  of  Parliament 
which  extinguished  it  is  not  an  Act  primarily  concerning  the 
Corporation,  or  identified  with  its  name.  The  ancient  title, 
with  nearly  eight  hundred  years  of  history  behind  it,  does  not 
appear  on  the  index  of  the  Public  Statutes.  In  1861  was 
passed  '  An  Act  for  confirming  a  Scheme  of  the  Charity  Com- 


DECLINE  OF  THE  CORPORATION  79 

missioners  for  certain  Charities  in  the  Town  and  Parish  of 
Burford  in  the  County  of  Oxford  '.  In  a  single  clause  the  Act 
confirms  the  Scheme  '  as  the  same  is  set  out  in  the  Schedule 
to  this  Act '.  Of  this  Schedule  the  first  sentence  is  :  '  The 
existing  Corporation  of  the  alderman,  steward,  bailiffs,  and 
burgesses  of  the  Borough  of  Burford  is  hereby  dissolved.' 

Surely  the  depth  of  insignificance — to  be  abolished  by  a 
Schedule. 


PART  II 

STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN  OF 
BURFORD 

■  The  history  of  the  lordship  of  the  manor  and  town  of 
Burford  is  to  be  seen  at  large  in  the  list  of  those  who  held  it. 
Little  in  the  shape  of  personal  detail  need  be  added  to  the 
bare  list,  for  the  names  entered  there  over  a  period  of  six 
hundred  years  have  their  places  in  the  history  of  England. 

Robert  of  Gloucester,  Queen  Matilda's  champion  against 
Stephen  ;  John,  King  of  England  ;  the  De  Clares — always 
among  the  leaders  of  the  feudal  barons,  whether  in  the  days 
of  that  Gilbert  de  Clare  who  was  one  of  the  barons  of  the 
Great  Charter,  the  later  Gilbert,  '  the  Red  ',  who  was  with 
Simon  de  Montfort  in  the  Provisions  of  Oxford,  or  the  last 
Gilbert  who  fell  at  Bannockburn  ;  the  Despensers,  from  Hugh 
the  King's  favourite  to  Thomas,  shamefully  beheaded  by 
Henry  IV ;  Henry  Beauchamp,  the  friend  and  companion 
of  the  young  Henry  VI ;  Warwick  the  King-maker ;  and 
then,  at  a  later  period,  following  upon  a  long  tenure  of  the 
manor  by  the  Crown,  Fortescue,  Tanfield,  Lucius  Lord  Falk- 
land, and  William  Lenthall — names  such  as  these  require  no 
comment  here. 

All  that  need  perhaps  be  said  is  that  for  the  first  time  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  trace  the  entire  descent  of  the 
lordship,  leaving  no  step  in  the  succession  unaccounted  for ; 
and  also  to  give  documentary  authority,  not  merely  for  the 
tenure  by  each  individual  of  territories  known  to  have  in- 
cluded Burford,  but  for  his  actual  tenure  of  Burford  itself. 
This  authority  is  lacking  in  only  one  instance  in  the  ensuing 


LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN        8i 

list.  The  most  interesting  addition  to  the  known  lords  of 
Burford  is  certainly  Robert  of  Gloucester.  This  was  due  to 
recognizing  as  granted  by  him  a  charter  occupying  an  obscure 
place  on  the  Burford  Gild  Certificate.  Owing  to  its  brevity 
and  omission  of  specific  grant  of  liberties  it  was  placed  by  the 
Burgesses,  who  made  the  Certificate,  out  of  its  due  order.  But 
the  style  with  which  it  opens  is  the  unique  style  of  Robert  of 
Gloucester,  so  that  the  document  is  unimpeachable  evidence 
of  his  lordship  ;  curt  and  abrupt,  reduced  to  the  smallest 
possible  limits  in  phrasing,  it  may  well  be  characteristic  of  the 
man.  It  is  interesting  also  to  have  established  King  John's 
tenure  of  Burford  ;  and  on  the  lesser  plane  of  picturesque 
associations  to  have  inserted  the  names  of  Edward,  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  executed  on  charges  of  complicity  with 
Perkin  Warbeck,  and  of  that  skilful  but  unpleasant  personage, 
John  Dudley,  Duke  of  Northumberland.  ' 

It  is,  of  course,  to  its  connexion  with  the  territories  of  one 
of  the  greatest  of  feudal  Honours  that  Burford  owes  the 
remarkably  distinguished  list  of  its  lords.  The  Honour  of 
Gloucester  was  the  chief  item  in  the  lands  granted  to  Fitz- 
Hamon  by  William  Rufus  ;  and  the  history  of  Burford  shows 
that  the  former  possessions  of  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux  in  this 
extreme  western  portion  of  Oxfordshire  were  attached  by 
FitzHamon,  no  doubt  as  a  measure  of  administrative  con- 
venience, to  his  Gloucester  territories,  to  which,  indeed,  in  spite 
of  county  divisions,  they  have  natural  affinity.  It  would 
appear,  also,  that  in  some  subdivision  of  the  territories 
Burford,  together  with  Fairford  and  one  or  two  other  places, 
was  grouped  with  Tewkesbury  at  an  early  date.  Certain 
writs  of  King  John  concerning  the  place  are  addressed,  not 
to  the  Sheriff  of  Oxfordshire,  but  to  William  de  La  Faleise, 
who  was  Keeper  of  the  manor  of  Tewkesbury  ;  and  in  an 
early  account  of  escheats  (1232-3),  when  the  Honour  was  held 
by  the  Crown  as  guardian  during  the  minority  of  Richard 
de  Clare,  the  revenues  of  the  manor  of  Burford  are  definitely 
allotted  in  the  main  '  ad  partem  de  Theokbiri '. 

Thus  Tewkesbury  may  be  regarded  as,  in  some  sense,  a 

2304  G 


82       STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

mother-place  to  Burford  ;  and  with  more  than  slight  stirrings 
of  loyalty  the  Burford  man  may  stand  in  the  great  Abbey 
Church  there,  beholding  the  tombs  of  those  to  whom  his 
predecessors  owed  allegiance.  He  may  turn  his  eyes  to  the 
beautiful  little  chantry  on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel,  where 
were  laid,  '  wrapped  in  fine  diaper  ',  the  bones  of  him  who  first 
gave  Burford  men  their  liberties  and  their  Gild  ;  and  he  may 
see,  wrought  upon  the  tiles  in  the  floor  of  the  chantry,  the 
rampant  lion  which  from  that  day  to  this  Burford  has  borne 
as  arms.  Beneath  the  chancel  floor  the  dust  of  the  de  Clares 
is  mingled  with  the  dust  of  royalty.  Close  by  the  chantry  of 
FitzHamon,  Hugh  le  Despenser,  son  of  Edward  IPs  favourite, 
lies  at  his  mailed  length  ;  and  opposite  him,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  chancel,  Edward  le  Despenser  kneels  in  the  shadows  on 
the  roof  of  his  chantry,  facing  towards  the  altar  in  his  age-long 
prayer. 

Splendid  as  is  the  roll  of  the  Burford  lords,  it  has  not  on  that 
account  been  the  easier  to  trace  and  establish  in  detail.  A 
princely  territory  like  the  Honour  of  Gloucester  is  not  likely 
to  show  the  placid  succession  of  lords  through  long  periods 
that  minor  possessions  enjoyed.  Its  holders  were  always,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  men  so  near  to  the  throne  and  the 
Blood  Royal  that  in  disturbed  times  their  lands  were  con- 
stantly being  forfeited,  and  regranted  by  the  Crown. 

The  first  difficulty  of  this  kind,  though  but  a  slight  one,  is 
the  uncertainty  about  the  date  at  which  King  John  actually 
entered  the  lordship.  When  he  married  Isabella,  one  of  the 
daughters  and  co-heirs  of  William,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  he  was 
already  in  possession  of  such  vast  territories  that  Henry  II 
appears  to  have  hesitated  about  allowing  the  Gloucester  lord- 
ship also  to  pass  into  his  hands.  But  at  any  rate  some  part  of 
it,  including  Burford,  had  been  recognized  as  his  by  the  time 
of  Richard's  accession. 

Thereafter,  for  some  two  hundred  years,  the  position  of  the 
manor  of  Burford  is  clear  enough.  It  followed  in  turn  each  of 
the  lines  of  descent  through  Earl  William's  three  daughters. 
King  John,  after  his  divorce  from  Isabella,  granted  it  to 


LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN        83 

Amaury,  Count  of  Evreux,  who  was  the  son  of  Mabel,  the 
eldest  daughter,  and  after  his  death  to  William  de  Cantilupe, 
who  married  his  widow.  From  him  (if  he  ever  actually  held 
it,  for  the  grant  to  him  is  curiously  worded)  the  manor  of 
Burford  passed,  with  other  Gloucester  territories,  to  the 
de  Clares,  in  virtue  of  Richard  de  Clare's  marriage  to  Amice, 
the  other  daughter  of  Earl  William. 

In  their  hands  Burford  remained  until  the  death  of  the  last 
Gilbert  de  Clare  at  Bannockbum  in  1314.  He  left  three 
sisters,  all  of  whom  were  married,  Eleanor  to  Hugh  le  Despen- 
ser,  Margaret  to  Piers  Gaveston,  and  Elizabeth  to  John  de 
Burgh.  After  Gilbert's  death  these  three  men  seem  to  have 
made  a  division  of  his  estates  among  themselves.  Appended 
to  the  Inquisition  Post  Mortem  (Edward  II,  File  42)  is  a  sheaf 
of  writs  to  the  Sheriffs  of  various  counties,  bidding  them  eject 
these  three  from  castles  and  lordships  of  which  they  had  taken 
possession.  They  had  not  waited  to  see  whether  a  posthumous 
heir  might  be  bom.  The  Sheriffs'  returns  to  these  writs 
display  no  little  helplessness  ;  they  virtually  confess  them- 
selves unable  to  carry  out  the  evictions.  We  may  conclude, 
in  the  case  of  Burford  at  any  rate,  that  they  ultimately  suc- 
ceeded, from  the  evidence  of  the  Lay  Subsidy  of  1316,  which 
places  at  the  head  of  the  list  for  Burford  the  name  of  Isabella 
de  Clare,  Gilbert's  aunt ;  her  possession  of  the  place,  on  a  grant 
by  her  brother,  Gilbert  the  Red,  must  have  been  restored. 
Moreover,  we  have  the  evidence  of  the  formal  grant  to  Hugh 
le  Despenser  and  his  wife  in  1322  as  proof  that  they  had  not 
previously  been  in  possession. 

The  death  of  Thomas  le  Despenser  in  1399  brings  us  to  the 
next  uncertainty.  By  his  attainder  his  lands  must  have  been 
forfeited.  The  fact  that  a  lease  of  the  site  and  agricultural 
lands  of  the  manor  to  a  tenant  was  made  in  1428  by  the  Crown, 
and  that  an  account  of  escheats  of  1435-6  speaks  of  Burford 
as  having  been  held  by  Thomas,  last  Lord  le  Despenser,  on 
the  day  of  his  death,  without  any  mention  of  a  subsequent 
holder  of  the  manor,  can  hardly  mean  anything  except  that 
Burford  was  for  all  this  time  in  the  hands  of  the  Crown.  Yet 
it  must  soon  after  this  have  been  restored  to  the  Despenser 

G  2 


84      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

heirs,  because  Isabel,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  le  Despenser, 
who  brought  the  Gloucester  territory  by  marriage  to  the 
Beauchamps  and  then  to  the  Nevilles,  appears  as  seized  of  the 
manor  of  Burford  in  1439. 

The  fate  of  Burford  at  the  next  escheat  of  the  territory,  after 
the  death  of  the  King-maker,  is  clear  enough,  and  is  set  out  in 
the  list  which  follows.  But  another  period  of  some  uncer- 
tainty occurs  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Upon  an 
exchange  of  lands  between  Edward  VI  and  John  Dudley,  Earl 
of  Warwick,  in  1549,  the  latter  acquired,  perhaps  in  order  to 
give  colour  to  his  title,  then  still  new,  the  old  '  Warwick's 
lands  '  in  Burford.  Yet  in  1552  the  town  and  manor  were 
again  in  the  hands  of  Edward  VI,  there  having  been  another 
excha^ge.^  A  further  complication  is  introduced  later  by 
references  in  the  Burford  Corporation  Books  to  Sir  Edward 
Unton  as  holding  courts  of  the  manor,  and  by  a  statement  in 
one  of  the  Priory  Deeds  of  Sale  that  he  held  the  manor  in  right 
of  his  wife  Anne,  Countess  of  Warwick,  for  term  of  her  life. 
This  Countess  of  Warwick  was  the  widow  of  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland's  son,  who  died  so  soon  after  his  release  from 
the  Tower,  on  his  pardon  for  complicity  in  the  Lady  Jane  Grey 
plot.  Either  there  must  have  been  yet  another  exchange, 
subsequent  to  1552,  or  the  manor,  as  once  having  been  held 
by  John  Dudley,  was  granted  for  the  maintenance  of  his  son's 
widow. 

Nor  is  it  only  the  exalted  station  of  the  lords  of  Burford 
which  produces  obscurities  in  the  history  of  the  manor. 
Another  cause,  almost  equally  fruitful  of  difficulty,  is  the 
division  that  was  created  by  the  erection  of  a  chartered  com- 
munity within  the  manor.  There  is,  indeed,  nothing  in  the 
charters  themselves  to  create  division.  They  bestow  liberties 
upon  '  the  men  of  Burford  '  in  general ;  and  no  document  of 
an  early  date  suggests  that  the  term  '  Burford  '  was  of  limited 
application  in  regard  to  the  whole  feudal  unit.  Yet  by  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  manor  clearly  comprises 

^  According  to  a  Survey  taken  in  that  year,  transcribed  infra.  Part  III, 
p.  624. 


LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN         85 

three  members,  the  Burgus  of  Burford,  and  the  hamlets  of 
Signett  and  Upton.  The  question  of  how  this  partition  came 
about  may  be  more  conveniently  discussed  in  a  later  Chapter 
on  the  Topography  of  Burford.  For  our  present  purpose  it 
is  enough  to  point  out  that  the  manor  had  become  thus 
divided.  Consequently  it  is  necessary  to  establish  very  care- 
fully the  exact  holding  of  any  person  mentioned  in  connexion 
with  the  tenure  of  the  manor.  When  the  division  first  appears 
in  our  Records  there  is  no  uncertainty.  A  tenant,  John 
Giffard,  held  by  sub-infeudation,  at  a  service  of  one  knight's 
fee,  £20  of  rent  of  the  town  of  Burford  to  himself  and  his  heirs, 
with  the  rest  of  the  town  for  his  life  only,  and  the  hamlet  of 
Signett,  which  was  outside  the  burghal  system.  The  chief  lord 
retained  only  the  hamlet  of  Upton,  also  outside  the  burghal 
system,  and  the  remaining  value  of  the  town  above  £20  of  rent 
after  the  lifetime  of  John  Giffard.  But  even  this  does  not 
exhaust  the  subdivisions,  for  the  family  of  de  Fanencourt  held 
some  portion  of  the  town  by  service  of  half  a  knight's  fee. 

Without  a  clear  understanding  of  these  circumstances  the 
history  of  the  manor  in  Edward  H's  reign  would  be  very 
puzzling  ;  for  the  simultaneous  holdings  of  Hugh  le  Despenser 
and  Isabella  de  Clare  would  be  inexplicable.  But  in  the  light 
of  the  Inquisitions  of  1295  and  1299  they  can  be  reduced  to 
order.  Gilbert  the  Red,  ninth  Earl,  it  appears  from  the 
Patent  Roll  of  i  Edward  III  (pt.  I,  m.  13),  had  given  the 
manor  of  Burford  to  his  sister  Isabella.  Now  in  view  of  the 
sub-infeudation  to  John  Giffard  this  can  only  mean  that  he 
gave  her  the  hamlet  of  Upton  ;  and  this  is  also  proved  by 
the  Inquisition  Post  Mortem  of  the  last  Gilbert  de  Clare  (1314). 
in  which  he  appears  as  holding  only  that  portion  of  the  town's 
value  which  had  reverted  to  the  chief  lord  on  the  death  of 
John  Giffard  the  elder,  and  not  (as  his  father  had  done)  the 
hamlet  of  Upton.  Isabella  married  Maurice  de  Berkeley, 
whose  estates  were  forfeited  on  the  accession  of  Edward  III ; 
but  his  wife  received  a  special  regrant  of  '  the  manor  of 
Burford  without  the  town  ',  on  the  ground  that  she  had  always 
held  this  land  herself  by  her  brother's  grant,  and  had  not 
enfeoffed  any  other  person.     Hugh  le  Despenser's  holding  had 


86      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

come  about  by  another  and  earlier  forfeiture,  the  estates  of 
John  Giffard  the  younger  being  escheated.  This  brought  the 
town  of  Burford  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown  ;  and  Eleanor, 
Hugh  le  Despenser's  wife,  being  already,  as  one  of  the  co-heirs 
of  the  last  Gilbert  de  Clare,  in  possession  of  that  part  of  the 
town's  value  above  John  Giffard's  £20  of  rent,  the  whole  was 
combined  in  the  grant  to  le  Despenser. 

Possibilities  of  confusion  in  the  earlier  centuries  are 
much  increased  by  the  use  of  the  name  '  Burford  '  to  describe 
sometimes  the  complete  feudal  unit  including  the  town, 
sometimes  the  town  alone,  and  sometimes  the  agricultural 
portion  alone.  Thus,  although  the  land  held  at  farm  by 
Robert  Atkyns  in  1428  was  entirely  in  the  hamlets  of  Signett 
and  Upton,  it  is  described  as  the  manor  of  Burford.  Hence, 
too,  the  mistake  that  has  been  made  in  supposing  that  Edmund 
Harman,  some  hundred  years  later,  obtained  the  lordship  of 
the  manor.  He  only  obtained  the  agricultural  portion  for  a 
term  of  years,  the  lordship  remaining  in  the  Crown. 

This  kind  of  confusion  disappears  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  when  the  burghal  and  the  agricultural 
portion  received  different  names.  In  the  Edwardian  Survey  the 
latter  is  entered  as  '  the  manor  of  Bury  Barns  ' ;  and  thereafter 
the  name  of  '  Burford  '  belongs  distinctively  to  the  town. 

But  by  that  time  we  approach  the  end  of  obscurities  from 
another  direction.  The  Letters  Patent  by  which  Queen 
Elizabeth  disposed  of  the  manor  and  town  to  Sir  John  Fortescue, 
her  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  and  Sub-Treasurer,  leave  some 
remnant  of  the  old  duality  in  clauses  reserving  certain  leases 
of  the  Bury  Bams  land.  But  when  Sir  Lay^rence  Tanfield 
acquired  the  property  from  Fortescue's  heirs,  he  seems  to  have 
extinguished,  by  purchase,  this  divided  tenure,  and  from 
henceforth  the  whole  of  the  manor  and  town  passes  as  a  single 
manorial  property.  So  it  remained  until  William  John 
Lenthall,  under  the  load  of  mortgage  incumbrance  that  had 
accumulated  by  1820,  broke  it  up  by  selling  the  farm  of 
Bury  Barns  and  some  other  pieces  of  the  estate  to  various 
purchasers,  before  he  finally  sold  the  Priory  and  the  Manor 
to  Charles  Greenaway  of  Barrington  Grove,  in  1828. 


LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN 


87 


Mr.  Charles  Greenaway,  who  was  M.P.  for  Leominster, 
married  Charlotte  Sophia,  daughter  of  Mr.  Robert  Hurst,  of 
Horsham  Park,  Sussex,  but  had  no  children.  He  had,  how- 
ever, a  niece,  the  daughter  of  his  sister  Mary,  who  had  married 
Mr.  Edward  Youde  of  Plas  Madoc,  Denbigh.  Mr.  Greenaway 
died  in  1859,  and  the  estate  was  for  some  time  in  Chancery, 
Mrs.  Greenaway  died  in  1875,  and  the  niece,  Miss  Mary  Jane 
Youde,  succeeded  to  the  property.  With  her  death,  in  1892, 
the  Greenaway  line  came  to  an  end,  and  the  property  and 
lordship  of  the  manor  passed  to  Mrs.  Greenaway's  family — 
the  Hursts  of  Horsham  Park — with  whom  the  lordship  of  the 
manor  now  remains. 

CHIEF  LORDS  AND  TENANTS  OF  THE  MANOR  AND 
TOWN  OF  BURFORD 


Lords  of  the  Manor 

and  Town  of  Bur  ford. 

1085  Odo,    Bishop    of 

Bayeux 
1088  Robert  Fitz- 

Hamon 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 
Earl  Alberic 


1 107  Robert       of 
Gloucester, 
natural   son   of 
Henry  I 


1 147  William,  Earl  of 
Gloucester 


(1183  The  Crown) 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

According  to  the  Domes- 
day Survey. 

From  the  fact  that  he 
granted  the  first  charter  to 
Burford,  it  is  clear  that 
Burford  had  been  part  of 
the  lands  of  the  Bishop  of 
Bayeux  granted  to  Fitz- 
Hamon  by  William  Rufus 
in  return  for  his  support 
of  the  King  against  the 
Bishop's  rebellion.  From 
this  time  till  1400  the  manor 
of  Burford  formed  part  of 
the  Honour  of  Gloucester. 

Obtained  the  Honour  of 
Gloucester  by  his  marriage 
with  Mabel,  one  of  the 
daughters  of  Robert  Fitz- 
Hamon.  Granted  the 
second  charter  to  Burford. 

Succeeded  on  the  death 
of  Robert,  his  father. 
Granted  the  third  charter, 
and  obtained  from  Henry  II 
the  first  Royal  Confirma- 
tions. 

The  Honour  of  Gloucester 
was  held  by  the  Crown  for 
some  years  after  the  death 


88      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Lords  of  the  Manor 
and  Town  of  Burford. 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 


1 1 89  John,  afterwards 
circa     King  of  England 


1206  Amaury,     Count 
of  Evreux 


1 2 14  Geoffrey  de  Man- 
deville 


1 2 16  William  de  Canti- 
lupe 


(12 17  Gilbert  de  Clare, 
7th  Earl  of 
Gloucester) 


1230  Richard  de  Clare, 
8th  Earl  of 
Gloucester 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

of  Earl  William.  Pre- 
sumably Burford  passed 
with  the  rest  of  the  Honour, 
but  the  place  is  not  specifi- 
cally mentioned  in  the  ren- 
tals of  the  Honour  on  the 
Pipe  Rolls  of  Henry  II. 

Pipe  Rolls,  2  &  3  John. 
John  married  Isabella,  one 
of  the  daughters  of  Earl 
WiUiam.  At  this  date  he 
obtained  from  King  Richard 
some  of  the  lands  of  the 
Honour,  and  probably  Bur- 
ford among  them,  since  the 
place  does  not  appear  upon 
the  Pipe  Rolls  of  Richard's 
reign,  but  does  appear  on 
those  of  King  John. 

P.  R.  O.  Close  Roll  7 
John,  m.  8.  John  granted 
him,  besides  the  Manor,  the 
rental  and  tallage  of  the 
Town. 

P.  R.  O.  Close  Roll  16 
John.  Granted  on  his  mar- 
riage to  Isabella  of  Glouces- 
ter, whom  the  King  had 
divorced  after  his  acces- 
sion. He  received  with 
her  the  whole  Honour  of 
Gloucester,  except  the 
castle  and  town  of  Bristol, 
and  the  town  of  Campden. 

P.  R.  O.  Close  Roll  18 
John.  A  grant  of  the 
manor  of  Burford  by  itself 
'  nisi  dominus  Rex  alii 
illud  contulit '. 

According  to  the  Dic- 
tionary of  National  Bio- 
graphy he  succeeded,  in 
right  of  his  wife  Amice,  one 
of  the  daughters  of  Earl 
William,  to  the  Honour  of 
Gloucester  on  the  death  of 
her  sister  Isabella.  There 
is  no  document  actually 
recording  his  tenure  of 
Burford. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  P.M. 
Hen.  Ill,  file  27,  no.  5, 
m.  41.     Granted  a  charter 


LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN 


89 


Lords  of  the  Manor 
and  Tovon  of  Burford. 


1262  Gilbert  de  Clare, 
9th  Earl  of 
Gloucester 


1295  Joan,  widow  of 
Gilbert  de  Clare, 
daughter  of 
Edward  I 


1305  Ralph    de    Mon- 
thermer 


1 3 12  Gilbert  de  Clare, 
loth  Earl  of 
Gloucester 

1 3 16  Isabella  de  Clare 


1 322  Hugh  le  Despen- 
ser,  and  Eleanor 
de  Clare,  his  wife 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 


Geoffrey      de 
Fanencourte 


John    Giffard    of 
Brimpsfield 


i299johnGififard, 
son  of  the 
preceding 


1327  Isabella  de 
Clare 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

to  Burford,  the  last  re- 
ceived from  the  manorial 
lord. 

Held  part  of  the  manor 
by  service  of  half  a  knight's 
fee.  See  Inq.  P.  M.  just 
quoted. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  P.  M. 
Edw.  I,  file  jy.  The 
tenant  at  this  time  held 
nearly  all  the  town  and 
manor,  the  town  by  service 
of  one  knight's  fee,  and 
part  of  the  manor,  ex- 
cluding Geoffrey  de  Fanen- 
courte's  holding,  by  a  quar- 
ter of  a  knight's  fee.  The 
lord  of  the  manor  retained 
only  the  hamlet  of  Upton. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  P.  M. 
Edw.  I,  file  128.  Held  by 
her  during  her  son's  mi- 
nority. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  P.  M. 
Edw.  Ill,  file  5. 

P.  R.  O.  Pat.  Rolls,  33 
Edw.  I,  ps.  2,  m.  I.  He 
was  guardian  of  the  young 
Gilbert  de  Clare,  whose 
mother  he  had  married. 
See  also  Close  Rolls,  29 
Edw.  I,  m.  10  d. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  P.  M. 
Edw.  II,  file  42. 

P.  R.  O.  Lay  Subsidies 
Oxfordshire,  161.8;  161.9. 
She  was  one  of  the  sisters 
of  Gilbert,  9th  Earl ;  see 
Inq.  P.  M.  last  quoted. 

P.  R.  O.  Charter  Rolls, 
16  Edw.  II,  m.  6.  By  the 
attainder  of  John  Giffard, 
the  town  of  Burford  had 
fallen  into  the  King's  hands 
in  April  1322  ;  he  granted 
it  to  Hugh  le  Despenser  in 
July.  Eleanor  was  one  of 
the  sisters  of  Gilbert,  loth 
Earl. 

P.  R.  O.  Close  Rolls,  i 
Edw.    Ill,    ps.    I,    m.    13. 


90      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Lords  of  the  Manor 
and  Town  of  Bitrford. 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 


1328  Eleanor,  widow 
of  Hugh  le 
Despenser 


1337  Hugh  le  Despen- 
ser, son  of  the 
preceding 

1359  Edward  le  De- 
spenser 

1375  Thomas  le  De- 
spenser 


(1399)  The  Crown 


1387  Hugh,  Earl 
of  Stafiord 


1420  Robert  At- 

kyns 


1439  Isabel,    Countess 
of  Warwick 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

The  holding  of  John  Giflfard 
having  been  escheated  by 
his  disloyalty,  the  remain- 
der of  the  manor  was 
escheated  by  the  disloyalty 
of  Maurice  de  Berkeley, 
whom  Isabella  de  Clare  had 
married.  But  a  special  re- 
grant  was  made  to  her  of 
the  manor  excluding  the 
town. 

P.  R.  O.  Close  Roll,  2 
Edw.  Ill,  m.  30.  Burford 
was  specially  granted  to 
her,  as  the  King  did  not 
consider  it  consonant  with 
justice  that  her  lands  should 
be  swept  into  the  forfeiture 
of  her  husband's  lands. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  P.  M. 
Edw.  Ill,  file  51. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  A.Q.  D. 
Edw.  Ill,  file  259. 

P.  R.  O.  Min.  Accts. 
1122.13. 

Cal.  Inq.  P.M.,  vol.  iii. 
p.  85.  Held  half  a  knight's 
fee,  as  heir  of  the  Fanen- 
courts  (see  Cal.  Inq.  P.  M., 
vol.  iii,  p.  251). 

P.  R.  O.  Min.  Accts. 
957.10.  This  account,  of 
the  year  1435/6,  refers  to 
the  town  and  manor  as 
having  been  held  by 
Thomas,  last  Lord  Despen- 
ser, at  the  time  of  his 
death,  but  makes  no  refer- 
ence to  any  other  holder 
since  then.  Evidently, 
therefore,  Burford  had  not 
passed  with  the  other  De- 
spenser lands  to  the  son 
and  daughter  of  Thomas 
le  Despenser. 

P.  R.  O.  Min.  Accts. 
957.10.  He  had  a  lease 
from  the  Crown  for  three 
lives,  his  own,  and  those  of 
his  wife  and  his  son. 

Cal.  Pat.  RoUs,  Hen.  VI. 
1436-1441,  p.  359.    Isabel, 


LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN        91 


Lords  of  the  Manor 
and  Town  of  Burford. 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 


1439  Henry  Beau- 
champ,  Duke  of 
Warwick 


1446  Lady  Anne, 

daughter  of  the 
preceding 


1449  Richard   Neville, 
Earl    of    War- 
wick,      '  The 
King-maker ' 


(1 47 1  The  Crown) 


1460    Humfrey, 
Duke     of 
Bucking- 
ham 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

Countess  of  Warwick,  was 
the  daughter  of  Thomas  le 
Despenser.  Apparently  the 
manor  of  Burford  had  been 
restored  to  her  as  heiress 
of  the  Despenser  lands. 

P.  R.  O.  Inq.  P.M.  24 
Hen.  VI,  no.  43.  He 
succeeded  to  his  mother's 
estates,  and  Burford  is 
entered  among  his  posses- 
sions on  the  Inquisition. 

Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  Hen.  VI, 
1441-1446,  p.  434.  John 
Norreys,  King's  Esquire  of 
the  Body,  was  appointed 
Steward  of  the  Despenser 
lands,  during  the  minority 
of  the  Duke's  heir. 

By  his  marriage  with  the 
Lady  Anne  Beauchamp, 
sister  of  the  Duke  of 
Warwick,  he  succeeded  to 
the  estates  on  the  death  of 
the  Duke's  daughter.  His 
possession  of  Burford  is 
proved  by  two  documents 
in  the  Burford  Records, 
bundle  GG,  nos.  Ai  and 
A4,  the  date  of  the  latter 
being  1456,  and  that  of  the 
former  between  1461  and 
147 1. 

Cal.  Inq.  P.  M.,  vol.  iv, 
p.  290.  Held  half  a  knight's 
fee  as  heir  of  W.  de  Fanen- 
court. 

After  the  death  of  the 
King-maker  his  estates 
were  escheated  to  the 
Crown,  and  Edward  IV 
divided  them  between  his 
brothers,  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  and  Richard,  Duke 
of  Gloucester  (afterwards 
Richard  III),  who  had  mar- 
ried the  two  daughters  of 
the  King-maker.  The 
Tewkesbury  lands  fell  to 
the  Duke  of  Clarence,  and 
it  is  clear  from  the  succeed- 
ing entries  that  Burford 
thus  came  into  his  hands. 


92      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Lords  of  the  Manor 
and  Town  of  Burford. 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 


1479  Edward,   son 
the     Duke 
Clarence 


1487  The  Crown 


1489  Anne,     Countess 
of  Warwick 

(widow    of    the 
King-maker) 


1493  The  Crown 


1547  (?)  Edmund 
Harman 


1549  John.      Earl 
Warwick 


of 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

though  no  document  actu- 
ally records  his  possession 
of  the  place. 

Cal.  Pat.  RoUs,  Edw.  IV 
&  V  and  Richard  III,  1476- 
1485,  p.  157.  Records  the 
appointment  of  William 
Noreys  to  the  stewardsnip 
of  the  manor  of  Burford 
pending  the  minority  of  the 
son  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence. 

P.  R.  O.  Ancient  Deeds. 
A.  1 1056.  A  feoffment  by 
Anne,  Countess  of  War- 
wick, conveying  to  Henry 
VII  all  the  castles,  manors, 
lordships,  &c.,  of  the  War- 
wick lands. 

Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  Hen.  VII, 
1485-1494,  p.  298.  A  grant 
to  her  for  life  of  the 
manors  and  lordships  of 
Tewkesbury,  Burford,  and 
others. 

Cal.  Pat.  Rolls.  Hen.  VII. 
1485-1494,  p.  405.  Ap- 
pointment of  Robert  Har- 
court.  Esquire,  to  the 
stewardship  of  various 
manors,  including  Burford, 
'  which  are  in  the  King's 
hands  by  the  death  of 
Anne,  Countess  of  War- 
wick.' 

P.  R.  O.  Misc.  Bks.  Land 
Rev.,  vol.  189,  fol.  88. 
The  regnal  year  of  Har- 
man's  lease  is  not  filled  in, 
but  it  must  have  been 
before  1549,  since  the  lease 
was  granted  by  the  Crown, 
and  in  1549  the  manor  of 
Burford  passed  out  of  the 
Crown's  hands  for  some 
years.  But  it  cannot  have 
been  earUer  than  1547, 
since  the  date  of  the  lease 
gives  the  reign  as  of  Ed- 
ward VI. 

P.  R.  O.  Augm.  Off. 
Deeds  of  Purchase  and  Ex- 
change, G.  12.  The  town 
and     manor     of     Burford 


LORDSHIP  OF  THE  MANOR  AND  TOWN        93 


Lords  of  the  Manor 
and  Town  of  Burford. 


1552  The  Crown 


1 60 1  Sir  John  Fortes- 
cue,  Chancellor 
&  Sub-Treasurer 
of  the  Ex- 
chequer 

1617  Sir  Lawrence 
Tanfield,  Lord 
Chief  Baron  of 
the  Exchequer 

1625  Lady  Tanfield 


1629  Lucius 

Viscount 
land 


Cary, 
Falk- 


1637  William  Lenthall, 
Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Com- 
mons 

1662  Sir  John  Lenthall 


1 68 1  William  Lenthall 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 


Sir  Edward  Un- 
ton,  in  right  of 
his  Mofe  Anne, 
Countess  of 
Warwick,  for 
term  of  her  life 

1577  John  (or 
Thomas)  Moore, 
Thomas  Cooke, 
and  Margaret 
Curteis 

1598  Richard 
Bell,  of  Gray's 
Inn,  London 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

granted  to  Warwick  in 
exchange  for  certain  other 
lands. 

P.  R.  O.  Misc.  Bks.  Land 
Rev.,  vol.  189,  fol.  85a. 
By  another  exchange  Bur- 
ford  had  again  become 
Crown  property. 


Priory  Deeds. 


Priory  Deeds. 


Priory  Deeds.  He  ac- 
quired the  town  and  manor 
by  purchase  from  the  Crown . 


Priory  Deeds.  By  pur- 
chase from  the  heirs  of 
Sir  John  Fortescue. 

On  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band. See  Part  IH.  p.  389. 

By  succession,  his 
mother  having  been  the 
daughter  of  Sir  Lawrence 
and  Lady  Tanfield.  The 
estates  of  Burford  and 
Great  Tew  were  settled 
upon  Lord  Falkland  by 
Tanfield.  after  Lady  Tan- 
field's  life. 

Priory  Deeds.  By  pur- 
chase from  Lord  Falkland. 


Son  of  William  Lenthall. 
See  the  Will  of  the  latter. 
28  July  1662. 

On  the  death  intestate 
of  Sir  John  Lenthall.  in 
Nov.  1 68 1. 


94      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Lords  of  the  Manor 
and  Town  of  Burford. 
1686  John  Lenthall 


^763  William  Lenthall 


1 78 1  John  Lenthall 


^7^3  John  Lenthall 


1820  William        John 
Lenthall 


1828  Charles      Green- 
away 


1859  Charlotte  Sophia 
Greenaway 


1875  Mary  Jane  Youde 


1892  Robert  Henry 
Hurst 

1905  Lt.  Col.  Arthur 
Reginald  Hurst, 
D.S.O. 


Tenants  of 
the  Manor. 


Notes  and  Authorities. 

Under  the  Will,  dated 
4  Sept.  1686,  of  his  father 
William  Lenthall,  died 
1686. 

Under  the  Will,  dated 
24  April  1762,  of  his  father 
John  Lenthall,  died  April 
1763.  Settled  Burford 
estates  on  Ifis  brother  and 
his  brother's  heirs. 

Brother  of  the  preceding. 
Succeeded  under  the  Will, 
dated  22  April  1781,  of 
William  Lenthall,  died  Oc- 
tober 1781. 

Son  of  the  preceding. 
Succeeded,  on  the  death 
of  his  father,  under  the  Will 
of  William  Lenthall. 

Son  of  the  preceding. 
Succeeded,  on  his  father's 
death  in  Nov.  1820,  under 
the  Will  of  William  Len- 
thall. 

Son  of  Giles  Greenaway, 
of  Gloucester,  who  had  pur- 
chased the  manor  of  Little 
Barrington  late  in  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Widow  of  the  preceding. 
Succeeded  on  the  death  of 
her  husband,  25  November 
1859. 

Niece  of  Mr.  Charles 
Greenaway.  Succeeded  on 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Green- 
away, 28  March  1875. 

Of  Horsham  Park,  Sus- 
sex. Nephew  of  Mrs.  Char- 
lotte Sophia  Greenaway. 

Of  Horsham  Park  and 
Barrington  Grove.  Son  of 
the  preceding. 


CHAPTER  VII 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  TOWN,  THE  GILD,  AND  THE 
CORPORATION 

The  first  mention  of  Bailiffs  of  Burford  occurs  in  1263  in 
a  conveyance  preserved  among  the  muniments  of  Brasenose 
College,  Oxford.  But  in  that  instance  the  officers  are  not 
named.  The  earliest  mention  of  a  Bailiff  by  name  is  of  the 
year  1285,  and  is  found  in  a  document  preserved  at  the 
Public  Record  Office.  Various  documents  among  the  Burford 
Records  give  the  names  of  Bailiffs  at  intervals  during  the 
fifteenth  century.  No  systematic  record  of  them  was  kept 
until  the  sixteenth  century,  when  a  complete  list  of  the 
Bailiffs  from  1509  to  1587  was  entered  in  one  of  the  Memoran- 
dum Books  of  the  Corporation.  From  that  date  until  165 1 
we  have  to  depend  again  upon  occasional  entries  in  Account 
Books,  leases  of  the  Charity  Lands,  &c.  After  165 1  another 
systematic  list  becomes  available. 

From  these  various  sources  the  following  list  has  been 
compiled  : 

BAILIFFS  OF  BURFORD 

1285     John  le  Fraunceys  P.  R.  O.  Assize  Roll  710,  m. 

43 
1399     Henry  Coteller  P.  R.  O.  Min.  Accts.  1122,  13 

Thomas  Grene 
1435     William  Coteler  Burf.  Rec.  CH  7 

Richard  Lavynton 
1438     William  Coteler  Burf.  Rec.  CH  8 

Richard  Lavynton 
1445     William  Coteler  Burf.  Rec.  CH  10 

Richard  Lavynton 
1458     Henry  Byschop  Burf.  Rec.  CH  12 

John  Pynnock,  junior 
1460    John  Pynnock,  junior      Burf.  Rec.  CH  14 

Robert  Coburle 
1464    John  Granger  Burf.  Rec.  CH  15 

John  Lavyngton 


96      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


1466    John  Pynnock,  junior      Burf.  Rec.  B  2 

John  Grove 
1472     John  Pynnock,  junior      Burf.  Rec,  CH  18 

John  Granger 


1481     John  Pynnock 

Robert  Leveriche 
1489     Thomas  Bishop 

John  Boterell 
■  1491     William  Fludyate 

Richard  Brame 
1493     John  Tanner 

Thomas  Dodde 

From  this  date  till  the  year  1587  the  dates  given  are  the 
years  in  which  the  Bailiffs  took  office,  in  September  of  each 
year.  It  is  therefore  to  be  remembered  that  they  were  in 
office  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  following. 


Burf.  Rec.  B  3 

Burf.  Rec.  S  9 

Burf.  Rec.  CH  23 

Burf.  Rec.  P  11 

B.  N.  C.  Burf.  Leases  17 


1508 

Richard  Brame 

1522 

Richard  Hannes 

Thomas  Staunton 

John  Sharppe 

1509 

William  Brisse 

1523 

Richard  Hannes 

Peter  Enysdale 

John  Sharppe 

I5I0 

John  Bisshope 

1524 

John  Busbye 

William  Floudyate 

William  Hodgis 

I5II 

Thomas  Staunton 

1525 

Richard  Hannes 

William  Burrell 

William  Hodgis 

I5I2 

Thomas  Staunton 

1526 

Peter  Enysdale 

William  Burrell 

William  Smythe 

I5I3 

Robert  Ryleye 

1527 

John  Sharp 

John  Hill 

John  Busbye 

I5I4 

Peter  Enysdale 

1528 

Richard  Hannes 

Robert  Rylye 

William  Hodgis 

I5I5 

Thomas  Staunton 

1529 

John  Sharpe 

John  Harrys 

David  Tailor 

I5I6 

Robert  Osmonde 

1530 

Richard  Hannes 

Robert  Payne,  senior 

John  Strange 

I5I7 

Thomas  Pinnock 

1531 

William  Hodgis 

Peter  Enysdale 

Robert  Jonson 

I5I8 

John  Harris 

1532 

John  Sharp 

Robert  Ryleye 

Thomas  Tomson 

I5I9 

Robert  Payne 

1533 

Richard  Hannes 

Richard  Hannes 

William  Hodgis 

1520 

Peter  Enysdale 

1534 

Robert  Jonson 

Nicholas  Clerk 

Thomas  Richards 

I52I 

Nicholas  Clerck 

1535 

John  Sharpe 

John  Frankeleyn 

John  Jones 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  TOWN 


97 


1536 

John  Jones 

1555 

Thomas  Faller 

Thomas  Tomson 

Richard  Charleye 

1537 

William  Hodgis 

1556 

William  Hewis 

Robert  Payne 

Thomas  Freers 

1538 

James  Grene 

1557 

Edmunde  Sylvester 

Symon  Wisdome 

Thomas  Heynes^ 

1539 

John  Sharpe 

1558 

John  Floyde  ^ 

William  Hewis 

Richard  Dawbe 

1540 

Richard  Hannes 

1559 

Robert  Bruton 

John  Lamberd 

John  Smythear 

I54I 

John  Sharpe 

1560 

John  Hans 

John  Jones 

Rychard  Chawrley 

1542 

Simon  Wisdome 

1561 

Symon  Wysdom 

William  Hewis 

Thomas  Fryeres 

1543 

William  Hodgis 

1562 

Edmunde  Sylvester 

Robert  Enysdale 

Thomas  Heynes 

1544 

Richard  Hannes 

1563 

William  Hewes 

James  Grene 

Richard  Dawbe 

1545 

Richard  Monington 

1564 

John  Floyde 

Simon  Wisdom 

Water  Molener 

1546 

Robert  Payne 

1565 

John  Hans 

William  Hewis 

Richard  Chawrley 

1547 

Robert  Enysdale 

1566 

Thomas  Fryeres 

William  Roberts 

Thomas  Fetyplace 

1548 

Richard  Hannes 

1567 

Symon  Wysdom 

Thomas  Faller 

Rychard  Renolles 

1549 

Richard  Hodgis 

1568 

William  Symons 

Robert  Brewton 

William  Pertrysche 

1550 

Simon  Wisdome 

1569 

William  Symons 

John  Floid 

John  Jenkyns 

I55I 

William  Hewis 

1570 

Rycharde  Dawbe 

Edmond  Silvester 

Edmunde  Sylvester 

1552 

William  Roberts 

1571 

Benydict  Fawler 

Thomas  Prikyvaunce 

Thomas  Hewes 

1553 

Robert  Brewton 

1572 

John  Hannes 

John  Smithear 

John  Wyllyames^ 

1554 

Simon  Wisdome 

1573 

Rycharde  Chadwell 

John  Hannes 

Rycharde  Reynoldes 

»  Note  appended  to  this  entry  :  '  the  same  year  deceasd  M'  Monjmgton 
being  then  alderman.    The  same  year  Symon  Wisdom  elected  alderman  '. 

*  Note  preceding  this  entry  :  '  by  M'  Edward  Unton  in  the  ryght  of 
my  Lady  of  Warrewyke  ' . 

»  Note  appended  to  this  entry  :  '  M"*  the  v*J»  day  of  November  An"  1 572 
Thomas  Fryers  on  of  the  burges  of  burfford  decessyd  and  yeldyd  hys 
body  to  the  erthe  and  hys  sowle  to  god  that  gave  yt/god  send  him  a 
yoyfful  Resurreccyon  Amen  '. 

2304  H 


98      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Richard  Chadwell 
Robert  Silvester 
Rychard  Reynolds 
Thomas  Silvester 
William  Symonds 
Symon  Greene 
Robert  Silvester  ^ 
Symon  Symons 
Rychard  Chadwell 
Rychard  Dalbye 
William  Symonds,  tan- 
ner 
John  Lyme,  shewmaker 
John  Wylliams 
Symon  Symons 

The  list  in  the  Corporation  Memorandum  Book  ends  here. 
A  few  years  of  the  interval  before  other  lists  become  available 
can  be  filled  up  as  follows,  from  certain  documents  : 

Richard  Dalby 
Richard  Meryweather 


1574 

William  Symons 
William  Sylvester 

1581 

1575 

John  Jhenkins 
Roberte  Silvester 

1582 

1576 

Wyllyam  Partrydge 
Edmond  Sylvester 

1583 

1577 

Richard  Reynuld 
Thomas  Hewes 

1584 

1578 

Richard  Chadwell 
Richard  Dalbie  the 

1585 

elder 

1586 

1579 

William  Symonds 

Robert  Silvester 

1580 

John  Lymme 
John  Wylliams 

1587 

1589 
1596 


Burf.  Rec.  CH  29 

Burgess  Court  Book,  fol.  13 

Burgess  Court  Book,  fol.  19 

Burf.  Rec.  S  27 

Burf.  Rec.  S  32 

Burf.  Rec.  S  40 


John  Roflfe 

Raphe  Wisdom 
1597     Simon  Simons 

Richard  Merywether 
1599     John  Roffe 

John  Yate 
1607     Richard  Merywether 

Toby  Dallam 
1620     William  Taylor 

William  Bartholomew 
the  elder 
1627     Thomas  Silvester 

Richard  Taylor 

From  the  year  1630  an  almost  complete  list  can  be  compiled 
from  \^arious  Account  Books,  Assessment  Books,  &c.  In 
this  list,  as  in  the  earlier  one,  the  date  given  is  the  year  in 
which  the  Bailiffs  took  office. 

1630  David  Hewes  1632 
Paul  Silvester 

1631  William  Bartholomew,      1633 

sen. 
Edmond  Serrell 
*  Note  preceding  this  entry  :   '  for  M'  Henry  Umpton  '. 


John  Clerk 
Nathaniel  Noble 
Thomas  Silvester 
Symon  Warde 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  TOWN 


99 


1634 

William  Bartholomew 
Richard  Taylor 

1657. 

1635 

John  Taylor 
Richard  Syndrie 

1658 

1636 

David  Hughes 
George  Watkins 

1659 

1637 

John  Clarke 
Edmund  Serrell 

1660 

1638 

Thomas  Silvester 
Paul  Silvester 

1661 

1639 

William  Bartholomew 
Symon  Ward 

1662 

1640 

Richard  Taylor 
Richard  Sindrye 

1663 

I64I 

David  Hughes 
George  Watkins 

1664 

1642 

Symon  Ward 
Edmund  Serrell 

1665 

[No  mention  of  Bailiffs  for  the 

1666 

years  1643  and  1644.] 

1645 

Edward  Fettiplace, 
Esquire. 

1667 

Symon  Ward 

1668 

1646 

Thomas  Silvester 

Richard  Syndry 

1669 

1647 

William  Bartholomew 

Leonard  Yate 

1670 

1648 

John  Hunt 

Thomas  Silvester, 

1671 

1649 

jun. 
Edward  Serrell 
Henry  Hayter 

1672 

1650 

John  Hughes 
Stephen  Smyth 

1673 

165 1 

David  Hughes 
John  Knight 

1674 

1652 

John  Jordan 
Paul  Silvester 

1675 

1653 

Richard  Sindrey 
Richard  Haynes 

1676 

1654 

Richard  Hayter 
Robert  Yate 

1677 

1655 

Edmund  Serrell 
Thomas  Matthews 

1678 

1656 

John  Hunt 
Thomas  Silvester 

1679 

John  Hughes 
Stephen  Smythe 
David  Hughes 
John  Knight 
Richard  Bartholomew 
Paul  Silvester 
John  Jordan 
Leonard  Mills 
Richard  Haynes 
Thomas  Hughes 
Thomas  Matthews 
John  Widdowes 
Richard  Hayter 
John  Payton 
John  Hughes 
Paul  Silvester 
Stephen  Smith 
Thomas  Castle 
David  Hughes 
John  Knight 
Paul  Silvester 
Richard  Haynes 
Thomas  Matthews 
Thomas  Hughes 
John  Widdowes 
John  Payton 
Stephen  Smith 
Paul  Silvester 
Thomas  Castle 
Richard  Bartholomew 
John  Knight 
John  Ward 
Paul  Silvester 
Thomas  Silvester 
Richard  Haynes 
Edmund  Heming 
Thomas  Mathewes 
John  Collier 
Thomas  Hughes 
Richard  George 
Paul  Silvester,  jun. 
David  Hughes 
Thomas  Castle 
John  Payton 
Richard  Bartholomew 
John  Price 


H  2 


100    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURRORD 


1680 

Francis  Kible 

1703 

John  Haynes 

Thomas  Silvester 

William  Bowles 

I68I 

John  Collier 

1704 

Paul  Silvester 

•  John  Winsmore 

Edward  Saunders 

1682 

Richard  George 

1705 

Dennis  Cosins 

Robert  Aston 

Edward  Saunders 

1683 

Paul  Silvester 

1706 

John  Castle 

Stephen  Matthews 

William  Bowles 

1684 

John  Payton 

1707 

William  Ford 

William  Taylor 

Paul  Silvester 

1685 

Thomas  Castle 

1708 

John  Castle 

William  Rogers 

Dennis  Cosens 

1686 

John  Price 

1709 

William  Bowles 

John  Haines 

Richard  Whithall 

1687 

John  Collier 

1710 

Paul  Silvester 

John  Winsmore 

George  Hart 

1688 

Thomas  Silvester 

1711 

John  Castle 

John  Castle 

William  Taish 

1689 

Richard  George 

1712 

Dennis  Cosens 

Robert  Aston 

William  Castle 

1690 

John  Haines     , 

1713 

William  Bowles 

George  Hart 

Robert  Taylor 

1691 

John  Collier 

1714 

Paul  Silvester 

Simon  Partridge 

William  Taylor 

1692 

John  Winsmore 

1715 

George  Hart 

William  Taylor 

{N 

0  second  name  recorded.) 

1693 

Robert  Aston 

1716 

Richard  Whitehall 

Samuel  Wyatt 

Matthew  Underwood 

1694 

John  Castle 

1717 

John  Castle 

William  Ford 

William  Castle 

1695 

Richard  George 

1718 

Dennis  Cosens 

Dennis  Cosens 

Robert  Taylor 

1696 

John  Haynes 

1719 

William  Bowles 

John  Linsey 

Paul  Silvester 

1697 

George  Hart 

1720 

Paul  Silvester 

Simon  Partridge 

Henry  Taish 

1698 

Samuel  Wyatt 

1721 

George  Hart 

William  Bowles 

John  Cooke 

1699 

John  Castle 

1722 

Richard  Whitehall 

William  Ford 

Matthew  Underwood 

1700 

John  Haynes 

1723 

William  Castle 

Dennis  Cosens 

Robert  Taylor 

I70I 

Paul  Silvester 

1724 

William  Bowles 

Edward  Saunders 

Paul  Silvester 

1702 

John  Castlj 

1725 

Thomas  Hunt 

William  Ford 

John  Green 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  TOWN 


lOI 


1726 

Matthew  Underwood 
Paul  Silvester 

1758 

1727 

Richard  Whitehall 
James  Partridge 

1759 

1728 

William  Bowles 
Robert  Taylor 

1760 

1729 

Matthew  Underwood 
John  Green 

1761 

1730 

Robert  Taylor 
Paul  Silvester 

1762 

I73I 

George  Hart 
Richard  Whitehall 

1763 

1732 

Robert  Taylor 
Matthew  Underwood 

1764 

1733 

George  Hart 
John  Green 

1765 

1734 

Richard  Whitehall 
Matthew  Underwood 

1766 

1735 

Paul  Silvester 
John  Green 

1767 

1736 

George  Hart 
Matthew  Underwood 

1768 

1737 

Paul  Silvester 
Thomas  Ansell 

1769 

1738 

Matthew  Underwood 
George  Hart 

1770 

1748 

Paul  Silvester 
John  Green 

1771 

1749 

William  Chapman 
John  Collier 

1772 

1750 

Paul  Silvester 
John  Green 

1773 

I75I 

John  Collier 
John  Castle 

1774 

1752 

Paul  Silvester 
John  Green 

1775 

1753 

William  Upston 
John  Collier 

1776 

1754 

William  Upston 
John  Collier 

1777 

1755 

Paul  Silvester 
John  Green 

1778 

1756 

William  Upston 
Thomas  Silvester 

1779 

1757 

Paul  Silvester 
William  Chapman 

1780 

William  Upston 
Thomas  Silvester 
Paul  Silvester 
Thomas  Silvester 
William  Upston 
Thomas  Sylvester 
Paul  Sylvester 
Edward  Ansell 
Thomas  Sylvester 
Edward  Ansell 
Paul  Sylvester 
William  Upston 
William  Upston 
Thomas  Sylvester 
Thomas  Sylvester 
Edward  Ansell 
William  Upston 
Edward  Ansell 
William  Upston 
Edward  Ansell 
William  Upston 
Edward  Ansell 
William  Upston 
Edward  Ansell 
William  Upston 
Edward  Ansell 
William  Upston 
William  Boulter 
William  Boulter 
Absalom  Monk 
William  Chapman 
William  Boulter 
William  Chapman 
William  Boulter 
William  Chapman 
William  Chavasse 
William  Chapman 
James  Monk 
William  Chavasse 
John  Kempster 
William  Chapman 
William  Chavasse 
William  Chapman 
John  Arkell 
William  Chapman 
William  Chavasse 


102    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


I78I 

William  Chapman 

1795 

William  Boulter 

Edward  Anseil 

Pye  Chavasse 

1782 

William  Chavasse 

1796 

William  Turner 

John  Kempster 

Richard  Tuckwell 

1787 

William  Boulter 

1797 

William  Turner 

James  Monk 

Pye  Chavasse 

1788 

Thomas  Silvester 

1798 

Pye  Chavasse 

William  Chavasse 

William  Turner 

1789 

William  Boulter 

1799 

Pye  Chavasse 

John  Arkell 

William  Turner 

1790 

William  Boulter 

1800 

Benjamin  Waters 

James  Monk 

John  Tuckwell 

I79I 

William  Boulter 

1801 

Benjamin  Waters 

William  Chavasse 

Pye  Chavasse 

1792 

Edward  Anseil 

1802 

John  Tuckwell 

John  Arkell 

Benjamin  Waters 

1793 

William  Chavasse 

1840 

William  Ackerman 

Pye  Chavasse 

William  Tuckwell 

1794 

John  Arkell 

1841 

William  Ackerman 

William  Turner 

William  Tuckwell 

From  the  year  1846  William  Ackerman  held  office  alone  as 
Bailiff  until  the  Corporation  was  dissolved. 

No  mention  can  be  found  of  any  member  of  the  Corporation 
described  as  '  Alderman  '  before  1530.  Yet  it  is  difficult  to 
imagine  that  neither  the  Gild  nor  the  Corporation  had  a  Chief 
Officer  ;  and  therefore,  as  occasional  references  are  found  to 
Burgesses  described  as  '  Seniors ',  it  has  been  assumed  that 
they  may  be  included  in  the  following  list  of  the  Chief  Officers. 
No  systematic  list  of  the  holders  of  the  Aldermanship  was 
ever  kept ;  and  the  only  possible  list  is  a  fragmentary  one, 
made  up  from  various  references  in  the  Burford  Records. 


ALDERMEN  OF  BURFORD 
Seniors 


1367 
1382 

Robert  le  Cotelir 
John  Wenryche 

1404 
Aldermen 

Thomas  Spicer 
Thomas  Spicer 

1530 
1537 

Peter  Eynesdale 
Peter  Annysdale 

1540 
1553 

Richard  Manyngton 
Richard  Monyngton 

- 

OFFICERS  OF  THE 

1559 

Simon  Wisdom 

1589 

1566 

Simon  Wisdom 

1596 

1568 

Simon  Wisdom 

1598 

1570 

Simon  Wisdom 

1599 

I57I 

Simon  Wisdom 

1605 

1573 

Simon  Wisdom 

1608 

1574 

Simon  Wisdom 

1620 

1579 

Simon  Wisdom 

1725 

i58o 

Simon  Wisdom 

1728 

1581 

Simon  Wisdom 

1792 

1586 

Richard  Chadwell 

1828 

TOWN 


103 


Richard  Chadwell 
William  Symonds 
Richard  Merywether 
Richard  Merywether 
Richard  Merywether 
Richard  Merywether 
Symon  Symons 
Charles  Perrott 
Charles  Perrott 
Charles  Fettiplace 
Thomas  Cheatle 


The  earliest  mention  of  an  official  with  the  title  of  Steward 
is  of  the  year  1537.  But  in  the  case  of  this  office  there  is  less 
difficulty  in  recognizing  it  under  earlier  names.  The  '  Sene- 
schal '  mentioned  occasionally  during  the  fifteenth  century 
was  certainly  the  officer  later  called  the  Steward.  It  also 
seems  certain  that  occasional  references  both  of  early  and  of 
late  periods  to  a  '  Chamberlain  '  indicate  the  same  officer. 
Again,  we  have  no  systematic  record  of  the  holders  of  the 
post,  and  can  only  compile  a  fragmentary  Ust. 


STEWARDS 

1404 

Henry  Coteler,  Seneschal       1492     John  Hyll 

1465 

Sir     Robert     Harcourt 

> 

William  Bowdelare 

Seneschal 

Chamberlains 

Stewards 

1537 

Richard  Hannys 

1581 

John  Hans 

1540 

Richard  Hans 

1589 

William  Symons 

1553 

Simon  Wisdom 

1591 

William  Symons 

1566 

Edmund  Sylvester 

1596 

Symon  Grene 

1568 

John  Hannes,  senior 

1598 

Symon  Symons 

1570 

John  Hannes 

1599 

Symon  Symons 

I57I 

John  Hans 

1605 

Symon  Symons 

1573 

John  Hans 

1620 

William  Webbe 

1579 

John  Hans 

1728 

George  Hart, 
Chamberlain 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST,  BURFORD 
By  the  Rev.  William  C.  Emeris,  Vicar  of  Burford 

WITH  SOME  HISTORICAL  NOTES  ON  CHURCH  AFFAIRS  IN 

BURFORD 

By  R.  H.  Gretton 

A  CHURCH  must  have  existed  in  Burford  from  early  times  ; 
but  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  or  early  Norman  structure  nothing 
now  remains,  unless  a  fragment  is  to  be  seen  in  the  doorway, 
within  the  church,  leading  to  the  tower  steps. 

The  outUne  of  the  history  of  the  present  building  would 
seem  to  be  as  fellows  : 

(i)  A  church,  consisting  of  nave,  tower,  and  short  chancel, 
was  built  towards  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century.  Of  this 
building  there  remain  the  west  wall  and  west  door,  and  the 
tower.  One  other  small  fragment  may  be  seen,  built  into  the 
north  wall  of  the  Tanfield  chapel ;  and  in  the  room  over  the 
porch  there  are  two  stones,  which  have  formed  part  of 
a  Norman  doorway,  perhaps  the  south  door  of  the  original 
church. 

(ii)  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  chancel  was  lengthened, 
arches  were  opened  in  the  north  and  south  walls  of  the  tower, 
and  the  transepts  were  built.  A  south  aisle  must  also  have 
been  erected. 

(iii)  A  hundred  years  later  the  chapel  of  St.  Thomas  of 
Canterbury  was  built  west  of  the  south  transept,  with  a  crypt 
beneath.    The  font  is  of  this  period. 

(iv)  Towards  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  a  great 
work  of  reconstruction  began.  It  may  be  said  that  for 
a  hundred  and  twenty  years  work  of  building  or  decoration 
was  going  on  in  the  church  ;  and  at  the  close  of  this  period 
the  church  had  reached  the  size  and  shape  which  we  now  see. 
A  sacristy  was  built  to  the  north  of  the  sanctuary,  in  which 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         105 

the  original  altar  still  remains,  a  new  nave  with  north  and 
south  aisles  was  erected,  the  tower  was  raised  and  a  spire 
added,^  and  the  beautiful  porch  arose.  Then,  however,  the 
Norman  tower  showed  signs  of  weakness  under  the  additional 
weight  that  had  been  put  upon  it.  In  order  to  save  it, 
reinforcing  work  had  to  be  done,  the  nature  of  which  is 
perfectly  evident  to-day.  The  north  and  south  arches  opening 
from  the  tower  space  into  the  transepts  were  partially  filled 
up,  lower  and  narrower  arches  appearing  under  the  original 
ones  ;  the  north  transept  was  shortened  and  strengthened 
with  thrusts  and  buttresses,  and  the  north  wall  of  the  chancel 
was  widened  and  so  arranged  as  to  form  a  support ;  several  of 
the  small  arches  within  the  tower  above  the  main  arches  were 
blocked  up.  The  slightly  distorted  curve  of  these  main  arches, 
and  certain  signs  of  old  cracks  in  the  walls  above,  remain 
to  show  what  danger  the  tower  had  been  in.  At  about  the 
same  time  as  this  building  was  taking  place,  the  north  wall 
of  the  north  transept  was  prolonged  eastwards  to  form 
a  chapel  north  of  the  chancel.  Later  a  south  chancel  chapel 
was  built,  and  a  new  east  window  inserted  in  the  chancel. 

(v)  There  remains  to  mention  one  other  feature  of  the 
church,  which  was  not  from  the  first  an  integral  part  of  the 
structure.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  Gild  Merchant  of 
Burford  built  a  chapel,  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
in  the  churchyard,  close  to  the  south-west  corner  of  the  church, 
but  detached  from  it.  The  separate  position  of  the  chapel  is 
evident  in  one  document  of  the  Burford  Records,  a  convey- 
ance of  property  by  one  WilHam  More,  of  Henley-on-Thames, 
to  Thomas  Spicer,  with  certain  remainders  to  the  church  of 
Burford.  Remainder  to  the  Gild  chapel  is  also  included,  and 
it  is  described  as  '  capella  beate  marie  in  eodem  cimeterio  que 
est  burgi '.  This  specific  description  of  the  chapel  as  '  in  the 
churchyard  '  proves  that  it  was  not  at  that  date  (1422)  a  part 
of  the  church.  In  the  fifteenth  century  this  chapel  was 
lengthened  towards  the  east,  so  as  to  reach  the  great  south 
porch  ;   it  was  shortened  at  the  west  end,  and  was  opened  to 

■  The  will  of  John  Cakebred  of  Burford  helps  to  date  this  work ;  he 
bequeathed  '  campanili  nostro  emendando  xs  '.    See  Part  III,  p.  420. 


io6    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

the  south  aisle  by  an  arcade.  On  its  enlargement,  it  was 
re-dedicated  as  the  great  chapel  of  St.  Mary  and  St.  Anne. 
As  it  stands  the  chapel  bears  signs  of  its  two  distinct  stages 
of  existence.  The  south  door,  now  blocked,  with  a  defaced 
crucifix  above  it,  and  the  windows  and  door,  also  now  blocked, 
in  the  north  wall,  are  relics  of  the  original  Gild  chapel.  It  is 
just  possible  that  the  remains  of  the  window  to  be  seen  at  the 
junction  of  the  north  wall  with  the  west  wall  of  the  main 
building,  at  a  lower  level  and  of  somewhat  later  date  than  the 
other  windows  in  the  north  wall,  may  mark  for  us,  if  it  was 
a  kind  of  low  side  window,  the  position  of  the  altar  in  the 
original  chapel. 

The  extension  of  the  chapel  into  the  church  fabric  coincides 
interestingly  with  the  period  at  which  the  Gild  of  Burford 
was  rising  to  importance,  and  was  assuming  authority  over 
various  church  funds. 

It  is  interesting  also  in  another  way,  because  the  detached 
position  of  the  first  chapel  has  produced  a  curious  irregularity 
in  the  ground  plan  of  the  church.  The  two  buildings  were  not 
oriented  on  quite  parallel  axes,  with  the  result  that  the  Gild 
chapel,  when  lengthened  eastwards,  entered  the  main  building 
at  a  distinct  slant. 

Of  the  original  arrangements  within  the  church  and  of  the 
decoration  which  adorned  it  some  idea  can  be  formed  from 
hints  which  the  present  building  supplies,  and  from  docu- 
ments which  have  survived. 

We  see  the  blocked  doorway  which  led  out  upon  the  rood 
loft,  and  this  marks  the  position  of  the  great  rood  at  the 
western  tower  arch,  and  doubtless  of  some  form  of  screen 
beneath  it.  There  are  unmistakeable  traces  of  another  screen 
under  the  eastern  tower  arch. 

Probably  the  altar  in  St.  Peter's  chapel  was  connected  with 
the  rood  screen.  The  present  dedication  is  modem.  Of  the 
general  structure  of  this  chapel,  which  is  such  an  unusual  and 
interesting  feature  of  the  church,  it  is  impossible  to  speak 
with  certainty.  The  stone  canopy  must  undoubtedly  have 
belonged  to  a  mediaeval  altar  ;  but  the  woodwork,  according 
to  the  accepted  view,  was  erected  by  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield 


PLATE    V.     BUR  FORD    CHIMICH 
INTERIOR 

SHOWING     MEDIAEVAL     CHAPEL     TARCLOSE     AND     PULPIT 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         107 

to  form  a  priory  pew,  a  use  which  the  canopied  enclosure 
served  for  some  two  centuries.  In  support  of  this  view  it' is 
pointed  out  that  the  woodwork  does  not  fit  on  properly  to  the 
stone  canopy,  and  conceals  some  remains  of  decoration  on  the 
upper  face  of  the  stonework.  However,  the  most  recent 
authoritative  opinion  regards  the  wooden  canopy  as  also  part 
of  the  original  chapel,  though  of  later  date  than  the  stone 
canopy. 

The  screens  dividing  the  north  and  south  chancel  chapels 
from  the  chancel  are  original ;  but  that  dividing  the  Tanfield 
chapel  from  the  north  transept  is  a  medley  of  mediaeval  and 
Jacobean  work  ;  it  was  placed  there  by  Lady  Tanfield.  The 
screen  of  St.  Thomas's  chapel  is  mainly  original,  and  still 
preserves  much  of  its  colouring.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  this  chapel  was  reserved  for  the  attendance 
of  members  of  the  Corporation  at  divine  service,  and  called 
the  Burgesses'  Aisle ;  portions  of  the  screen  have  been  cut 
out,  apparently  for  their  convenience,  and  fresh  pieces  have 
had  to  be  inserted. 

The  pulpit  also  is  original  mediaeval  work,  but  in  this  case 
the  colour  has  been  revived. 

Of  the  colour  decoration  of  the  walls  traces  are  to  be  found 
in  the  south  transept  and  in  St.  Thomas's  chapel,  and  in  the 
Tanfield  chapel  there  is  a  very  interesting  recess  in  which  the 
decoration  still  lingers.  Patches  of  colour  on  the  stonework 
in  the  nave  suggest  how  much  was  lost  through  the  disastrous 
removal  of  the  plaster  in  early  stages  of  the  nineteenth-century 
restoration  ;  and  it  is  on  record  that  there  was  a  figure  of 
St.  Christopher  on  the  wall  near  the  pulpit.^ 

Of  other  features  of  the  mediaeval  church,  evidence  is 
provided  by  the  will  of  Henry  Bisshoppe,  dated  October  28, 
1478,  which  is  among  the  Burford  Records.  In  this  document 
a  chapel  of  St.  Katherine  is  specially  mentioned,  perhaps  the 
chapel  in  which  the  Tanfield  monument  stands  ;  the  matrix 
of  a  brass  which  may  have  been  Henry  Bisshoppe's  is  in  this 
chapel.  He  bequeathed  one  pair  of  vestments  for  celebrating 
Mass  particularly  at  the  altar  of  that  chapel. 

»  Stated  by  the  Rev.  John  Fisher,  in  his  History  of  Burford,  p.  29. 


io8     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

But  what  we  chiefly  owe  to  his  will  is  a  knowledge  of  the 
altar  lights  anciently  in  the  church.  He  left  bequests  for  the 
maintenance  of  many  of  them,  naming  those  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  the  Holy  Trinity,  St.  Katherine,  St.  Mary  and  St.  Anne 
in  'the  chapel ',  St.  John,  St.  Stephen,  St.  Clement,  St.  Thomas, 
the  light  called  SideHght,  the  light  called  TorchHght,  and  the 
light  of  All  Souls.  The  situation  of  some  of  these  can,  of 
course,  be  identified. 

Five  years  earlier  John  Pynnok,  senior,  had  made  bequests 
to  the  high  altar,  and  for  the  repair  of  that  altar  and  every 
other  altar  in  the  church  ;  but  unfortunately  he  does  not  say 
how  many  these  were,  nor  give  their  dedications. 

Of  ancient  glass  such  fragments  as  survive  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  upper  lights  of  the  east  and  west  windows,  and  in  the 
north  window  of  the  north  transept.^ 

Some  few  pieces  in  the  west  window  are  in  situ.  The  figures 
and  angels  would  seem  to  have  come  from  tracery  Hghts, 
Among  the  figures  the  following  saints  have  been  identified  : 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  St.  Barbara,  St.  Margaret,  St.  Mary 
Magdalen,  a  female  saint  holding  a  book  in  her  left  hand, 
perhaps  St.  Katherine,  and  St.  George  piercing  the  dragon 
with  a  spear  held  in  both  hands,  and  wearing  armour  of  circa 
1480.  It  would  appear  that  the  angels  belonged  to  a  series 
representing  the  Nine  Orders  ;  they  may  have  been  in  the 
clerestory  windows  in  the  nave,  and  the  female  saints  in  the 
windows  of  the  Lady  Chapel.  Of  a  set  of  symbols  of  the 
Evangelists,  that  of  St.  Luke  is  in  the  west  window  and  that 
of  St.  Matthew  in  the  east.  Some  small  letters  of  an  inscription 
in  the  west  window  read  '  How  a  manne  ma  wedde ',  and 
suggest  that  there  was  also  a  series  representing  the  Seven 
Sacraments.  Other  fragments  give  interesting  types  of 
canopies,  and  parts  of  a  figure  of  an  archbishop,  fully  vested, 
with  the  pallium,  perhaps  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury. 

In  the  east  window  there  are  rounds  with  the  Jesus  and  the 
Mary  monograms,  in  situ.     We  see  also  St,  Christopher,  and 

•  The  account  here  given  of  the  surviving  fragments  of  ancient  glass  is 
from  notes  compiled  by  Mr.  G.  McN.  Rushworth,  by  whose  kind  permission 
this  use  is  made  of  them . 


.      CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         109 

two  angels  of  the  Annunciation.  At  the  top  of  one  light  is 
a  head  of  fourteenth-century  character,  but  all  the  other 
fragments  are  of  fifteenth-century  glass.  However,  in  the 
cusped  head  of  one  of  the  central  lights  there  is  the  merchant's 
mark  of  some  donor  (inverted),  and  it  corresponds  exactly 
with  the  mark  used  by  Simon  Wisdom  on  his  seal.  As  is 
remarked  elsewhere,  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  one  of  this 
name,  or  of  the  name  of  Wisdom  at  all,  in  any  of  the  Burford 
Records,  before  the  well-known  Simon  Wisdom,  who  figures  so 
largely  in  the  town's  history.  As  he  was  living  till  about  1582 
or  1583,  he  can  hardly  have  been  concerned  in  the  erection  of 
fifteenth-century  windows  ;  and  this  fragment  must  almost 
certainly  have  come  from  some  later  window  given  by  him. 

The  collection  and  placing  of  the  fragments  in  the  east  and 
west  windows  was  done  in  1826.^  When  the  lower  lights  of  the 
west  window  were  filled  with  modern  glass  in  1874  one  head 
under  a  canopy  was  removed,  and  this  is  now  in  the  north 
window  of  the  north  transept ;  it  represents  St.  James  of  Com- 
postella,  with  a  cockle  shell  on  his  hat.  Other  fragments  found 
in  the  church  have  been  placed  in  the  centre  of  this  window. 
The  piece  bearing  the  arms  of  St.  Edward  the  Confessor  and 
the  glass  in  the  tracery  lights  were  given  to  the  church  in  191 1. 
Of  the  monuments  in  the  church,  the  oldest,  and  the  only 
one  which  preserves  the  memory  of  a  mediaeval  citizen  of 
Burford,  is  the  beautiful  bracket  brass  beneath  the  rood,  from 
which  John  Spicer,  with  his  wife  Alys,  still  speaks  to  us.^ 
He  died  in  1437,  and  the  rood  beneath  which  his  body  was 
laid  had  been  his  gift  to  the  church,  together  with  one  of  the 
windows  : 

The  wiche  rode  soler  in  this  chirche 
Upon  my  cost  I  dede  do  wirche 
Wt  a  lamp  birnyng  bright 
To  worschip  god  both  day  &  nyght 
And  a  gabul  wyndow  dede  do  make 
In  helth  of  soule  and  for  Crist  sake. 

»  In  the  course  of  the  changes  made  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Dallas, 
referred  to  later. 

»  During  the  work  on  the  church  in  1826-7  this  brass  was  discovered 
a  foot  below  the  flooring  of  that  time ;  this,  no  doubt,  accounts  for  its 
preservation. 


no    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

This  window  we  can  perhaps  identify  by  connecting  it  with  the 
question  of  the  dedication  of  St.  Thomas's  chapel,  which  is  of 
particular  interest,  because  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  is  not 
a  saint  usually  commemorated  in  the  churches  of  this  part  of 
England.  It  would  seem  likely  that  the  chapel  was  given  by 
some  one  who  had  a  peculiar  attachment  to  the  saint.  Now 
the  document  concerning  Thomas  Spicer,  which  has  already 
been  referred  to  in  connexion  with  the  Lady  Chapel,  makes 
very  special  provision  for  the  upkeep  of  '  the  light  which  is 
before  the  altar  of  the  said  Thomas  Spycer  in  the  parish 
church  '  ;  that  light  is  to  take  precedence  of  every  other 
purpose  in  the  ultimate  disposal  of  his  money.  In  view  of  this 
fact,  and  in  view  also  of  the  curiously  personal  description  of 
the  altar,  it  is  evident  that  '  the  altar  of  Thomas  Spycer  '  was 
in  some  rather  unusual  way  connected  with  his  name.  Thus  it 
is  at  least  permissible  to  conjecture  that  he  may  have  built 
the  chapel  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  as  to  his  name-saint. 
If  so,  perhaps  John  Spicer's  gable  window  is  the  one  in  this 
chapel,  and  is  his  contribution  to  his  relative's  work. 

Another  mediaeval  citizen,  and  obviously  a  greater  than 
John  Spicer,  has  left  the  fine  decorated  altar-tomb  in  the 
south  transept.  The  tomb  originally  bore  another  bracket 
brass,  of  exactly  the  same  type  as  John  Spicer's,  with  the  two 
figures  kneeling  at  the  foot  of  an  elevated  bracket ;  but  every 
scrap  of  metal  has  now  disappeared,  except  one  small  fragment 
of  the  inscription  round  the  edge,  bearing  the  name  '  Willel- 
mus  '.  We  are  not,  however,  without  other  clues.  Sir  Richard 
Lee,  the  Herald,  who  visited  and  made  notes  in  so  many  of 
the  churches  of  Oxfordshire  in  1574,^  records  '  a  fair  tomb  of 
marble  ',  which  must  almost  certainly  have  been  this  one,  since 
we  have  knowledge  of  no  other  tomb  in  the  church  at  that  date 
to  which  the  description  would  apply.  It  was  even  then 
'  defaced  ',  but  it  had  not  been  completely  stripped,  for  Lee 
records  three  coats  of  arms  upon  it.^    From  the  fact  that  he 

'  Printed  in  the  Visitations  of  Oxfordshire  (Harleian  Socy.  Pubns., 
vol.  v). 

*  The  visitor  in  1660  (see  p.  116)  appears  to  note  this  same  monument : 
'  In  another  Chappell  on  the  same '  (the  south)  '  side,  a  grey  marble 
monument.    The  arms  on  it  not  discemable.' 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         iii 

gives  the  tinctures,  it  would  seem  probable  that  these  coats 
were  not  in  the  now  empty  matrices  of  shields  on  the  top  of 
the  tomb  (for  arms  in  brass  were  seldom,  if  ever,  tinctured), 
but  were  on  some  of  the  shields  held  by  angels  round  the  body 
of  the  tomb.  The  arms  recorded  were  :  (i)  Gules  a  lion 
rampant  guardant  or,  impaling  a  merchant's  mark  ;  (2)  argent 
three  stumps  of  trees  couped  and  eradicated  sable,  impahng 
argent  a  maunch  sable ;  (3)  quarterly  first  and  fourth  argent 
three  stumps  of  trees  couped  and  eradicated  sable,  second  and 
third  argent  a  maunch  sable. 

Unfortunately  these  clues,  taken  in  conjunction  with  such 
indication  of  date  as  the  style  of  the  tomb  affords,  do  not 
suffice  to  identify  the  person  buried  beneath.  The  character  of 
the  brass,  as  seen  from  the  matrices,  together  with  the  general 
style  of  the  tomb,  would  date  it  somewhere  between  1370 
and  1450.  The  first  of  the  three  coats  of  arms  given  above  is 
proof  that  the  man  commemorated  was  a  Burford  merchant. 
The  impaling  and  quartering  of  the  Hastings  device  (the 
maunch)  shows  that  one  of  this  family  married  one  of  the 
Hastings  family.  But  the  link  which  the  other  device  might 
be  expected  to  supply  is  missing.  The  tree  stumps  cannot 
be  connected  with  any  Burford  family.  But  for  the  shield 
bearing  the  Burford  lion  and  the  merchant's  mark  we  should, 
indeed,  hardly  have  looked  among  Burford  men  for  the  person 
here  commemorated.  Not  only  is  the  stonework  elaborate, 
but  the  surviving  fragment  of  metal  is  a  piece  of  unusually 
fine  and  delicate  engraving. 

The  tomb  has  been  popularly  associated  with  the  family 
of  John  Leggare,  because  he  '  decorated  '  the  window  of  this 
transept — as  an  inscription  in  an  unaccustomed  place,  the 
outside  moulding  of  the  window,  informs  us — for  the  welfare 
of  the  souls  of  his  father  and  mother.  Leggare  was  a  Burford 
man,  who  appears  in  the  Records  once  as  feoffee  of  the  chur^ 
lands  in  1487,  and  later  as  the  founder  of  an  obit.  But  there 
is  nothing  to  suggest  that  he  would  have  been  of  such  position 
as  to  erect  so  elaborate  a  monument,  and  it  is,  moreover,  un- 
likely that,  if  he  did,  his  petition  for  prayers  for  the  souls  of 
his  parents  would  have  appeared  on  the  outside  of  the  window ; 


112     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

he  would  have  placed  it  upon  the  tomb,  if  the  William  buried 
there  were  his  father. 

The  following  extracts  from  early  Burford  wills  at  Somerset 
House,  kindly  taken  by  Mr.  Michael  W.  Hughes,  add  several 
interesting  details  to  our  knowledge  of  Burford  church  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  afford  one  or  two  important  identifications. 
For  instance,  from  the  will  of  John  Pynnok,  i486,  the  chapel 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  can  be  placed.  We  know  from  the 
notes  of  Sir  Richard  Lee  in  1574  that  the  arms  of  Pynnok, 
with  the  date  1485,  were  in  the  chapel  containing  the  brass 
of  John  Pynnok,  senior,  1474,  and  that  this  was  the  south 
chancel  chapel.  This,  therefore,  was  the  chapel  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  and  it  was  rebuilt  by  Pynnok.  Hence  we  may 
perhaps  further  conclude  that  St.  Katherine's  chapel,  which 
evidently  ranked  equal  in  importance  with  that  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  in  the  minds  of  Burford  men,  was  the  north 
chancel  chapel,  in  which  the  Tanfield  tomb  now  stands. 

Other  points  made  clear  are  :  (i)  that  there  was  in  the 
Lady  Chapel  a  separate  altar  of  St.  Anne  ;  (ii)  that  there 
was  a  cross  or  rood  in  the  churchyard.  We  also  have  the  very 
interesting  addition  of  St,  Roch  to  the  list  of  known  lights 
in  the  church. 

Will  of  William  Bery  alias  Glover  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  40 
Home).    Dated  8  Nov.  1499. 

.  .  .  my  bodie  to  be  buried  in  the  churchyarde  of  saynte 
John  Baptiste  of  Burford  a  foresaid.  Moreover  I  bequethe  to 
the  mother  church  of  Lyncoln  vid.  Also  I  bequethe  to  the 
high  Aulter  of  Seynte  John  Baptiste  of  Burford  a  foresaid  in 
recompense  for  tithes  forgotten  vi5.  viii^.  Also  ...  I  bequethe 
to  the  Bellis  of  the  same  church  idid.  .  ,  .  Also  I  bequethe  to 
the  Church  of  Burford  vs.  to  the  makyng  of  surples. 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  5  Feb.  1499/1500.) 

Will  of  Richard  Bysshop  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  5  Bennett). 
Dated  17  March  1507/8. 

.  .  .  Body  to  be  buryed  by  my  wif  before  thymage  of  our 
lady  in  the  burgeysis  chapell.  Item  to  the  church  of  Lincoln 
iiii^.  Item  to  the  said  chapell  where  my  wif  lyeth  xx5.  Item 
to  the  Trynite  chapell  in  the  same  church  xx5.  Item  to 
seynt  Kateryn  chapell  beyng  there  vis.  viiid. 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  10  Oct.  1508.) 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         113 

Will  of  Richard  Brame  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  36  Bennett). 
Dated  17  Dec.  1510. 

.  .  .  corpus  meum  in  capella  et  (sic)  divine  virginis  Marie 
de  Burford  sepeliendum.  Item  lego  Cathedrali  ecclesie 
Lincoln  vid.  Item  summo  altari  sancti  lohannis  Baptiste 
de  Burforde  xiid.  Item  lego  cuilibet  lumini  computabili  pre- 
dicte  ecclesie  vii.  Item  ad  edificationem  gilde  sancti  Thome 
xl^.  si  ante  obitum  meum  non  contingat  me  solvere.  .  .  . 

(Proved  12  Feb.  1510/11.) 

Will  of  William  Stodam  (P.  C.  C.  23  Stokton).  Dated  15  July 
1461. 

.  .  .  corpus  meum  sepeliendum  in  cimiterio  ecclesie  sancti 
lohannis  Baptiste  de  Burford.  Item  lego  matrici  ecclesie 
de  Lincoln  iii^.  niid.  .  .  .  lego  lumini  sancti  Stephani  vi^.  v'md. 
Item  lego  lumini  sancte  Katerine  xiii.  Item  lego  summe 
Cruci  vocate  Rode  solar'  iii^.  niid.  Item  lego  lumini  sancte 
Trinitatis  xxd.  Item  lego  reparacioni  dicte  ecclesie  de  Bur- 
ford vli. 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  30  July  1461.) 

Will  of  William  Bysshop  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  14  Logge). 
Dated  3  April  1485. 

.  .  .  corpusque  meum  in  ecclesia  parochiali  sancti  lohannis 
de  Burford  lego  tumulandum.  Item  lego  matrici  ecclesie 
Lincolniensi  iii5.  iiii^.  Item  lego  ecclesie  parochiali  de  Bur- 
ford vli.  sterlingorum.  Item  ad  reparacionem  cuiuslibet 
luminis  computabilis  in  ecclesia  de  Burford  vs.  Item  lego 
cuilibet  presbitero  celebranti  in  dicta  ecclesia  in  die  sepulture 
mee  xiid.  Item  lego  ad  distribuendum  inter  pauperes  et 
egenos  die  sepulture  mee  vli.  et  in  die  trigintali  vli.  ac  in 
die  anniversali  vli.  .  .  .  Item  lego  sacerdotibus  celebrantibus 
pro  anima  mea  &  animabus  omnium  fidelium  defunctorum 
in  ecclesia  de  Burford  xUi.  sterl.  videlicet  cuilibet  sacerdoti 
per  annum  integrum  celebranti  x  marcas  sterl.  .  .  . 

Witnesses — Dominus  Robertus  Elys  artium  baccalaureus 
&  confessor  mens  Magister  loh.  Pryttewell  artium  magister. 

(Proved  at  Knoll  3  Oct.  1485.) 

Will  of  John  Pynnok  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  4  Milles).  Dated 
8  Nov.  i486. 

....  corpus  sepeliendum  in  capella  sancte  Trinitatis 
sumptibus  meis  noviter  edificata  eidem  ecclesie  de  Burford 
annexa.  .  .  .  Item  lumini  Beate  Marie  in  capella  ibidem  xxd. 
Item  lego  ad  sustentacionem  dicte  capelle  secundum  provi- 
sionem  fratrum  meorum  Burgensium  dicte  ville  xiii^.  iiiirf. 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  20  Oct.  i486.) 

2304  I 


114     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Will  of  Thomas  Poole  citizen  and  tailor  of  London  (P.  C.  C. 
I  Moone).    Dated  4  April  1500. 

.  .  .  (Bequest  of  lands  in  Burford  and  Fulbrook)  ^  .  .  .  Wife 
to  have  lands,  &c.,  that  were  Sir  Thomas  Blount's  in  Idbury 
and  elsewhere,  she  finding  '  a  preeste  to  singe  for  my  soule  in 
the  church  of  Burford  aforesaid  atte  the  auter  of  saint  Anne 
in  our  Lady  Chapell  there.  .  ,  .' 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  21  May  1500.) 

Will  of  Henry  Stodham  of  Borford  (P.  C.  C.  4  Moone).  Dated 
27  May  1500. 

.  .  .  corpus  .  .  .  sepeliendum  in  Nova  CapeHa  beate  Marie 
ecclesie  parochialis  de  Borford.  .  .  .  Item  lego  campanis 
eiusdem  ecclesie  vi^.  .  .  . 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  24  August  1500.) 

Will  of  William  Janyvere  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  19  Blamyr). 
Dated  15  September  1502. 

.  .  .  Item  lego  lumini  sancte  Crucis  in  cimiterio  xiid.  Item 
lumini  sancti  Rochi  in  dicta  ecclesia  xiid.  Item  lego  ad 
reparacionem  dicte  ecclesie  xx5.  Item  lego  ad  reparacionem 
librorum  et  vestimentorum  in  dicta  ecclesia  xxs.  Item  ad 
reparacionem  campanarum  in  dicta  ecclesia  xxs.  Item  lego 
ad  sustentacionem  capelle  beate  Marie  virginis  gilde  Bur- 
gensium  secundum  provisionem  fratrum  meorum  burgensium 
eiusdem  xxs.  .  .  . 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  26  Sept.  1502.) 

Will  of  Robert  Janyns  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  11  Adeane).  Dated 
1501. 

.  .  .  Also  I  biqueth  to  our  Lady  Chapell  of  Burfford  a  stond- 
yng  cuppe  covered  &  gilte  for  to  make  a  chalys  therewith  to 
continue  in  the  said  Chapell  as  long  as  it  will  endure.  .  .  .^ 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  9  Oct.  1506.) 

Will  of  John  Busby  of  Burford  (P.  C.  C.  20  Jankyn).    Dated 

7  June  1530. 

...  to  be  buried  within  the  chapell  of  saint  Katerine  on 

the  ryght  syde  wher  my  wif  was  buryed.     And  I  will  hav 

a  stone  of  marble  upon  me  after  my  beryall.*    Item  I  bequethe 

»  See  Part  III,  p.  336. 

*  Robert  Janyns's  directions  for  his  chalice  were  soon  defeated,  if  this 
was  the  chalice  of  silver  parcel  gilt  taken  by  the  Surveyor  of  Colleges  and 
Chantries  in  1555-6  (P.  R.  O.  Land  Revenue — Church  Goods — E  117,. 
bundle  13).  The  chaUce,  a  silver  Pax,  and  two  sets  of  vestments,  one  of 
red  damask  for  festivals,  were  entered  as  received  from  the  wardens  of 
the  Gild  of  Our  Lady. 

*  This  may  identify  for  us  one  of  the  stones  in  the  north  chancel  chapel 
from  which  the  brasses  have  been  stripped. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         115 

to  my  ghostly  father  S"^  Nicholas  Swinnerton  xx5.  Item 
I  bequethe  to  every  prest  longyng  to  this  church  that  is  to  say 
maister  priour  iii5.  imd.  S'  Thomas  Taylour  iii5.  iiiirf. 
S''  Robert  Thyrby  nis.  imd.  S^  Thomas  Schelton  iii^.  imd. 
S^  Robert  Walker  iii^.  iiiirf. ...  a  preeste  to  syng  for  me  a  hole 
yere  the  which  shalbe  frier  Robert  Stevenson  that  shall  have 
f6r  his  wage  viii  markes.  .  .  . 

(Proved  at  Lambeth  22  Oct.  1530.) 

The  monuments  of  the  sixteenth  century  are  not  such  as 
add  beauty  to  the  church.  There  are  none  belonging  to  the 
first  half  of  the  century,  the  earliest  being  the  Harman  monu- 
ment of  1569,  which  is  dull  and  uninspired  in  workmanship. 
The  most  curious  feature  of  it  is  the  introduction  of  figures  of 
Red  Indians.  The  other  tombs  of  this  century  are  all  of  one 
type,  and  it  is  a  type  which  can  hardly  be  called  beautiful. 
It  may  be  described  as  a  half-altar  tomb  placed  against  the 
wall,  decorated  in  front  with  strap-work  and  panels  for 
inscription,  and  with  a  rising  back-piece  carved  with  detached 
devices — merchants'  marks,  stars  or  starfish,  &c.  These  tombs 
begin  with  that  of  Edmund  Sylvester,  who  died  in  1568,  and 
most  of  them  are  tombs  of  that  family.  One,  in  the  south 
chancel  chapel,  commemorating  Richard  Rainoldes,  who  was 
Bailiff  at  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  visit  in  1574,  bears 
the  quaint  and  touching  words  :  '  I  go  to  sleepe  before  you 
&  wee  shall  wake  togeather  ', 

To  the  seventeenth  century  belong  a  brass  of  1624  in  the 
Lady  Chapel  to  John  Osbaldeston  and  his  wife  (a  branch  of 
this  Chadhngton  family  had  some  property  here)  ;  monu- 
ments to  Richard  Sindrey  and  John  Warren,  which  show 
better  craftsmanship  in  stone,  and  come  from  the  same  hand 
as  the  great  mantelpiece  at  the  Priory  ;  and  the  Bartholomew 
monuments  in  the  south  chancel  chapel,  notable  for  their  good 
lettering  (which  is  a  partially  redeeming  feature  of  some  of  the 
later  Sylvester  monuments).  Two  brasses  of  this  period 
which  still  remain  on  tombs  in  the  churchyard  may  also  be 
mentioned  ;  one  to  John  Hunt,  mercer,  of  1608,  and  one  of 
165 1  to  Elizabeth  White,  who  '  willingly  and  peaceably 
exchanged  her  vile  enjoyments  here  for  those  rich,  precious 
and  unspeakable  '.     In  St.  Thomas's  Chapel  is  a  half-length 

I  2 


ii6     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

•figure  monument  of  John  Harris,  1674,  in  painted  stone,  good 
of  its  kind  ;  it  was  the  Burford  Burgesses'  acknowledgement  of 
his  generous  bequest  to  the  charities  of  the  town  where  he  was 
born.  Good  lettering  again  distinguishes  the  stone  in  the 
south  transept  to  the  memory  of  the  murdered  John  Pryor  ;  ^ 
but  it  is  with  difficulty  that  we  decipher  the  inscription  over 
the  sacristy  door  to  '  Mr.  Nathaniel  Brooks  Gent,  a  truly 
honest  man  '  (i695).2 

The  principal  monument,  however,  of  this  century  is  of 
course  the  ornate  erection  by  the  '  noble  and  verteous  lady  ' 
Tanfield  to  her  most  honoured  husband  '  in  memory  of  his 
vertues  and  her  sorrows  '.  It  is  a  fine  example  of  its  kind  ; 
for  while  parts  of  the  canopy  decoration,  such  as  the  cherubs' 
heads  and  carved  bosses,  have  a  rather  stuck-on  appearance, 
the  modelling  of  the  symbolical  figures  placed  on  the  capitals 
of  the  pillars  is  fine  and  delicate,  and  the  carving  of  the 
recumbent  effigies  is  full  of  character.  The  introduction  of  the 
small  figures  kneeling  at  the  heads  and  feet  of  the  effigies — the 
Tanfields'  daughter  who  married  the  first  Lord  Falkland,  and 
their  grandson,  the  famous  Falkland — adds  much  charm  to  the 
monument.  It  may  perhaps  be  added  that  the  long  Latin 
inscription  at  the  foot  of  the  monument,  though  rather 
obscure  in  meaning,  seems  to  betray  some  disappointment  on 
Lady  Tanfield's  part  that  her  husband  had  not  been  interred 
in  a  more  notable  spot — Westminster  Abbey,  we  may 
presume. 

It  used  to  be  thought  that  this  monument  was  the  work  of 
Nicholas  Stone ;  but  it  is  now  known  definitely  that  he  did 
not  design  it. 

It  is  interesting,  after  this  view  of  the  existing  monuments, 
to  refer  to  the  accounts  of  the  church  given  first  by  Sir  Richard 
Lee  in  1574,  and  secondly  by  an  antiquarian  visitor  in  1660.^ 
They  show,  for  one  thing,  how  comparatively  little  we  have 
lost  since  the  sixteenth  century. 

*  See  Chapter  XI,  p.  282. 

*  Mr.  Brooks  lived  in  a  house  between  the  Almshouse  and  the  church- 
yard, where  the  Church  Schools  now  stand.    See  Part  III,  p.  364. 

*  Brit.  Mus.  Harl.  MSS.  4170.  Printed  in  The  Topographer,  vol.  ii 
(1790).  pp.  349-53. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         117 

Sir  Richard  Lee  is  chiefly  concerned  with  coats  of  arms  in' 
the  glass  of  the  windows  and  on  escutcheons  in  the  stonework 
of  the  building.  But  he  mentions,  as  we  have  seen,  the  tomb 
in  the  south  transept ;  and  he  also  describes  the  Harman 
monument.  The  only  other  tomb  he  enters  on  his  notes  is 
lost :  *  On  a  graveston  Pynnok  as  before  ^  impaling  a  lion 
rampant  guardant  (untinctured)  Over  it  written  John  Pynnok 
marcator  and  Elein  his  wife  mcccclxxiv  '. 

Another  lost  Pynnok  monument  is  recorded  by  the  1660 
visitor  thus  :  '  Nigh  hence  on  a  brasse  on  the  ground  Hie  jacet 
Johes  Pinnock  primogenitus  Thome  Pinnock  gentleman  quon- 
dam societa-  de  Greisjne  qui  quidem  Johes  obiit  v  die  Augusti 
MCCCCLXXXX  cujus  etc  '.    The  matrix  of  this  brass  remains. 

This  visitor  identifies  for  us  the  monument  in  the  north-east 
comer  of  the  south  chancel  chapel,  now  without  a  name, 
though  the  mark  of  the  brass  plate  is  still  visible.  The  in- 
scription copied  in  1660  ran  :  '  Here  lyeth  the  body  of  George 
Symmons  Gent,  sometime  dwelling  in  the  house  near  the 
bridge  foot,  being  a  good  benefactor  to  the  poore  people  of 
this  towne  and  departed  this  life  the  xxvii  day  of  January 
1590  God  be  praysed  for  him  '.  The  house  here  mentioned 
is  the  one  George  Symons  calls  '  my  now  dwelling  house  called 
cobhall '  in  the  will  by  which  he  left  it  to  the  poor  of  Burford. 
The  entrance  arch  to  the  courtyard  can  be  seen  in  the  wall 
between  the  Vicarage  and  the  river. 

A  tomb  has  disappeared  from  the  Tanfield  chapel ;  the 
1660  visitor,  after  describing  the  Tanfield  monument,  pro- 
ceeds :  '  On  an  old  raised  monument  of  stone  in  this  chappell 
this  at  the  feet 

Obitus  Thome  Frieri  Burfordiae  epitaphius,  qui 

vita  excessit  5°  Novembris  anno  dni  1572  ' ; 
and  he  adds  some  Latin  verses  from  the  monument  chiefly 
remarkable  for  containing  a  hexameter  with  seven  feet.* 

'  In  the  north  ile  of  the  church ',  the  visitor  says,  '  2  propor- 
tions ',  or,  as  we  should  now  say,  effigies.    Both  of  these  have 

'  He  has  just  entered  the  Pynnok  coat  of  arms  from  the  glass  in  one  of 
the  windows. 

*  Thomas  Freer  appears  frequently  in  the  Burford  Records ;  he  was 
one  of  the  original  feoffees  of  the  Grammar  School  lands. 


ii8     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

disappeared  ;  but  perhaps  two  large  stone  fragments  preserved 
in  the  room  over  the  porch  may  be  relics  of  them.  One  piece 
is  the  half  of  a  tilting  helmet,  such  as  is  customarily  found 
supporting  the  head  of  an  armed  figure  on  a  tomb  ;  the  other 
piece,  though  it  is  difficult  to  recognize  what  it  has  been,  may 
be  the  haunches  of  a  dog  or  lion  placed  at  the  feet  of  an  effigy. 
The  lack  in  Burford  history  of  resident  lords  of  the  manor,  or 
other  men  likely  to  have  armed  effigies,  makes  these  fragments 
the  more  interesting.  Possibly  one  of  them  may  have  been 
on  a  monument  to  Robert  Harcourt,  seneschal  of  the  town 
in  1465,  and  also  seneschal  here  for  the  King-maker. 

Finally,  the  1660  visitor  mentions  the  altar  tomb  in  the 
north-west  corner  of  the  Lady  Chapel  bearing  the  Barber 
Surgeons'  arms,  but  even  then  the  name  on  it  had  been  lost. 

Comment  on  the  monuments  would  be  incomplete  without 
a  remark  on  the  extraordinary  fact  that,  with  the  exception 
of  a  tablet  erected  within  the  last  few  years  to  a  descendant 
of  the  family,  who  died  in  Australia  in  1894,  there  is  not  a 
single  memorial  to  any  of  the  Lenthalls  in  the  church.  More 
than  twenty  of  them  lie  buried  here,^  including  six  who  were 
lords  of  the  town  and  manor ;  and  to  no  one  of  them  is  there 
any  monument.  Speaker  Lenthall,  it  is  true,  left  particular 
instructions  that  he  was  not  to  be  commemorated  in  any  such 
way ;  his  burial  place  was  to  have  no  mark,  save  '  at  the 
utmost  a  plain  stonewith  this  inscription  only,  "Vermis  sum"  '. 
Even  that  stone  is  no  longer  to  be  seen ;  it  appears  to  have 
been  broken  accidentally  during  some  repairing  of  the  church. 
His  son  John  died  at  Besselsleigh,  and  was  buried  there.  But 
five  succeeding  owners  of  the  Priory  estate  lie  in  Burford 
church,  each  of  whom  might  have  been  expected  to  leave  some 
memorial  behind  him. , 

The  coats  of  arms  recorded  by  Sir  Richard  Lee,  several  of 
which  appear  also  in  Symonds's  Notes  of  1644  and  the  Notes 
of  the  visitor  of  1660,  have  many  points  of  interest.  Most  of 
them  have  a  traceable  connexion  with  the  history  of  Burford  ; 
and  they  may  in  some  instances  help  to  date  portions  of  the 
'  According  to  the  Burials  Register  in  the  church. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         119 

fabric.  The  coats  of  de  Clare,  Despenser,  and  Beauchamp, 
as  lords  of  the  manor,  appeared  frequently.  The  Stafford 
coat,  which  the  1660  visitor  records,  was  due  to  the  sub- 
infeudations of  the  manor ;  Hugh,  Earl  of  Stafford,  held  in 
1387,  by  right  of  his  descent,  the  half  knight's  fee  originally 
held  in  Burford  by  the  de  Fanencourts.  The  visitor  enters 
this  coat  as  '  in  the  chappell  on  the  south  side  '  in  one  of  the 
windows.  '  The  chapel '  in  the  sixteenth-  and  seventeenth- 
century  Notes  nearly  always  seems  to  mean  the  Lady  Chapel. 
But  in  this  case  the  visitor  has  just  been  describing  the  tombs 
in  the  Lady  Chapel,  and  must  obviously  be  referring  to  another 
part  when  he  recommences  '  in  the  chapel  on  the  south  side  '. 
As  he  goes  oh  immediately  to  the  nameless  monument  in  the 
south  transept,  it  would  seem  certain  that  in  this  case  he  is 
speaking  of  the  chapel  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  ;  and  the 
presence  of  the  Stafford  coat  there  would  not  be  inconsistent 
with  the  other  indications  of  the  date  of  that  chapel. 

Lee,  on  the  other  hand,  only  speaks  of  one  '  chapel ',  and  it 
may  therefore  be  taken  that  the  following  coats  he  records 
were  in  the  Lady  Chapel. 

Skochens  in  the  top  of  the  chapel : 

Quarterly  ist  and  4th  a  Fess  cheeky  between  6  cross 
crosslets  2nd  and  3rd  two  bends  (untinctured) 
Or  three  chevronels  gules  (Clare) 
Gules  a  fess  or  between  six  cross  crosslets  or 
Quarterly  ist  and  4th  argent  2nd  and  3rd  argent  a 
fret  sable  over  all  a  bend  sable  (Despenser) 
Twelve  roundels  a  canton  ermine 
Gules  three  padlocks  or 

Where  these  escutcheons  were  placed  does  not  now  appear ; 
they  may  have  been  on  bosses  of  the  roof,  and  have  been  lost 
when,  in  the  late  eighteenth  century,  this  roof  was  in  grievous 
decay.  At  any  rate,  the  presence  among  these  coats  of  the 
Beauchamp  coat — the  fess  and  cross  crosslets — would  imply 
that  the  part  of  the  building  where  it  appeared  is  of  a  date 
subsequent  to  1439,  when  the  manor  passed  by  marriage  to 
the  Beauchamp  family.  As  Symonds  records  '  in  the  southe 
yle  of  the  south-west  yle  where  the  2  Bayhffs  etc  sit  * — clearly 


120     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

the  old  Gild  chapel  and  present  Lady  Chapel — the  Beauchamp 
coat  with  the  de  Clare  coat,  it  becomes  more  likely  that  Lee 
also  was  referring  to  this  part  of  the  church. 

Lee  records  in  one  of  the  windows  the  following  coats  : 
Parted  per  saltire  sable  and  gules  on  a  fess  or  between  three 
lions'  heads  erased  argent  three  roses  azure  seeded  or  in  base 
a  cross  crosslet  of  the  last ;  and  the  same  coat  impaling  argent 
a  saltire  azure  between  four  woodpeckers  proper  (Woodward) 
— '  Over  it  written  John  Pynnok  and  iii  wyfes  mcccclxxxv.' 
Symonds  gives  these  as  '  in  a  southe  windowe  and  southe  yle 
of  the  church  '. 

Symonds  also  records  the  coats  of  arms  on  seven  of  the 
eight  shields  held  by  angels  just  below  the  battlements  of  the 
great  south  porch  ;  and  with  his  help,  though  the  shields  are 
now  much  ravaged  by  weather,  six  are  still  just  decipherable. 
On  the  extreme  left  is  the  bear  and  ragged  staff  ;  next  it  is  a 
strange  charge  of  a  lion  passant  on  the  point  of  a  sword  in  pale, 
hilt  downwards  ;  and  next  that  the  coat  with  three  padlocks, 
already  noted  in  the  Lady  Chapel,  which  was  the  coat  of 
Sydenham  of  Tichmersh,  one  of  whom  married  a  Lovel  of 
Minster  Lovell,i  and  may  have  given  money  to  the  building  of 
the  porch.  The  fourth  shield  Symonds  does  not  figure,  and 
it  almost  looks  now  as  if  it  had  always  been  blank.  The  fifth 
has  the  three  leopards  of  England  ;  the  sixth,  the  cross  fleury 
and  martlets  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  not  now  decipherable  ; 
the  seventh,  the  three  crowns  of  St.  Edmund  the  King ;  and 
the  eighth,  so  far  destroyed  now  that  hardly  even  the  shield 
itself  is  left,  bore  the  three  chevronels  of  de  Clare. 

The  interesting  point  about  these  shields  is  that  they  include 
the  device  of  the  Nevilles,  the  bear  and  ragged  staff,  but  do  not 
include  the  Beauchamp  coat  which  was  in  the  Lady  Chapel. 
Now  the  town  and  manor  passed  from  the  Beauchamps  to  the 
Nevilles  by  the  marriage  of  Lady  Anne  Beauchamp  to  the 
King-maker  in  1449.  The  lengthening  of  the  old  Gild  chapel 
and  the  building  of  the  south  porch  which  it  was  made  to  adjoin 
must  have  both  been  part  of  a  single  plan.    But  the  fact  that 

*  Lee  records  in  Minster  Lovell  church  a  coat  on  which  the  Lovel  anns 
impale  the  arms  of  Sydenham  of  Tichmersh. 


o   = 


>   u 

■y. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         121 

the  Beauchamp  arms  without  the  Neville  device  were  in  the 
chapel,  and  the  Neville  device  without  the  Beauchamp  arms 
is  on  the  porch,  shows 'that  the  chapel  was  finished  before  the 
building  of  the  porch  had  reached  its  last  stages.  We  also 
thus  have  proof  that  the  whole  plan  belongs  to  the  middle 
years  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Of  the  interior  arrangements  of  the  church  during  the 
•seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  we  have  little  know- 
ledge. Symonds  records  in  his  Notes  that  E^sex  quartered 
his  army  in  the  church  on  June  6,  1643,  and  '  i;ged  it  with  the 
greatest  incivillity  ',  in  especial  tearing  down  the  pennons  and 
flags  hanging  over  the  Tanfield  monument  and  wearing  them 
as  scarves.  But  of  any  extensive  and  systematic  destruction 
by  Puritans  we  have  no  record.  Since  Lee  mentions  so  few 
coats  of  arms  as  existing  in  windows  in  1574  we  may  take  it 
that  the  painted  windows  had  shared  the  fate  of  the  altars  and 
lights  in  the  days  of  the  Reformation. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  a  gallery  was  erected  at  the 
west  end  of  the  church  ;  and  it  was  probably  in  consequence 
of  this  that  the  Burgesses  moved  out  of  their  original  chapel 
and  converted  the  chapel  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  into 
the  Corporation  pew.  The  new  gallery  would  very  likely 
obstruct  the  view  from  the  Lady  Chapel.  They  can  hardly 
have  made  the  change  before  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  because  the  monument  erected  by  the  Burgesses  to 
John  Harris  in  1674,  now  in  St.  Thomas's  Chapel,  used  to  be 
in  the  Lady  Chapel,  and  it  would  almost  certainly  have  been 
placed  by  them  in  their  own  portion  of  the  church. 

In  1826  considerable  changes  took  place,  of  which  we  have 
unusually  exact  record.  The  Rev.  Alexander  Dallas  was  at 
that  time  curate-in-charge,  the  vicar  (the  Rev.  William  Birch) 
being  non-resident.  Mr.  Dallas  had  been  an  officer  in  the 
Army,  and  had  fought  in  the  Peninsular  War  ;  and  he  carried 
his  military  energy  into  his  church  work.  He  was  a  reformer 
of  abuses  in  the  town  charities,  and  he  repaired  and  re-pewed 
the  church  with  zeal,  if  not  with  knowledge. 

The  result  of  his  alterations  is  preserved  for  us  not  only  in 
a  ground  plan,  dated  1827,  now  in  the  room  over  the  porch. 


122     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

but  still  more  vividly  in  an  exact  and  beautifully  made  model 
of  the  church,  which  is  kept  in  the  same  place.^  The  western 
gallery,  being  then  decayed,  was  removed,  and  another  put 
up  in  the  north  aisle.  The  font  was  moved  to  a  position  near 
the  Harman  monument.  The  pulpit,  much  exalted,  was 
placed  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave,  facing  east,  and  the  pews 
were  set  to  face  westwards. 

These  peculiar  arrangements  disappeared  forty  years  later, 
when,  unfortunately,  the  organ  was  removed  from  the  position 
it  had  hitherto  occupied,  on  what  had  been  the  Rood  loft. 
Some  of  the  work  done  at  this  time  is  to  be  deplored  ;  but  the 
fabric  of  the  church  was  badly  in  need  of  attention.  The 
Rev.  J.  H.  Burgess  was  vicar  when  the  work  was  taken  in 
hand  ;  and  on  his  resignation  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Cass  carried  it 
on  with  zeal  until  the  greater  part  of  the  necessary  repairs  had 
been  completed.  The  modern  glass,  by  Kempe,  in  the  western 
windows  and  the  windows  of  the  north  aisle  was  put  in  during 
Mr.  Cass's  time,  with  the  exception  of  one  in  the  north  aisle 
which  is  in  memory  of  him. 

Since  his  death,  the  roofs  of  the  porch,  the  Lady  Chapel,  and 
the  Tanfield  Chapel  have  been  repaired  and  re-leaded,  and 
the  Tanfield  monument  strengthened.  Generous  friends  of 
the  church  have  given  the  window,  by  Whall,  in  the  south 
transept ;  and  have  erected  the  Reredos  in  the  Lady  Chapel, 
of  Campden  stone,  and  re-floored  the  same  chapel  with  local 
stone,  recovering  from  beneath  the  former  floor  several 
memorial  slabs  and  two  matrices  of  brasses,  which  are  placed 
at  the  west  end  near  the  door. 

A  list  of  the  vicars  of  Burford,  made  as  accurate  as  is  possible 
at  present,  is  appended.  A  curious  feature  of  it  is  the  large 
number  of  appointments  during  the  sixteenth  century — no 
fewer  than  eleven  men  succeeded  one  another  in  the  vicarage 
in  the  course  of  a  hundred  years.  They  were,  as  a  rule,  after 
the  time  of  Thomas  Cade,^  non-resident.    The  vicars  of  the 

'  It  was  the  work  of  a  Mr.  Mann,  who  was  clerk  to  Mr.  J.  S.  Price, 
a  solicitor  practising  in  Burford  at  that  time. 

*  There  is  every  reason  to  regard  Cade  as  having  been  resident.  But 
in  the  Clerical  Subsidy  List  for  the  Diocese  of  Leicester  in  1526  (edited  by 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         123 

seventeenth  century,  on  the  contrary,  were  few  in  number, 
and  three  of  them  were  certainly  resident,  though  John  Thorpe 
actually  lived  at  Fulbrook.  Neither  Hill  nor  Glynn  deserves 
to  be  remembered  very  gratefully,  as  a  later  note  will  show, 
though  it  must  be  admitted  that  they  seem  on  the  whole  to 
have  kept  the  Registers  with  care.  Their  successor,  however, 
John  Thorpe,  stands  out  as  one  of  the  best  of  Burford  vicars — 
upright,  honourable,  and  faithful  to  his  charge.  Unhappjly  he 
was  succeeded  by  one  of  the  worst  of  the  vicars,  John  Eykyn, 
who,  though  presented  by  the  churchwardens  in  1704  for  all 
kinds  of  scandalous  behaviour  and  neglect  of  duty,^  not  only 
remained  vicar  till  his  death  in  1734,  but  even  acquired  in  1718 
a  plurality,  the  Rectory  of  Farmington  near  Northleach.  It 
would  appear,  however,  that  he  had  to  leave  Burford  ;  for  his 
handwriting  disappears  from  Burford  Registers  after  August 
1706,  and  there  follow  various  handwritings  at  intervals  of 
several  years,  no  doubt  those  of  curates  in  charge.  After 
Eykyn's  presentation  to  Farmington  he  must,  indeed,  have 
resided  there  entirely,  for  the  Registers  there  are  in  his  hand- 
writing from  May  1719  to  May  1734.  He  is  buried  with  the 
wife  whom,  according  to  the  Burford  churchwardens,  he 
treated  so  scandalously,  in  Farmington  church.^ 

Very  few  monuments  to  vicars  have  been  preserved  in  the 
church.  Possibly  some  vanished  brasses  may  have  marked 
the  graves  of  mediaeval  vicars ;  but  in  view  of  the  constant 
changes  in  EHzabethan  times  we  cannot  be  surprised  that  the 
vicars  of  that  period  have  left  no  memorials.    We  might,  how- 

the  Rev.  H.  E.  Salter.  Oxford  Historical  Society,  19 13.  pp.  259  and  260) 
deduction  is  allowed  from  the  stipend  of  Cade,  as  vicar,  for  a  curate, 
Nicholas  Swynerton.  Mr.  Salter  is  of  opinion  that  such  a  deduction  was 
only  allowed  when  the  incumbent  was  doing  ecclesiastical  work  elsewhere 
or  was  studying  at  the  University ;  and  that  the  word  '  curatus  ',  here 
applied  to  Swynerton,  always  implied  '  curate-in-charge  '.  The  curate  of 
Fulbrook,  William  Wryters,  is  separately  entered.  Cade  was  not  yet 
Master  of  the  Hospital.  Therefore  it  would  appear,  if  Mr.  Salter's  view 
admits  of  no  exceptions,  that  Cade  must  at  this  time  have  been  non- 
resident. It  may  however  be  noted  that  his  predecessor  also  had  employed 
a  curate ;  one  of  the  witnesses  to  Agnes  Stodam's  gift  to  the  church  in 
1 5 12  (see  Part  III,  p.  321)  was  '  William  Calaway  Curate  of  Burford  '. 

'  See  Part  III,  p.  479. 

•  For  information  respecting  Eykyn's  tenure  of  Farmington  I  am 
indebted  to  the  Rev.  Leonard  Wilkinson,  Rector  of  Farmington. 


124     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

ever,  have  expected  tablets  to  Philip  Hill  and  Christopher 
Glynn.  John  Thorpe's  monument,  recording  also  his  grief  at 
the  early  death  of  two  promising  sons,  is  in  Fulbrook  church. 
The  Right  Hon.  and  Rev.  Charles  KnoUis,  '  Earl  of  Banbury*, 
who  was  vicar  1747-71,  is  commemorated  by  a  tablet  in 
Burford  church,  and  the  inscription,  which  tells  us  that  it  was 
erected  by  his  two  youngest  sons,  preserves  the  memory  of  his 
son  and  successor,  Francis  KnoUis.  The  connexion  of  the 
Rev.  Alexander  Dallas  with  the  church  is  perpetuated  by  a 
very  plain  tablet  in  the  north-west  comer  of  the  north 
transept  recording  the  brief  life  of  an  infant  child-  of  his  ;  a 
tablet  to  his  own  memory  is  to  be  seen  in  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  Dublin. 

THE  VICARS  OF  BURFORD 
The  following  list  has  been  compiled  from  the  Lincoln  Rolls 
and  Registers,  and  from  the  Oxford  Diocesan  Register  after  the 
creation  of  the  See  of  Oxford,  with  the  addition  from  other 
sources  of  some  names  not  found  in  the  Registers.  There  is 
every  reason  to  suppose  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  gap  in 
the  thirteenth  century  caused  by  the  loss  of  one  of  the  Lincoln 
Rolls,  the  list  is  complete.  The  year  of  institution  is  still 
lacking  in  a  few  instances  ;  but  dates  obtained  ip.  these  cases 
from  other  sources  are  such  as  to  render  it  at  least  probable 
that  no  intermediate  names  are  missing. 

Grateful  acknowledgement  of  assistance  given  in  the  com- 
piling of  this  list  is  due  to  Mr.  A.  Hamilton  Thompson,  who 
very  kindly  searched  the  Lincoln  muniments,  and,  besides 
supplying  several  fresh  names,  provided  the  dates  of  the 
institution  of  some  men,  whose  tenure  of  the  vicarage  had, 
indeed,  been  known,  but  without  those  specific  dates  which  of 
course  can  alone  establish  the  due  succession  of  the  vicars. 
Equal  acknowledgement  is  due  to  the  Rev,  S.  S.  Pearce,  Vicar 
of  Combe,  Oxon.,  whose  unrivalled  acquaintance  with  the 
sources  of  information  on  this  subject  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  has  added  many  names  to  the  list. 
Thanks  are  also  due  to  Mr.  Michael  W.  Hughes  and  Mr.  Harry 
Paintin  for  additional  references  and  information. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  125 


Date  of 
Insti- 
tution. 


Name. 


Patron. 


Authorities  and 

Notes. 


(?)  William 


Mentioned  in  1199  as 
'  Clericus  de  Bureford '. 
Rotuli  Curiae  Regis,  i  John. 

Pat.  Roll,  16  John.  Pre- 
sented by  the  Crown,  owing 
to  the  abbacy  of  Kejmsham 
being  vacant  at  the  time 
and  in  the  King's  hands. 

Rotuli  Hugonis  de  Welles 
(Lane.  &  York  See.),  ii.  28. 

Rotuli  Roberti  Grosse- 
teste  (Lane.  &  York  Soc.) 
489.  Also  mentioned  as 
Vicar  in  1268;  Assize  Roll, 
52  Hen.  in. 
(Bishop  Lexington's  Roll  no  longer  exists.  Bishop  Gravesend's 
Rolls  (1256-80)  record  no  institution  to  Burford.) 


1 2 14  Matthew  de  Cy- 
gon 


1227  William  of  Bitton, 
sub-deacon 

1247  Richard  of 
Tewkesbury, 
chaplain 


The  Crown 


Abbot  &  Convent 
of    Keynsham 


Adam  (of  Belee) 


1307  Robert,       called 
Brown    of    Or- 
cheston,  chaplain 
1 325  Robe'rt  de  la  Lee, 
22  Sept.    chaplain 


John  Waxyn 


Abbot  &  Convent 
of  Keynsham 


Roger  of  Thorn- 
bam 


1348/9  Walter      Whi- 
9  Feb.      tyng,  priest 


Abbot  &  Convent 
of  Keynsham 


No  institution  recorded. 
'  Adam  '  is  mentioned  as 
Vicar  of  Burford  in  1297: 
Close  Roll,  25  Edw.  I.  The 
rest  of  his  name  is  added 
from  the  next  entry,  which 
confirms  his  possession  of 
the  vicarage. 

Line.  Reg.  ii  (Dalderby), 
folio  152.  Presented  on  the 
death  of  Adam  of  Belee. 

Line.  Reg.  iv  (Bur- 
ghersh),  folio  2 5 2d.  Pre- 
sented on  the  death  of 
Robert,  called  Brown. 

No  institution  recorded 
in  the  Lincoln  Registers. 
In  1326  an  exchange  of 
benefices  is  recorded  be- 
tween him  and  Robert  de 
la  Lee :  Patent  Roll,  19 
Edw.  II. 

Pat.  Roll.  18  Edw.  III. 
No  institution  is  recorded 
in  the  Lincoln  Registers, 
but  he  is  mentioned  in  this 
Patent  Roll  as  Vicar  in 
1344,  and  the  next  entry 
affords  clear  evidence  of  his 
possession  of  the  vicarage. 

Line.  Reg.  ix  (Gyne- 
well) ,  folio  24 1  d .  Presented 
on  the  death  of  Roger  of 
Thomham.  Also  mentioned 


126     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Date  of 
Insti- 
tution. 


Name. 


Patron, 


1 361       Geoffrey  of  Caus-  Abbot  &  Convent 
6  Oct.       ton,  priest  of  Keynsham    ' 


1397 


Henry  of  Norfolk 
Geoffrey  Walker 


The  Pope 


Walter  Eymer 


1403/4  William  Ingel- 
17  Jan.    by 


Abbot  &  Convent 
of  Keynsham 


Thomas   Rede- 
man 

143  3/4  Thomas  Send 
16  Feb. 


Abbot  &  Convent 
of  Keynsham 


Authorities  and 

Notes.  ^ 

as    Vicar    in    1355  :     Pat. 
Roll,  29  Edw.  III. 

Line.  Reg.  ix  (Gyne- 
well),  folio  277d.  Also 
mentioned  as  Vicar  in  1384 
in  the  Burford  Records 
(bundle  CC,  S.  2)  in  a  grant 
by  him  to  Thomas  Causton 
'  cognato  meo '. 

Pat.  Roll.  20  Richard  II. 

'  Licence  for  Geoffrey 
Walker  alias  Ludlowe  to 
accept  the  Vicarage  of  the 
Parish  Church  of  Burford 
in  the  Diocese  of  Lincoln, 
void  by  the  death  of  Henry 
de  Norfolk,  to  which  he 
has  been  provided  by  the 
Pope,  who  has  commanded 
that  he  be  inducted  therein 
by  the  Abbots  of  Oseney 
and  Rewley  and  Richard 
Velde,  Canon  of  St.  Mary's, 
Lincoln :  notwithstanding 
the  statute  of  pro  visors  of 
the  thirteenth  year.' 

No  record  of  the  insti- 
tution of  either  of  these 
two  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Lincoln  Registers. 

Pat.  RoU,  3  Hen.  IV. 
Mentioned  in  this  Roll  as 
Vicar  in  1402,  and  his  pos- 
session of  the  Vicarage  is 
confirmed  by  the  next 
entry. 

Line.  Reg.  xiii  (Beau- 
fort), folio  331.  Presented 
on  exchange  of  the  Vicarage 
of  Bitton,  Glos.,  with  Walter 
Eymer.  Also  mentioned 
in  the  Burford  Records  as 
Vicar  in  1429  (bundle  CC, 
S.6). 

No  institution  recorded 
in  the  Lincoln  Registers, 
but  see  the  next  entry. 

Line.  Reg.  xvii  (Gray), 
folio  6id.  Presented  on 
exchange  of  the  church  of 
Leckhampstead,  Bucks., 
with  Thomas  Redeman. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         127 


DcUeof 

Insti-  Name, 

tution. 

'453       William    Creek, 
16  Oct.     priest 


Patron. 

Abbot  &  Convent 
of  Keynsham 


1457      Thomas  Mayow, 
30  Oct.    priest 


J  47  3/4  John    Meteve, 
22  March     chaplain 
(?  5  Feb.) 

'473/4  Christopher 

5  Feb.      Seintlo,  deacon 

(?  22  Mar.) 


Thomas  Pollard 


1480      Richard  Chaun- 
14  June    celer 


1515       Thomas  Cade, 
4  April      priest 


Abbot  &  Convent 
of  Keynsham 


Edward,  Duke  of 
Buckingham, 
Earl  of  Here- 
ford, Stafford, 
and  Northamp- 
ton 


Authorities  and 
Notes. 

Line.  Reg.  xx  (Ched- 
worth),  folio  229d.  Pre- 
sented on  exchange  of  the 
church  of  Tajmton,  Oxon., 
with  Thomas  Sende. 

Line.  Reg.  xx  (Ched- 
worth),  foUo  234.  Pre- 
sented on  the  resignation  of 
Willizim  Creke.  Was  Mas- 
ter of  the  Hospital  of 
St.  John  the  Evangelist, 
Burford,  in  1448-9.  Men- 
tioned as  Vicar  in  1472 
in  the  Burford  Records 
(bundle  A,  CH.  18).    ' 

Line.  Reg.  xxi  (Rother- 
ham),  folio  8od.  Presented 
on  the  death  of  Thomas 
Mayow. 

Line.  Reg.  xxi  (Rother- 
ham),  folio  80.  Presented 
on  the  death  of  John 
Meteve.  This  entry  and 
the  previous  one  appear  to 
have  been  transposed  by 
error  in  the  Registers. 

No  institution  recorded 
in  the  Lincoln  Registers. 
Mentioned  as  Vicar  in  1478 
in  the  Burford  Records 
(bundle  KK,  W  2).  Conse- 
crated Bishop  at  Rome  in 
'  1447.  Bishop  of  Down, 
1450.  Later  acting  Suffra- 
gan Bishop  of  Lincoln. 

Line.  Reg.  xxi  (Rother- 
ham),  folio  90.  Presented 
on  the  death  of  Thomas 
Pollard.  Mentioned  as  Vicar 
in  1489  in  the  Burford 
Records  (bundle  CC,  S.  9). 

Line.  Reg.  xxv  (Atwater), 
folio  44.  The  presentation 
for  this  turn  granted  to  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham  by 
the  Abbot  and  Convent  of 
Keynsham  on  the  death  of 
Richard  Chaunceler.  Cade 
was  also  Master  of  the 
Hospital  at  the  time  of  its 
surrender  to  the  Crown  in 
1538. 


128     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Date  of 

Insti-  Name. 

tution. 

1542  Anthony  Barker, 
16  May    clerk 


Patron. 
The  Crowa 


1551  Robert  Webster, 
12  Dec.     or  Webstare 


1557  Thomas  Pitcher 
Aug. 


1558  John  Rodlay 


1 57 1  Robert  Temple 
3  Sept. 


Edward  Sandys 


Sir  Edward  Un- 
ton  and  Anne, 
Countess  of 

Warwick 


1 57 1/2  William     Mas- 
30  Jan.     ters 


1578  Bartholomew 
3  Dec.     Chamberleyne 


1586  Richard  Hopkins 
3  Nov. 


1593/4  Barnard  Robin- 
1 7  March     son 


The  Crown 


Authorities  and 
Notes. 

Line.  Reg.  xxvii  (Long- 
land),  folio  199.  Presented 
on  the  death  of  the  last 
incumbent.  C.C.C.,  Oxon., 
1517.  Fellow  1519.  Held 
several  other  livings.  Canon 
of  Lincoln,  1540,  and  of 
Windsor,  1541. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  His 
Will  is  a  very  detailed  and 
curious  document.  Oxon. 
Prov.  Wills  1.5,  p.  123. 
Resigned. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg. 


Oxon.  Prov.  Wills  1.4,  p. 
284.  Parker  Register,  Lam- 
beth. A  Benedictine  monk 
of  this  name  graduated  as 
B.D.  at  Oxford,  15 14. 

Parker  Reg.  Lambeth 
iii,  p.  55.  Demy,  Magd. 
Oxon.,  1560.  Canon,  Bris- 
tol. Preb.,  St.  Paul's.  He 
would  not  pay  compositions 
due  to  the  Crown  as  the 
benefice  was  a  subject  of 
dispute.  The        Crown 

claimed  the  patronage  and 
appointed  William  Masters. 
Resigned. 

Parker  Reg.  Lambeth 
iii,  p.  55-  A  friend  of  John 
Foxe.  Vicar  of  Shipton- 
u  nder-Wychwood . 

Grindal's  Register,  p.  357. 
Scholar,  Trin.  Coll.,  Oxon. 
Held  many  preferments. 
Resigned . 

Oxford  Clergy  Certificate, 
1593.  St.  Albans  Hall, 
Oxon.  B.A.,  1573.  Vicar 
of  Shipton-u  nder-Wych- 
wood, where  he  died. 

Whitgift's  Register  ii, 
p.  191.  B.A.  Queen's  Coll., 
Oxon.,  1582.  B.D.  1591. 
Canon  of  Carlisle,  161 2. 
Resigned. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         129 


DeUe  of 

Insti-  Name. 

tution. 

1600      Thomas  Colfe 
9  Jone 

161 1       PhiUpHill 
29  June 


Patron. 
The  Crown 


Douglas    Davys, 
Gent. 


1635  Anthony  An- 

drewes 

1636  Richard  Turner 
I  April 


Bishop  of  Oxford 


1637      Christopher  Gl5mn 
28  March 


1668      John  Thorpe 


1 70 1       John  Eykyn 


1734       Francis  Potter 

1746  Francis  Webber 

1747  The  Right  Hon. 
20  Oct.     Charles  Knollis, 

Earl  of  Banbury 


1 77 1       The  Hon.  Francis 
1 1  April     Knollis 


Authorities  and 
Notes. 

Whitgift's  Reg.  iii,  p. 
171.  B .  A .  Broadgate  Hall, 
Oxon.,  1 581. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  The 
Bishop  of  Oxford  here  first 
mentioned  as  Patron.  He 
granted  the  right  of  pre- 
sentation to  Douglas  Davys 
for  that  occasion.  Philip 
Hill  was  much  under  the 
influence  of  Sir  L.  Tan- 
field,  who  secured  for  him 
the  benefice  of  Eaton 
Hastings,  Berks.  Died 
1634. 

Comp.  Books  iii.  i,  lo 
Car.  I.    Resigned. 

Comp.  Books  iii.  i. 
Buried  at  Oxford.  Paro- 
chial Reg.,  B.  V.  Mary, 
Oxford. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  St. 
John's  Coll.,  Oxon.,  1615. 
Master  of  the  Grammar 
School.  Protected  by  Wil- 
liam Lenthall,  the  Speaker. 
He  held  the  benefice 
without  interruption  until 
1668/9.  Became  blind  1665. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  A 
native  of  Burford.  New 
Inn  Hall,  Oxon.,  1657. 
Chorister  Magd.  Coll., 
Oxon.,  1659/60.  Curate  of 
Burford,  1665.  Lived  at 
Fulbrook. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Pemb. 
Coll.,  Oxon.,  1692.  Vicar 
of  Farmington,  Glos.,  1718. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Lin- 
coln Coll.,  Oxon.,  1702. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  B.A. 
Ch.  Ch.,  Oxon.,  1725. 
Vicar  of  Blackbourton 
1731/2  until  his  death  in 
1771. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Son  of 
the  last  Vicar .  Bom  at  Black- 
bourton 1743.  Magdalen 
Hall,  Oxon.,  1771.  Rector 
of  Eastleach  Martin,  Glos. 


2304 


K 


130     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 


Date  of 

Insti-  Name. 

tutioH. 


Patron. 
1826  William  Birch  Bishop  of  Oxford 


1836  Edward      Philip 
Cooper 


1850  James        Gerald 
Joyce 


1855  Daniel         Ward 
Goddard 


i860  John  Hugh  Bur- 


1 87 1  William  Anthony 
Cass 


1907  William    Charles 
Emeris 


Authorities  and 
Notes. 

.  Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Non- 
resident.   Resigned  1836. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  St. 
John's  Coll.,  Oxon.  Foun- 
der's Kin  Fellow  1812-25. 
B.D.  1825.  Resigned  1850. 
Died  1864. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Mag- 
dalen Hall.  Oxon.,  1843. 
Resigned  1855.  Rector  of 
Strathfieldsaye,  Hants,  to 
his  death  in  1878. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Exeter 
Coll.,  Oxon.  B.A.,  1833. 
Resigned  i860.  Vicar  of 
Holwell,  Oxon.,  to  his  death 
in  1884. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Re- 
signed 1 87 1.  Vicar  of 
Blewbury,  Berks.,  to  his 
death  in  1890. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  Curate 
Horbury,  1854-61.  Vicar 
of  St.  Michael's,  Wakefield, 
Yorks.,  1 861-7 1.  Died 
Dec.  31,  1906. 

Oxfd.  Dioc.  Reg.  New 
CoU.,  Oxon.  B.A.,  1886. 
Vicar  of  Taynton,  Oxon., 
and  Great  Barrington. 
Glos.,  1896. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         131 

SOME   HISTORICAL   NOTES   ON   CHURCH   AFFAIRS 
IN  BURFORD 

The  Alleged  Synod  at  Burford 
The  earliest  recorded  event  of  ecclesiastical  history  connected 
with  Burford  is,  unfortunately,  of  doubtful  authenticity.  A 
synod  is  said  to  have  been  held  here  in  a.  d.  685  ;  but  the  sole 
ground  of  support  for  the  statement  is  a  charter  of  questionable 
genuineness  in  the  Register  of  Malmesbury  Abbey.  The  terms 
of  the  charter  are  as  follows  : 

'  Ea  que  secundum  timorem  et  amorem  domini  religiosa 
largitionis  devotione  difiiciuntur,  quamvis  solus  sermo 
sufficeret,  tamen  pro  incerta  futurorum  temporum  conditione 
scriptis  publicis  et  documentorum  gestis  sunt  confirmanda. 
Quapropter  ego  Berhtuualdus  regnante  domino  rex  pro 
remedio  animae  meae  et  indulgentia  commissorum  criminum 
aliquam  terram  conferre  largirique  Aldelmo  abbati  decreveram 
id  est  illam  de  orientali  plaga  fluminis  cuius  vocabulum  est 
Temis  iuxta  vadum  qui  appellatur  Sumerford  xl  cassatos 
ea  scilicet  definitione  ut  omni  servitute  saecularium  potesta- 
tum  portio  terrae  illius  perpetualiter  sit  libera  ad  serviendum 
necessitatibus  monachorum  deo  servientium  in  monasterio 
quod  nominatur  Maeldubesburg.  Et  ut  firmius  ac  tenacius 
haec  devotio  in  perpetuum  roboretur  etiam  precellentissimum 
monarchum  Aethelredum  regem  ad  testimonium  axivimus 
cuius  consensu  et  confirmatione  haec  munificentia  acta  est. 
Si  quis  contra  hanc  donationem  venire  temptaverit  aut 
tyrannica  fretus  potestate  violenter  invaserit  sciat  se  in 
tremendo  cunctorum  examine  coram  Christo  rationem  reddi- 
turum.  Actum  publice  in  synodo  iuxta  vadum  Berghford 
mense  lulio  tricesimo  die  eiusdem  Indictione  xiii*  anno  ab 
incarnatione  domini  sexcentesimo  xxxv.'  * 

Dr.  Stubbs,  when  entering  this  charter  in  the  third  volume 
of  Councils  and  Ecclesiastical  Documents,'^  adds  the  comment 
that  it  is  '  a  questionable  charter ',  and  does  not  transcribe 

■  •  Brit.  Mus.  MS.  Laud  417,  fol.  i  ;  Kemble's  Codex  Diplotnaticus  Aevi 
Saxonici,  vol.- i,  p.  30;  Registrum  M altnesburiense  (Rolls  Series,  1879), 
vol.  i,  p.  279.  Kemble  notes  that  1  must  have  dropped  out  of  the  date 
before  xxxv,  in  order  to  reconcile  the  calendar  date  with  the  Indiction 
and  also  with  the  presence  of  the  personages  named. 

'  Councils  and  Ecclesiastical  Documents,  Haddon  and  Stubbs,  vol.  iii, 
p.  169. 

K  2 


132     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

it.  Dr.  Plummer,  in  a  note  in  his  edition  of  Bede's  Ecdesias- 
tical  History,  referring  to  William  of  Malmesbury's  Life  of 
St.  Aldhelm,  says  :  '  The  rest  of  Malmesbury's  work  is  largely 
made  up  of  extracts  from  Aldhelm's  letters,  and  Malmes- 
bury  charters,  most  of  the  latter  being  of  very  doubtful 
authenticity.' 

Thus  the  single  record  of  the  alleged  synod  at  Burford  is 
under  suspicion,  to  say  the  least,  both  from  one  of  the  greatest 
modern  authorities  on  charters  in  general  and  also  from  one 
of  the  greatest  modern  authorities  on  ecclesiastical  charters  in 
particular.  It  is  pertinent,  therefore,  to  remark'  first,  that 
Burford  was  not  a  place  likely  to  be  chosen  for  the  meeting  of 
a  synod,  being  remote  from  any  important  centre  of  the  eccle- 
siastical life  of  the  time  ;  and  secondly,  that  at  this  period 
of  hatred  and  hostility  between  Wessex  and  Mercia  it  was 
improbable,  on  the  face  of  it,  that  Berhtwaldus,  a  vicegerent 
of  the  royal  power  in  Mercia,  and  Ethelred,  King  of  Mercia,- 
would  be  concerned  in  a  gift  of  land  to  the  great  churchman 
of  Wessex,  Aldhelm. 

Yet  the  synod  has  always  had  an  appearance  of  great 
authenticity  in  the  modern  accounts  given  of  it,  for  they  are 
amplified  with  detail  of  discussion  at  this  alleged  synod.  They 
go  on  to  relate,  in  connexion  with  the  gift  to  Aldhelm,  the 
historic,  facts  of  a  controversy  about  the  date  of  Easter,  as  to 
which  the  British  Church  was  in  error.  But  this  connexion 
has  sprung  from  a  confusion  of  two  distinct  synods,  for  which 
Camden,  in  his  Britannia,  must  be  held  responsible.  He  writes 
in  his  account  of  Burford  : 

Here  was  held  a  council  682  by  the  Kings  Etheldred  and 
Berthwald,  at  which  Aldhelm,  Abbot  of  Malmesbury,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  Shirburn,  being  present,  was  commanded  to 
write  against  the  error  of  the  British  Church  in  the  observance 
of  Easter  (Bede,  Eccl.  Hist.  v.  18).  Spelman  calls  thfs  a 
Mercian  Synod,  and  dates  it  705,  without  fixing  any  place,  or 
the  exact  time ;  whereas  both  are  evident  from  Malmesbury 
{De  Pontif.  v)  and  the  leiger  book  of  that  Abbey.^ 

Now  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History  in  this  connexion  mentions 
no  place.    The  passage  reads  as  follows  : 

*  Camden,  Britannia,  2'nd  edition  (London  1806),  vol.  ii,  p.  3. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         133 

Denique  Aldhelmus  cum  erat  adhuc  presbyter  et  Abbas 
monasterii  quod  Maildulfi  urbem  nominant,  scripsit,  iubente 
Synodo  suae  gentis,  librum  egregium  adversus  errorem 
Britonum,  quo  vel  Pascha  suo  tempore  celebrant,  vei  alia 
perplura  ecclesiastic^e  castitati  et  paci  contraria  gerunt. 
Multosque  eorum,  qui  Occidentalibus  Saxonibus  subditi 
erant  Britones,  ad  Catholicam  Dominici .  Paschae  celebra- 
tionem  huius  lectione  perduxit.^ 

Faricius,  in  his  Life  of  Aldhelm,  dates  this  synod  with  some 
care.    His  version  is  : 

Regnante  Anglorum  rege  Osredo  anno  Dominicae  Incar- 
nationis  septingentesimo  sexto,  quidam  Britonum  nomine 
tenus  praesules  haeretizabant  de  Paschali  termino  et  de 
aliis  pluribus  ecclesiasticae  orthodoxitatis  institutionibus. 
Quare  Saxonum  Orientalis  {sic)  plagae  sancta  synodus 
venerabilem  Aldhelmum  abbatem,  et  adhuc  tantum  pres- 
byterum  (nondum  ejiim  sanctus  vita  et  moribus  in  ordine 
ponebatur  pontificum)  pro  sanctitatis  suae  reverentia  rogavit 
librum  componere  egregium,  quo  maligna  quae  tunc  supra 
modum  pullulabat  haeresis  Britonum  destrueretur.^ 

Apart  from  this  fixing  of  the  date  of  the  synod  concerning 
Easter  there  are  two  points  to  note  in  these  references. 
Firstly,  if  at  this  synod  Aldhelm  had  received  a  gift  of  land, 
it  is  unlikely  that  Bede,  with  his  admiration  for  Aldhelm  and 
his  concern  for  the  details  of  Aldhelm's  life,  would  not  have 
known  of  it,  and  thus  fixed  the  scene  of  the  synod.  Secondly 
(and  more  significantly),  both  Bede  and  Faricius  speak  of  the 
synod  as  a  synod  of  the  Wessex  people.^  This  could  not  con- 
ceivably have  taken  place  in  what  was  at  that  time  Mercian 
territory.  It  is  quite  clear  that  the  synod  concerning  Easter 
cannot  be  identified  with  the  occasion  on  which  the  alleged 
gift  of  land  to  Aldhelm  was  made. 

This  confusion  of  two  separate  events,  in  which  Camden  has 
been  followed  by  all  who  have  since  written  of  Burford,  being 
cleared  away,  there  remains  no  authority  for  the  supposed 
synod  at  Burford  except  the  Malmesbury  charter ;  and  that 
is  hardly  good  enough  to  rely  upon. 

>  Bede,  Eccl.  Hist.  v.  19  (Cambridge.  Folio,  p.  436). 

*  Faricius.  Vita  Aldhelmi,  cap.  2  (Ed.  Giles,  pp.  362-3),  quoted  in 
Haddon  and  Stubbs.  op.  cit.,  vol.  iii,  p.  268. 

»  Faricius's  reference  to  'Saxonum  Orientalis  plagae'  is  evidently  a 
mistake  for  Occidentalis . 


134    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

The  Rectory  and  Vicarage 

It  will  therefore  be  safer  to  regard  Church  history  in  Burford, 
apart  from  that  which  is  inscribed  in  the  structure  of  the 
Parish  Church,  as  beginning  with  the  gift  of  the  Rectory  of 
Burford  and  the  chapelry  of  Fulbrook  to  the  Abbey  of 
Keynsham  by  William,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  the  founder  of  the 
Abbey.  In  the  charter  granted  to  the  Abbey  by  Gilbert 
de  Clare,  confirming  gifts  made  by  Earl  William,  occurs  the 
following  clause  : 

Concessi  etiam  et  confirmavi  dictis  canonicis  ad  susten- 
tationem  suam  quantum  ad  advocatum  et  dominum  fundi 
pertinet  omnes  ecclesias  quas  W  comes  avus  mens  eisdem 
canonicis  concessit  scilicet  in  Bristoll  ecclesiam  S.  Mariae 
et  ■  S.  Werburgae  et  ecclesiam  S.  Sepulchri  et  ecclesiam 
S.  lohannis  Baptistae  in  Bureford  cum  capella  de  Fulebrook 
et  omnibus  aliis  pertinenciis  suis.  .  .  .'  ^ 

The  foundation  of  Keynsham  Abbey  took  place  between  1167 
and  1172  ;  and.  we  have  therefore  to  give  the  same  dates  to 
the  acquisition  by  Keynsham  of  the  Rectory  and  advowson 
of  Burford.  Perhaps  we  may  ascribe  to  the  influence  of  these 
new  patrons  the  building  of  that  Norman  church  of  which 
such  considerable  portions  have  survived. 

A  certain  amount  of  land  would,  of  course,  go  with  the 
church — the  rectorial  and  vicarial  glebe  of  later  times — and 
a  portion  of  this  land  must  have  been  the  ground  upon  which 
the  Rectory  and  Vicarage  were  built.  The  Vicarage  is  first 
mentioned  in  the  Burford  Records  in  1384  in  a  grant  of  certain 
houses  standing  between  the  Vicarage  and  the  river  Windrush.^ 
No  rectory  house  is  mentioned  at  anything  like  so  early  a  date 
by  that  specific  name.  But  in  the  Taxatio  Ecclesiastica  of 
circa  1291  the  Abbot  of  Keynsham  is  entered  for  an  annual 
rent  of  35.  in  Burford  as  his  temporality,  apart  from  the 
Rectorial  revenues  ;  and  the  same  rent  appears  in  a  Clerical 
Subsidy  of  1450-1.^  Some  grants  among  the  Burford  Records 
dated  1435  and  1445,  concerning  a  house  standing  next  to  the 
Vicarage  on  one  side,  describe  it  as  being  bounded  on  the  other 

'  Pat.  Rfcll,  3  Edw.  I,  p.  i,  m.  30,  a  recital  and  confirmation  of  Gilbert 
de  Clare's  charter  :   see  also  Dugdale,  Mon.  Angl.,  vi.  452.         , 
»  See  Part  III,  p.  317.  '  See  Part  III.  p.  599. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST     •     135 

side  by  '  a  house  of  the  Abbot  of  Keynshani  '.^  It  is  possible 
that  this  was  the  eadiest  Rectory  house,  leased  to  tenants 
(since  there  was  no  resident  Rector)  and  standing,  like  the 
Vicarage,  in  the  High  Street,  upon  the  front  edge,  so  to  speak, 
of  the  church  land  in  this  part  of  Burford,  the  ground  behind 
being  left  open  meadow,  as  the  ground  behind  the  Vicarage 
is  to-day. 

No  other  mention  of  the  Rectory  occurs  until  the  year  1546, 
when  Edmund  Harman  obtained  a  grant  of  this  portion  of  the 
possessions  of  Keynsham.  It  was  at  that  time  in  the  tenancy 
of  Thomas  Baylie,  who  had  obtained  in  1532  a  lease  from  the 
Abbey  for  ninety  years  at  an  annual  rent  of  £10.^  This  lease 
would,  of  course,  include  all  the  glebe  and  temporaHties  of  the 
Rectory,  the  advowson  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  Abbey  ; 
the  size  of  the  rent  shows  that  more  than  a  house  was  being 
leased.  At  the  same  time,  there  certainly  must  have  been  a 
house ;  for  the  Memoranda  upon  Harman's  grant  speak  of 
'  the  said  parsonage  ',  and  of  '  the  trees  growing  about  the 
scytuacion  of  the  saide  parsonage  ' ;  and  since  '  the  hedgs  in- 
closing the  gleybe  lands  '  are  mentioned  separately,  it  is  quite 
clear  that '  the  parsonage  '  was  a  house  with  grounds  around  it. 

It  may  by  this  time  have  been  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Rectory  house,  for  although  the  main  frontage  of  the  existing 
building  is  of  a  period  much  later  than  this,  there  is  older  work 
in  the  back  wing  of  the  house,  and  also  in  the  wing  at  the 
north  end. 

When  Harman  obtained  the  Rectory  the  lease  to  BayHe  had 
apparently  ceased  to  be  valid,  or  else  it  was  surrendered,  for 
Harman  made  a  new  lease  to  Thomas  Smyth  '  generosus  ',  for 
a  term  of  sixty  years,  at  the  enhanced  rent  of  £15,  an  annual 
payment  of  20s.  to  the  Crown  being  resers'ed.  In  the  following 
year,  1547,  Harman  made  an  exchange  of  lands  with  the 
College  of  Fotheringhay,  and  the  Rectory  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  College.  In  1584,  the  College  having  ceased 
to  exist,  a  new  grant  of  the  Rectory  was  obtained  by  Mary, 
Edmund  Harman's  daughter,  for  the  term  of  three  lives— her 

'  See  Part  III,  pp.  422,  426. 

»  Bodl.  MSS..  Rawlinson  B419  (131).  Baylie  was  a  clothier,  of  Trow- 
bridge, Wilts. 


136     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

own,  that  of  her  husband,  WilHam  Johnson,  and  that  of  their 
son,  Harman  Johnson.^  It  appears  from  the  terms  of  this  last 
grant  that  the  lease  to  Thomas  Smyth  still  held  good,  and  had 
not  been  disturbed  by  the  exchange  of  1547. 

Meanwhile  the  advowson  had  become  in  some  curious 
way  detached  from  the  tenure  of  the  Rectory.  It  had  passed 
with  the  Rectory  to  the  Crown  upon  the  surrender  of  Keyn- 
sham  Abbey,  for  the  presentation  in  1542  was  made  by  the 
Crown.  It  was  also  included  in  the  grant  to  Harman,  and 
must  have  gone  to  the  College  of  Fotheringhay  in  the  ex- 
change, for  the  Edward  Sandys,  '  generosus  ',  who  presented 
to  the  Vicarage  in  1551,  cannot  be  traced  as  having  any 
connexion  with  Burford,  and  must  have  presented  by  some 
right  derived  from  the  College.  But  then  occur  three  pre- 
sentations, in  1555,  1558,  and  1571  by  Sir  Edward  Unton 
and  his  wife,  Anne,  Countess 'of  Warwick,  who  held  for  her 
life  the  lordship  of  the  town  and  manor.^  How  these  two 
came  to  be  exercising  the  patronage  does  not  appear.  But  the 
result  was  that,  when,  upon  the  Countess  of  Warwick's  death, 
the  lordship  reverted  to  the  Crown,  the  advowson  reverted 
with  it,  and  presentations  continued  to  be  made  by  the 
Crown,  even  after  the  grant  of  the  Rectory  to  Mary  Johnson. 

In  161 1  the  patronage  appears  for  the  first  time  in  the 
hands  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  where  it  has  since  rested 
continuously.  But  the  Rectory  remained  separated  from  the 
advowson,  and  was  being  leased  out  by  the  Crown,  the  three 
lives  of  Mary  Johnson's  grant  having  evidently  expired.  In 
1613  it  was  in  the  hands  of  two  men  named  Reginald  Edwards 
and  Humfry  Repington  ;  in  1618  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield  was 
in  possession  ;  and  after  his  death  it  came  into  the  hands  of 
Robert  Veysey  of  Chimney.^  While  it  is  possible  that  Harman 
Johnson  may  have  lived  in  the  Rectory  house,  it  is  clear 
that  these  others  merely  held  the  Rectory  for  the  sake  of  the 
rents  to  be  derived  from  the  glebe.  Edwards  and  Repington 
appear  in  no  local  documents  ;  Tanfield  had  his  fine  new 
house  at  the  Priory  ;  and  when  Robert  Veysey  died  in  1634, 
there  was  nothing  to  be  valued  in  the  Rectory  house  except 

,  »  See  Part  III,  p.  653.  '   See  supra,  p.  84. 

»  See  Bart  III,  pp.  666,  667. 


o 

'•1 


> 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST        .  137 

a  few  odds  and  ends  put  away  in  a  chest,  and  '  in  the  chamber 
over  the  hall ' ;  he  had  houses  at  Ducklington,  Bradwell,  and 
Taynton,  as  well  as  the  house  at  Chimney,  where  he  principally 
lived.  He  would  appear  only  to  have  rented  the  Rectory 
house,  for  the  Book  of  Church  Officers  shows  that  the  lay 
rectorship  was  held  by  Lady  Tanfield  after  her  husband's 
death,  and  then  by  Lord  Falkland,  since  the  appointment  of 
Rector's  churchwardens  continues  in  their  names.  The 
same  evidence  shows  that  the  rectorship  went  with  the 
other  Priory  possessions  to  Lenthall ;  but  for  some  reason 
he  took  other  steps  later  on  to  confirm  his  possession  of  it. 
Whitelocke  records,  on  May  4,  1649 :  '  An  Act  passed  for 
settling  the  rectory  and  glebe  lands  of  Burford  upon  a 
member.'  ^  It  remained  in  Lenthall  hands  for  more  than 
a  century,  and  ultimately  became  reunited  to  the  advowson, 
for  in  1741  it  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
having  become  part  of  the  endowment  of  the  bishopric. 
He  leased  it  in  that  year  to  Elizabeth  Clarke  Pryor,  widow 
of  John  Pryor — probably  grandson  of  the  John  Pryor  who 
was  murdered  in  the  Priory  garden.  The  lease  which  she 
obtained  was  for  three  lives,  and  was  prolonged,  as  appears 
by  an  endorsement,  for  four  lives  more.^ 

Unfortunately  there  is  no  means  of  identifying  the  builder 
of  the  Rectory  house.  It  is  a  finer  piece  of  building  than  we 
should  be  inclined,  on  the  evidence  of  the  Priory  structure,  to 
attribute  to  dny  Lenthall,  being  a  beautiful  example  of  a  type 
described  in  the  succeeding  chapter,  distinguished  by  care- 
fully finished  ashlar  work  uninterrupted  by  ornament,  high 
sash-window  openings  framed  with  a  broad  shallow  moulding, 
and  a  great  simplicity  of  outline.  The  later  Pryor  connexion 
just  makes  possible  the  conjecture  that  the  murdered  John 
Pryor  may  have  built  this  house,  and  lived  in  it.  He  was 
probably,  as  William  Lenthall's  agent  and  the  trustee  under 
his  will,  a  man  of  some  means.  We  know  also  that  Kc  had 
some  interest  in  the  Rectory,  for  an  entry  in  John  Thorpe's 

*  Booke  for  the  Vicaridge  Rights  '  describes  how  Thorpe  on 
one  occasion,  being  at  the  house  of  a  Mrs.  Matthews  with 
John  Pryor,  had  seen  the  latter  take  away  a  terrier  of  the 

•  '  Whitelocke's  Memorials  (i3s3).  >"•  29.  *  See  Part  III,  p.  405. 


138  .  STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Rectorial  glebe  written  upon  parchment.  However,  that  is 
not  enough  to  make  more  than  guess-work  of  the  idea  that 
John  Pryor  may  have  built  the  present  house. 

The  Vicarage,  we  may  conclude  from  the  earliest  extant 
reference  to  it,  has  from  the  first  occupied  its  present  site. 
Of  the  existing  building  the  oldest  portion  is  in  the  wing 
furthest  removed  from  the  street,  the  ground-floor  room  of 
which  is  of  the  sixteenth  century.  To  whom  the  additioji  of 
the  charming  street  fagade,  of  the  year  1672,  is  due  is  not 
known.  John  Thorpe,  the  vicar  of  that  date,  was  certainly 
a  man  of  means,  and  might  have  built  it ;  but  as  he  lived  in 
Fulbrook  it  is  at  least  equally  possible  that  the  building  was 
done  by  some  tenant  to  whom  he  had  let  the  Vicarage.  In 
the  nineteenth  century  the  central  part  of  the  house  was 
rebuilt,  in  the  time  of  Mr.  Cooper. 

The  Glebe  Lands 

The  history  of  the  glebe  lands  of  Burford  is  rather  a  dis- 
graceful one.  The  secularization  of  the  Rectorial' glebe  is, 
indeed,  no  different  here  from  what  it  was  in  the  hundreds 
of  parishes  of  which  the  Rectories  were  held  by  monastic 
foundations,  and  were  made  sources  of  profit  to  the  Crown 
after  the  Dissolution  by  sale  or  lease  to  lay  impropriators. 

But  the  Vicarial  glebe,  which  had  escaped  this  fate,  was 
subject  in  Burford,  in  the  succeeding  century,  to  manipula- 
tions which,  though  not  in  the  truest*sense  more  scandalous, 
were  certainly  more  mean  and  underhand.  The  annual  value 
of  the  Vicarage  is  entered  on  the  Clerical  Subsidies  of  the 
fifteenth  century  at  £6  135.  4^.,  which,  though  not  a  large 
sum,  even  when .  all  allowances  have  been  made  for  the 
different  value  of  money,  nevertheless  represents  a  sufficiency 
of  glebe  land,  in  addition  to  the  small  tithes.  Unfortunately 
the  two  Vicars  of  Burford  in  the  early  seventeenth  century, 
Philip  Hill  and  Christopher  Glynn,  seem  to  have  been  little 
more  than  creatures  of  the  lords  of  the  manor ;  and  they 
allowed  Tanfield  and  Speaker  Lenthall  to  obtain  complete 
possession  of.  the  glebe  in  exchange  for  comfortable  payments 
during  their  own  lives. 

We  have  what  is  virtually  contemporary  evidence  of  these 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         139 

transactions.  Glynn's  successor  was  a  man  of  a  very  different 
type,  John  Thorpe,  who  by  every  record  or  indication  that 
he  has  left  must  have  been  a  straightforward,  painstaking 
man.  Preserved  now  among  the  registers  is  a  little  quarto 
booic,  bound  in  limp  vellum  and  inscribed  on  the  cover  : 
'  Burford  Booke  for  the  Vicaridge  Rights  '.^  It  contains 
John  Thorpe's  notes,  made  chiefly  between  1674  and  1680, 
on  the  existing  vicarial  tithes  and  a  little  glebe,  arid  also  the 
story  of  what  had  happened  to  the  rest  of  the  glebe.  Thorpe 
had  the  story  in  the  main  from  Mr.  Benjamin  Griffin,  who 
was  at  that  time  '  Minister  of  Barrington  Magna  ',  and  had 
been  the  usher  at  Burford  Grammar  School  in  Christopher 
Glynn's  time.  His  account  was  that  sixty  or  seventy  years 
before  the  date  at  which  John  Thorpe  was  writing  there  had 
been  '  an  Agreement  Between  the  Bishop,  the  Parson,  &  the 
vicar  of  Burford,  about  stateing  every  mans  Right '.  There 
could  hardly  have  been  any  real  uncertainty  as  to  the 
respective  glebes,  but  this  nominal  reason  for  the  '  agreement  ^ 
is  in  the  next  few  sentences  revealed  as  a  mere  blind.  '  It 
was  agreed  that  the  Parson  (who  was  Tanfeild)  should  pay 
the  vicar  8o£  per  Ann.  for  his  maintenance  &  the  parson 
should  take  all  the  vicars  dues,  whereupon  some  have  told 
mee,  as  one  Robert  Hayter  shoemaker  they  Remember  the 
L^  Tanfeilds  servants  gather  {sic)  for  their  master  the  very 
Easter  offerings.'  There  would  have  been  no  great  harm 
in  .this  arrangement,  though  of  course  it  was  unwise  and 
impolitic  of  a  vicar,  for  the  sake  of  the  convenience  of  an* 
outright  annual  cash  payment,  to  allow  a  layman  to  enforce 
the  tithes.    But  Tanfield  had  other  plans  as  well. 

In  a  short  time  the  Powerfull  Lord  persuades  y«  Vicar  to 
Let  him  keep  these  4  yards  of  Glebe  called  the  vicars  Lands 
&  to  take  for  the  vicaridge  all  the  other  profitts  here  but 
Tanfeild  during  Hill  the  vicars  Life  would  make  up  the  Losse 
of  these  Lands  procuring  for  him  Eaton  ^  a  Living  of  a  ioo£ 
per  Ann.  besides  this  place  &c.  &  after  many  years  Mr.  Chris- 
topher Glin  enters  who  rec*^  Advantages  from  Mr.  W""  Lenthall 
above  40^  a  year. 

»  This  book  was  recovered  from  private  possession  by  Mr.  William  J. 
Monk,  whose  History  of  Burford  has  been  so  well  known  to  visitors  for 
many  years,  and  was  by  him  restored  to  its  place  among  the  Church 
archives.  *  Eaton  Hastings,  Berks. 


140     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

In  other  words,  Philip  Hill  having  been  made  comfortable 
for  his  lifetime,  Christopher  Glynn  agreed  to  follow  the 
same  course,  without  regard  to  the  interests  of  later  Vicars. 
They  exchanged  the  permanent  possessions  of  the  vicarage 
for  what  was  only  a  personal  arrangement  with  themselves. 
John  Thorpe,  coming  into  the  vicarage,  found  practically 
no  glebe  left,  except  what  lay  in  Fulbrook ;  and,  as  he  says, 
'  so  many  years  and  alterations  being  past  and  no  script  of 
anything  left  mee  by  the  vicars  precedent  I  am  wholly  at 
a  Losse  what  to  doe  '.  He  was  not  without  evidence  of 
a  kind.  Apart  from  Mr.  Griffin's  story  there  was  the  fact  of 
four  yard  lands  (nearly  200  acres)  being  called  '  Vicars  lands  ', 
held  '  with  a  more  than  ordinary  number  of  sheep  commons  ', 
and  tithe-free — all  of.  which  Thorpe  duly  records.  He  had 
an  idea  of  searching  '  Lincolne  Records  ',  in  order  to  discover 
the  true  conditions  of  the  glebe  in  earlier  times.  But  whether 
he  ever  did  so  or  not,  he  has  no  more  researches  to  enter  in 
his  book, 

Thorpe's  successor,  John  Eykyn,  was  certainly  not  a  man 
to  interest  himself  in  the  vicar's  legal  rights.  So  more  '  years 
arid  alterations  '  went  past ;  and  the  glebe  which  Tanfield 
had  so  meanly  acquired,  and  Speaker  Lenthall  hardly  less 
meanly  retained,  was  lost  for  good.  In  the  Enclosure  Award 
of  1797  no  allotment  for  Vicarial  glebe  appears  at  all. 

The  Rectorial  glebe,  returning  to  the  hands  of  the  Bishop 
of  Oxford  after  the  expiry  of  the  prolonged  lease  of  the 
Rectory  to  the  Pryor  family,  was  ultimately  handed  over  to 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  who  now  make  from  the 
proceeds  an  allowance  for  the  payment  of  a  curate. 

The  Churchwardens 

At  the  earliest  date  at  which  churchwardens  are  mentioned 
in  the  Burford  Records,  and  for  several  hundred  years  after- 
wards, they  were  four  in  number.  They  appear,  in  the  first 
regular  lists  of  the  parish  officers,  which  begin  in  1613,  as 
holding  office  thus  :  one  for  the  Rector,  one  for  the  Vicar, 
and  two  for  the  township,  pro  villa. 

Upon  the  origin  of  this  rather  unusual  custom  we  have 
very  little  light.    In  the  course  of  the  controversy  of  1738-43, 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  141 

over  the  administration  of  the  charities,  there  was  some  dis- 
cussion of  the  position  of  the  four  churchwardens.  The 
Royal  Commission  of  1738  had  ordained  that  in  several 
charities  with  which  the  churchwardens  had  then  no  concern 
they  should  be  joined  with  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses.  The 
latter  took  exception  to  these  orders,  largely  on  the  ground 
that  the  two  churchwardens  for  the  township  were  generally 
under  the  influence  of  the  lord  of  the  manor,  and  did  not 
fairly  represent  the  mind  of  the  people.  But  the  two  interest- 
ing points  put  forward  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  were 
these — first,  that  the  Rector's  churchwarden  certainly  ought 
to  have  no  voice  in  the  town  charities,  because  the  Rector's 
nomination  was  on  behalf  of  '  the  outward  tythings '  of  Upton 
and  Signett ;  and,  secondly,  that,  strictly,  one  of  the  township 
churchwardens  was  the  representative  of  the  Corporation. 

The  respondents  in  the  case,  while  not  contesting  the 
former  point,  denied  entirely  that  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
had  ever  enjoyed  the  right  of  electing  a  churchwarden  of 
their  own.  Yet  no  alternative  explanation  of  the  existence  of 
two  wardens  for  the  township  was  offered.  If  the  repre- 
sentative of  '  the  outward  tythings  '  had  been  one  of  these 
two,  the  system  would  have  been  comprehensible ;  but  no 
attempt  was  made  to  maintain  that  position.  It  may,  in 
fact,  have  been  the  truth  ;  for  it  seems  unlikely  that  the 
Rector  would  have  any  special  reason  to  nominate  the  warden 
for  those  tythings.  It  is  more  probable  that  originally  his 
warden  fulfilled  the  normal  duty  of  representing  the  owner 
of  the  chancel  of  the  church  ;  the  Rectory  being  impropriate, 
a  Vicar's  warden  also  had  been  elected  ;  and,  as  happened 
elsewhere,  the  township  being  in  two  distinct  portions, 
parishioners'  wardens  were  elected  for  each.  But  when  the 
Rectory  passed  to  lay  hands,  and  had  been  held  for  some  time 
by  men  who  were  also  lords  of  the  manor,  with  their  chief 
interests  in  Upton  and  Signett,  the  most  natural  explanation 
of  their  nomination  of  a  warden,  in  the  minds  of  men  who  had 
no  knowledge  of  the  original  system,  was  that  this  warden 
was  the  Upton  and  Signett  warden.  Then,  in  order  to  account 
for  the  two  parishioners'  wardens,  the  theory  of  a  Corporation 
warden  was  invented. 


142     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Another  explanation  is,  ^  however,  just  possible.  In 
mediaeval  times,  when  the  Gild  Chapel  and  the  Church  were 
separate  structures,  each  had  its  own  '  proctors  '  or  wardens, 
responsible  for  the  fabric,  the  ornaments  and  plate.  It  may 
be  that,  when  the  chapel  became  an  integral  part  of  the 
church,  the  separate  responsibility  was  continued,  one  of 
the  two  Gild  proctors  acting  in  conjunction  with  one  of  the 
two  church  proctors.  In  other  words,  the  Bailiffs  and  Bur- 
gesses may  have  had  a  sound  tradition  at  the  back  of  their 
claim  ;  and  in  that  case  the  theory  of  a  warden  for  Upton 
and  Signett  was  really  the  invention.  In  support  of  this  it 
may  be  remarked  that  at  no  point  in  the  existing  church 
records  is  there  any  entry  of  a  warden  as  elected  or  nominated 
for  the  outward  tythings. 

The  norrhal  entries  throughout  the  seventeenth  century 
are  :  one  churchwarden  pro  rectore,  one  pro  vicario.  and  two 
pro  villa.  But  this  regularity  in  the  formula  is  not  attained 
for  some  time.  When  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield  held  the  Rectory, 
the  Rector's  warden  is  usually  entered  as  '  for  my  lord  being 
parson ',  or,  in  his  later  years,  simply  *  for  my  lord  '.  In 
1626/7  the  entry  is  '  for  the  Lady  Tanfield  ',  and  in  ,1628/9 
•^or  my  lady  '.  This  personal  formula  continues  to  be  used 
for  some  years  in  the  entries  of  a  warden  '  for  Sir  Lucius 
Cary  ',  but  gives  place  in  1630  to  one  more  official  iy  character, 
but  quite  unjustifiable,  '  pro  domino  Burgi  '  ;  it  was  not  as 
lord  of  the  town,  but  as  Rector,  that  Lord  Falkland  exercised 
this  nomination.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  in  1638 
the  words  domino  Burgi  have  been  erased,  and  Rectore 
substituted.  We  observe  the  accuracy  of  the  legal  mind  of 
William  Lenthall,  whose  first  nomination  this  was.  Hereafter 
pro  Rectore  is  the  invariable  form. 

The  two  parishioners'  wardens  are  entered  for  the  first 
twenty  years  after  1613  as  '  for  the  parish  '.•  This  is  strong 
evidence  against  the  later  theory  that  the  '  outward  tythings  ' 
were  represented  by  the  Rector's  warden  ;  for  Upton  and 
Signett  were  certainly  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  parish  of 
Burford,  and  wardens  '  for  the  parish  '  must  have  repre- 
sented the  hamlets  as  well  as  the  town.  In  one  year,  1635, 
at  the  time  when  the  Rector's  warden  was  being  entered  as 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST         143 

pro  domino  Burgi,  the  parish  wardens  are  entered  as  pro 
Burgo,  an  equally  unjustifiable  form,  since  the  Burgus 
excluded  part  of  the  parish.  It  only  occurs  once,  and  may 
have  been  due  to  carelessness  ;  or  we  may  perhaps  see  in  it 
a  hint  of  the  theory  that  Upton  and  Signett  were  represented 
through  the  Rectorial  warden.  After  this  date  the  use  of 
the  form  pro  villa  is  uninterrupted. 

The  custom  of  four  churchwardens  continued  until  the 
year  1871.  For  many  years  the  office  of  Rector's  warden 
had  been  served  by  Mr.  C.  F.  A.  Faulkner,  of  Bury  Barns. 
He  died  in  1870 ;  and  in  the  minutes  of  the  Easter  Vestry 
meeting  of  1871  the  following  passage  occurs :  '  In  conse- 
quence of  the  death  of  Mr,  Allen  Faulkner  and  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Commissioners,  the  present  Rectors,  not  having 
nominated  any  successor  to  him  as  Churchwarden  on  their 
part  the  appointment  to  this  remains  in  abeyance.' 

So  it  remains  to  the  present  day.  The  parishioners  still 
elect  two  wardens,  and  the  Vicar  nominates  one.  But  no 
Rector's  warden  has  been  nominated  since  1871. 

The  Parish  Registers  ' 

The  Parish  Registers  of  Burford  now  extant  begin  in  the 
year  1612,  when  Philip  Hill  was  Vicar.  They  appear  to  have 
been  for  the  most  part  carefully  kept,  without  intermission. 
The  only  signs  of  the  disturbance  of  the  Civil  War  in  this 
respect  are  contained  in  the  Register  Book  of  the  Church 
Officers.  Under  the  date  1642  in  that  volume  occurs  the 
foUtfwing  entry  :  '  The  three  churchwardens  Richard  Veysey, 
Symon  Ward  and  Henry  Hayter  being  churchwardens  the 
yeare  past  were  continued  in  the  office  by  the  vicar  and 
parishioners  for  the  yeare  by  reason  the  government  of  the 
church  at  this  time  was  unsettled.'  The  Rector,  Speaker 
Lenthall,  had  nominated,  a  churchwarden  as  usual.  After 
the  next  year's  date,  this  note  is  made :  '  There  hath  beene 
noe  choice  made  of  Churchwardens  by  reason  of  troublesome 
tymes  since  the  4th  day  of  Aprill  1642  untill  the  20th  of 
Aprill  1647.'  But  nfeanwhile  the  Register  of  Bapfisms, 
Marriages,  and  Burials  shows  but  slight  interruptions. 


144    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

The  Reformation  in  Burford 

The  history  of  Burford  in  connexion  with  the  Reformation 
is  curious  and  rather  puzzling.  The  town  has  no  recorded 
place  in  the  Marian  persecutions  or  on  the  roll  of  the 
Protestant  martyrs.  Yet  at  an  earlier  date  it  was  certainly 
a  centre  for  the  Wyclifiites  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  a  resort 
for  those  who  strove  for  the  possession  of  the  Scriptures  in 
their  native  tongue.  When  John  Longland,  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  made  his  investigations  of  heresy  in  the  diocese  in 
1521,  a  number  of  Burford  people  were  informed  upon,  and 
there  must  have  been  some  reason  for  the  selection  of  the 
town  as  one  of  the  places  of  public  penance  for  offenders. 
But  it  must,  of  course,  be  added  that  Longland's  heresy 
hunt  was  regarded  even  at  the  time  as  a  pursuit  of  trifles, 
and  it  does  not  follow  that  persons  accused  before  his  com- 
missioners were  very  passionate  reformers  (indeed  the  charges 
in  most  of  the  Burford  cases  border  on  the  ludicrously  petty) ; 
so  that  Burford's  prominence  in  those  investigations  does  not 
necessarily  imply  a  zeal  and  conviction  that  would  have 
made  it  prominent  under  Mary.  In  point  of  fact,  all  the 
persons  charged  in  1521  recanted. 

The  leaders  of  the  group  were  John  Edmunds,  a  Burford 
tailor,  with  his  wife,  and  John  Harris  and  his  wife,  of  Upton. 
It  was  in  their  houses  that  meetings  were  most  frequently 
held.  Others  who  were  denounced  were  Robert  Burges  and 
his  wife,  John  Boyes  and  his  brother  ('  a  Monk  of  Burford  '), 
Edmunds's  daughter  Agnes,  Edward  Red,  who  is  described  as 
'  Schoolmaster  of  Burford  ',  Eleanor  Higges,  John  Through, 
of  the  Priory,  Roger  Dods,  Thomas  Reiley,  Thomas  Clemson 
who  was  servant  to  '  the  Prior  of  Burford  ',  Joan  Taylor 
(servant  to  John  Harris),  and  the  brother  of  Burges's  wife. 
The  meetings  they  hel^  were  attended  by  people  from  as  far 
away  as  West  Hendred,  Ginge  near  Wantage,  and  Steventon  ; 
and  also  by  some  from  Witney,  Clanfield,  Standlake,  Asthall, 
and  Lechlade,^  They  met  sometimes  to  hear  books  read  to 
them — '  a  book  called  W.  Thorpe  '  (either,  we  may  presume, 

•  John  Hakker  of  London  came  occasionally,  and  §Qld  them  some  of 
the  books  in  English  which  they  possessed. 


CHURCH  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST  145 

the  account  of  his  trial  written  by  William  Thorpe,  the 
Wycliffite,  or  his  '  Short  Testament  of  his  Faith  '),  '  a  book 
speaking  of  the  Plagues  of  Pharaoh  ',  '  a  Book  called  Nicode- 
mus's  Gospel ',  in  which  was  '  the  story  of  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  ',  'the  Book  of  the  Exposition  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse ',  and  '  a  book  called  the  King  of  Beeme  \  One  reading 
of  this  kind  took  place  at  Harris's  house  after  the  marriage 
of  Burges  and  his  wife.  At  other  times  they  met  to  hear 
Joan  Edmunds  or  Alice  Colins,  whose  husband  was  an 
Asthall  man,  recite  passages  of  Scripture,  such  as  the  Eight 
Beatitudes,  the  Epistles  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  James,  and  the 
first  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  ;  or  the  Seven  Works 
of  Mercy,  the  Seven  Deadly  Sins,  the  Five  Wits  bodily  and 
ghostly,  and  other  such  things. 

»  All  this  appeared  in  accusation  against  them,  together 
with  apparently  insignificant  charges,  such  as  that  they 
discussed  the  Apocalypse  and  the  matter  of  opening  the 
Book  with  the  seven .  clasps,  the  seven  lean  and  seven  fat 
oxen,  and  John  the  Baptist's  foretelling  of  the  One  that 
should  come  after  him  '  whose  buckle  of  his  shooe  he  was  not 
worthy  to  undoe '.  Charges  of  this  kind  may  have  had 
reference  to  particular  tenets  of  the  Lollards.  More  compre- 
hensible are  various  charges  of  speaking  against  pilgrimages 
and  worship  of  saints ;  in  this  connexion  we  see  John 
Edmunds  as  a  man  of  ideals  ahead  of  his  time :  '  This 
John  Edmunds  .  .  .  talking  with  the  said  Baker  of  Pilgrimage, 
bad  him  go  offer  his  money  to  the  Image  of  God.  When  the 
other  asked,  What  that  was  ?  he  said  that  the  Image  of 
God  was  the  poor  people,  blind  and  lame.'  Against  Eleanor 
Higges  there  was  a  charge  of  saying  she  should  '  burn  the 
Sacrament  in  an  oven  '.  But  that  is  the  single  charge  of 
anything  inconsistent  with  a  simple  piety  and  religious 
spirit.  Edmunds  and  John  Colins  both  gave  evidence  against 
their  fellows  and  denounced  others. 

It  must  be  remembered,  in  considering  the  apparent 
triviality  of  some  of  the  accusations,  that  the  real  charge  in 
all  the  cases  was,  of  course,  an  attempted  independence  of 
the  priest's  authority,  a  discussion  of  spiritual  and  religious 

2304  L 


146     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

matters  not  at  that  time  within  the  competence  of  the  laity, 
and  the  holding  of  religious  gatherings  in  private.  The 
individual  accusations  are  no  more  than  specific  instances  of 
what  went  on  at  these  gatherings,  and  are  evidence  rather 
than  charges  in  the  strict  sense. 

Although  all  the  accused  abjured,  and  many  of  them  gave 
information,  all  seem  to  have  been  punished  ;  and  there  is 
enough  to  indicate  that  the  punishment  was  not  light.  The 
penances  enjoined  were  of  the  usual  kind.  Offenders  were 
to  be  branded  on  the  cheek,  to  keep  fasts  as  ordered,  and 
recant  all  their  errors  upon  the  Gospels.  They  were  also  to 
appear  in  the  market-place  of  Burford,  and  at  certain  other 
towns,  on  the  market-day,  to  go  three  times  about  the  market 
and  stand  a  quarter  of  an  hour  on  the  steps  of  the  market 
cross,  each  with  a  faggot  on  the  shoulder ;  and  on  an 
appointed  Sunday  to  carry  faggots  in  this  way  in  procession 
and  kneel  with  them  on  the  steps  of  the  High  Altar  all  the 
time  of  High  Mass.  The  more  drastic  part  of  the  punish- 
ment has  been  less  noticed.  All  were  committed  as  prisoners 
to  some  monastery  or  convent,  and  as  a  rule  to  one  distant 
from  the  offender's  home.  What  this  involved  may  be  read 
between  the  lines  of  one  of  the  Bishop's  letters,  committing 
a  prisoner  to  Eynsham  Abbey.  The  prisoner  is  to  be  put  to 
perpetual  penance  ;  no  lodging  need  be  provided  for  him, 
and  his  food  is.  to  be  such  as  the  Abbey  usually  gives  in  alms 
to  the  poor ;  if  he  can  do  any  work  useful  to  the  monastery 
he  may  have  his  diet  improved  as  the  Abbot  sees  fit,  but 
he  is  not  to  leave  the  precincts  of  the  Abbey  except  for  his 
public  penance  on  the  appointed  days.  This  kind  of  committal 
order  in  the  hands  of  a  severe  Abbot  must  have  inflicted 
a  great  deal  of  suffering. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  OF 
BURFORD 

The  position,  and  with  it  the  date,  of  the  original  settle- 
ment of  inhabitants  on  the  site  of  Burford,  may  be  deduced 
from  certain  marked  characteristics  of  this  region  of  the 
Cotswolds. 

The  high  ground  above  the  town  is  part  of  one  of  those 
spurs  of  the  hill-range  which,  descending  from  its  bold  north- 
westward rampart,  form  the  watersheds  of  the  northern 
tributaries  of  the  Upper  Thames.  Between  each  pair  of  these 
streams — between  the  Churh  ahd  the  Coin,  the  Coin  and  the 
Windrush,  the  Windrush  and  the  Evenlode,  the  Evenlode  and 
the  Cherwell — irregular  hilly  ridges  lead  down  to  the  great 
Thames  valley. 

Now  the  earliest  remains  of  human  habitation,  the  earth- 
works of  prehistoric  man,  throughout  the  Cotswold  region 
have  one  distinct  feature.  They  are  numerous  upon  the 
loftier  north-westward  side  ;  and  a  few  are  found  advancing, 
as  it  were,  down  the  spurs  between  the  rivers.  But  in  every 
case  (save  for  one  isolated  instance  between  the  Evenlode 
and  the  Cherwell)  there  is  a  complete  absence  of  earthworks 
as  the  spurs  approach  the  Thames.  This  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  if  the  distribution  of  earthworks  on  the  Cotswolds 
be  regarded  in  conjunction  with  their  distribution  on  the 
hill-ranges  of  Wiltshire  and  Berkshire.  It  then  becomes 
clear  that  the  people  who  constructed  these  works,  keeping, 
as  they  always  did,  to  high  ground,  discovered  that  the  south- 
westward  trend  of  the  main  Cotswold  range  formed  a  natural 
way  of  avoiding  the  Thames  valley  with  its  swamps  and 
forests.  It  turned  the  head-waters  of  that  river,  and  led 
between  them  and  the  head-waters  of  the  Wiltshire  Avon  to 
the  southern  hills,  to  Avebury  and  Stonehenge. 

The  site  of  Burford  lay  off  the  ground  thus  traversed. 

L  2 


148    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

The  nearest  earthworks  are  Windrush  Camp,  some  four 
and  a  half  miles  to  the  west,  and  the  camp  near  Aldsworth, 
to  the  south-west.  The  line  given  by  these  two  shows  that 
the  current  of  that  early  life,  whether  coming  from  Hailes 
and  Roel  Gate  Camps  straight  down  the  watershed  by 
Norbury  Camp,  or  crossing  the  upper  watersheds  from  the 
direction  of  the  Rollright  Stones  by  way  of  Maugersbury  and 
Idbury  Camps,  avoided  the  falling  ground  of  the  lower  Wind- 
rush  valley,  and  turned  south-westwards  to  cross  to  the 
southern  hills  by  Poulton  Camp  (Ranbury  Ring)  and  Bury 
Hill  Camp. 

This  evidence  of  the  earthworks  is  confirmed  by  a  remark- 
able difference  in  the  situation  of  the  villages  on  either  side 
of  the  line  thus  drawn.  North-west  of  it  lie  Stow,  Great 
Rissington,  Clapton,  Farmington,  Aldsworth,  Turkdean, 
and  so  on — all  of  them  villages  on  the  hills.  South-east  of  it, 
where  the  spurs  begin  to  fall,  lie  the  Barringtons,  Taynton, 
Burford,  Swinbrook,  Asthall,  Minster  Lovell,  Witney — all  of 
them  valley  settlements. 

It  may,  therefore,  be  concluded  that  the  original  inhabiting 
of  the  site  of  Burford  was  of  comparatively  late  date,  not 
earlier  than  the  Bronze  Age.  Small  round  barrows  are  the 
oldest  signs  of  population  along  the  lower  Windrush.  Neo- 
lithic flint  implements  have,  indeed,  been  found  at  Burford, 
but  only  in  insignificant  quantity  ;  and  they  are  for  the  most 
part  the  lesser  implements,  like  arrow-heads,  such  as  would 
be  carried  for  hunting  expeditions,  which  would  of  course 
go  far  afield  from  the  general  lines  of  movement  and  habita- 
tion. They  are  not  enough  to  disturb  the  conclusion  to  be 
drawn  from  the  very  clear  differences  between  the  northern 
and  southern  portions  of  this  watershed — the  earthworks 
and  hill  villages  of  the  former,  the  barrows  and  river-side 
villages  of  the  latter. 

Yet  there  is  one  fact  which  suggests  that  within  the  area 
of  what  was  to  be  later  the  manor  and  the  parish  of  Burford 
there  may  be  a  trace  of  a  still  earlier  settlement.  A  clue  to 
the  burh,  which  usually  offers  an  indication  of  the  site  of  an 
original  settlement,  may  be  found,  for  the  town  of  Burford, 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  149 

in  Bury  Orchard,  a  piece  of  ground  near  the  Church,  and  lying 
in  an  angle  of  the  river,  exactly  where  the  heart  of  a  valley 
settlement  might  be  looked  for.  But,  if  we  are  to  take  this 
clue,  we  can  hardly  neglect  another  name,  that  of  Bury  Barns, 
a  farm  at  the  top  of  the  hill. 

In  the  curious,  and  often  baffling,  divisions  of  the,  manor 
between  various  tenant's  at  later  times,  after  the  erection  of 
the  borough,  two  hamlets  remained  outside  the  chartered  com- 
munity, that  of  Upton,  near  the  river,  and  that  of  Signett, 
on  the  hill  not  far  from  Bury  Barns.  No  doubt  these  two 
hamlets,  as  they  exist  to-day,  take  their  origin  from  those 
inhabitants  of  the  feudal  manor  who,  unable  or  unwilling 
to  enter  the  burghal  status  under  the  charters  of  Burford, 
remained  on  the  old  terms  of  tenure  of  their  land ;  and 
gradually  formed  settlements,  the  position  of  which  was 
naturally  dictated  by  convenience  of  access  to  the  common 
fields  and  meadows. 

But  it  is  also  possible  that,  if  the  name  Bury  Barns  marks 
the  site  of  a  hill-top  burh,  another  fact  should  be  taken  into 
consideration.  Upton  and  Signett,  though  members  of  the 
ecclesiastical  parish  of  Burford,  form  a  distinct  civil  parish. 
Therefore  they  may  represent,  not  merely  a  late  partition  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  manor,  but  also  a  prehistoric  settle- 
ment which,  as  being  on  the  hill-top,  may  be  regarded  as 
older  than  the  earliest  settlement  on  the  site  of  the  town  of 
Burford. 

But  again,  this  conjecture,  like  the  occasional  discovery  of 
flint  implements,  does  not  affect  the  conclusion  with  regard 
to  this  latter  settlement,  that  such  considerations  as  can  be 
advanced  concerning  its  probable  date  do  not  tend  to  make  it 
earlier  than  the  Bronze  Age. 

Of  the  Roman  occupation  only  slight  traces  have  been 
recorded  here.  In  1814  a  stone  coffin  was  found,  during  the 
making  of  the  present  lower  road  from  Upton  to  Ijttle 
Barrington,!  about  a  mile  to  the  west  of  Burford.  Unfor- 
tunately   the    discovery    was    made    before    the    days    of 

»  One  of  the  roads  ordered  to  be  made  in  the  course  of  the  Upton 
Enclosure  Award  ;   see  Part  III,  p.  704. 


150     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

modern  scientific  excavation  ;  and  we  know  no  more  of 
it  than  is  to  be  found  in  a  communication  made  at  the 
time  by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis  Knollis,  then  Vicar  of 
Burford  : 

On  Monday  the  21st  of  November,  1814,  some  workmen 
repairing  a  road  on  the  estate  of  John  Lenthall,  Esq.,  on  the 
West  of  Burford  and  about  a  mile  from  the  town,  discovered 
a  large  stone  coffin  about  3  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
containing  the  skeleton  of  a  human  body.  The  coffin  was 
covered  by  a  lid  of  stone,  exactly  fitted  to  it,  with  a  rim  or 
ledge,  upon  which  a  cement  of  reddish  colour  had  been 
introduced,  so  as  to  entirely  shut  out  the  air ;  and  the  more 
effectually  to  secure  the  purpose,  the  sides  of  the  lid  were 
covered  with  blue  clay,  brought  from  some  distance,  no  clay 
being  found  near  this  spot.  The  bones  appeared  extended  as 
the  body  lay — most  of  them  entire,  the  large  ones  quite  so — 
and  are  firm  and  perfect ;  the  skull  is  also  unimpaired,  and 
the  teeth  not  in  the  least  decayed,  but  fixed  in  each  jaw 
unimpaired.  The  only  thing  in  the  coffin  besides  the  bones, 
and  some  particles  of  a  dusty  substance,  were  a  number  of 
smay  iron  studs,  the  heads  rounded,  and  appear  to  have  been 
fixed  in  a  substance  similar  to  leather,  some  of  the  points  being 
near  an  inch  in  length  ;  they  were  set  very  close  together, 
and  might  perhaps  have  been  worft  as  a  defence,  not  unlike 
a  Roman  Lorica.  There  was  no  weapon  of  any  kind,  or  any 
inscription  to  be  found.  The  coffin  is  formed  of  an  entire 
block  of  freestone,  which  is  found  in  quarries  not  far  distant. 
It  is  neatly  worked,  both  in  the  excavation  and  on  the  outside. 
The  cavity  is  6  feet  in  length,  21  inches  deep  at  the  head, 
16  inches  at  the  feet,  gradually  declining ;  the  breadth  over 
the  breast  is  2  feet  2  inches,  and  at  the  feet  contracted  to 
4  inches.  The  whole  height  from  the  ground  (excluding  the 
lid  or  cover,  about  5  inches  thick)  is  2  feet  11  inches.  The 
right  side  is  quite  straight,  but  the  left  curved.  It  was  fixed 
in  the  ground  with  the  feet  almost  pointing  due  south.  The 
field  where  it  was  discovered  is  open,  and  no  house  or  burial 
ground  is  supposed  to  be  near  it.  The  coffin  weighs  .16  cwt. 
The  perfect  state,  from  the  exclusion  of  the  air,  in  which  the 
bones  are  preserved  renders  it  a  matter  of  great  curiosity  to 
forn!  a  reasonable  judgement. 

It  used  to  be  popularly  supposed  that  this  coffin,  which  is 
now  in  the  churchyard,  was  a  relic  of  the  battle  here  in 
A.D.  752  between  the  Mercians  and  the  West  Saxons.     But 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  151 

Mr.  Reginald  Smith,  of  the  British  Museum,  upon  seeing 
the  coffin,  pronounced  it  Roman.  Of  the  fate  of  the  contents 
of  the  coffin  nothing  is  now  known. 

It  is  remarkable  that  no  other.  Roman  remains,  except 
a  few  coins,  should  have  been  found  at  Burford.  For  Akeman 
Street  must  have  passed,  at  its  nearest  point,  not  much  more 
than  a  couple  of  miles  to  the  south-east  of  the  town  ;  and 
|?oth  at  Asthall,  about  four  miles  distant,  where  Akeman 
Street  crosses  the  river,  and  at  Widford,  only  a  mile  and  a  half 
distant,  there  are  considerable  signs  of  Roman  settlement. 
But  in  both  these  cases  the  Romans  had  sites  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river  with  a  southward-facing  aspect.  Burford, 
on  its  northward-facing  slope,  would  offer  a  less  attractive 
position. 

The  developments  of  the  early  settlement  may  be  discerned, 
as  we  approach  the  Anglo-Saxon  period,  from  the  place- 
name  which  it  then  acquired.  Evidently  the  ford  over  the 
river  had  come  into  use ;  and  that,  in  turn,  means  that  new 
lines  of  movement  were  being  followed.  During  the  Roman 
occupation,  with  Akeman  Street  crossing  the  river  four  miles 
to  the  east,i  and  the  Fosse  Way  marching  over  the  high 
ground  above  the  head-waters  some  ten  miles  to  the  west, 
Burford  had  remained  off  the  main  currents  of  movement. 
The  fact  that  it  was  now  named  from  the  ford  shows  that 
a  new  channel  of  communication  was  in  use.  Since  it  provided 
a  straight  way  from  the  northern  and  north-eastern  Cotswolds 
to  the  upper — and  easier — crossings  of  the  Thames,  it  must 
have  been  a  frequented  route. 

To  this  situation  Burford  owes  its  place  in  Anglo-Saxon 
records.  One  of  the  references  to  it  at  this  period  is  of  such 
doubtful  authenticity  that  it  had  better  be  left  out  of  account 
—the  one,  namely,  which  alleges  the  holding  of  a  Synod  here 
in  A.D.  685.2  The  other  reference,  however,  is  open  to  no 
such  doubt.  It  is  the  account  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle 
of  a  battle  fought  here  in  a.d.  752. 

>  After  crossing  the  river  it  approaches  much  nearer  to  Burford. 
*  The  authenticity  of  the  reference  is  discussed  in  connexion  with  the 
ecclesiastical  history  of  Burford  :   chapter  viii.  pp.  131 -3- 


152     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

In  this  year  Cuthred  King  of  the  West  Saxons  in  the  twelfth 
year  of  his  reign  fought  at  Burford  against  Aethelbald  King 
of  the  Mercians  and  put  him  to  flight.^ 

Later  chroniclers  expand  this  brief  statement  with  some 
picturesqueness  of  detail.  The  version  in  Richard  of  Ciren- 
cester, which  is  almost  word  for  word  identical  with  that  in 
Matthew  of  Paris,  is  as  follows  : 

Hathellardo  rege  Occidentalium  Saxonum  defuncto,  reg- 
navit  pro  eo  frater  eius  Cuthredus  quirrdecim  annis.  Hie 
vero  Cuthredus  adversus  Ethelbaldum  regem  Merciorum  et 
Britones  iugi  exercitio  victorias  adipiscens  non  minimum 
sudoris  consumpsit.  Nam  Cuthredus  praedictus  cum  regis 
Merciorum  Ethelbaldi  superbas  exactiones  et  insolentias  ferre 
non  posset,  occurrit  ei  hostiliter  apud  Beoreforde,  ubi  praelium 
gravissimum  dicti  reges  commiserunt.  Ethelbaldus  vero, 
•  praecedente  Ethelmo  cum  vexillo  eius,  in  quo  erat  aureus 
draco  depictus,  acriter  ruit  in  hostes,  sed  vexillifer  regis 
Cuthredi  in  hostilem  vexilliferum  lanceam  dirigens  perforavit 
eum.  Unde  clamore  elato  pars  Cuthredi  regis  valde  confortata 
est.  Tonitruum  ergo  belli  et  sonitus  ictuum  clamoresque 
hinc  inde  cadentium  terribiliterpersonarunt.  Spes  enim  mutuo 
victoriae  certa  memoria  fugae  nulla.  Sed  Deus  tandem  qui 
superbis  resistit  et  humilibus  dat  gratiam,  Ethelbaldum  in 
fugam  compulit,  et  laeta  Cuthredo  victoria  provenit.^ 

Henry  of  Huntingdon  expands  the  account  a  little  more  : 

Cudredus  decimo  tertio  anno,  cum  iam  regis  Edelbaldi 
superbas  exactiones  et  insolentiam  ferre  non  posset,  occurrit 
ei  cum  legionibus  vexillatis  apud  Bereford,  omni  spe  vivendi 
postposita  libertati.  Adduxit  autem  secum  Edelhun  prae- 
dictum  consulem,  iam  sibi  concordem,  cuius  viribus  fretus 
et  consilio,  beUi  discrimen  ingredi  potuit.  Edelbaldus  vero 
rex  regum  cum  Mercensibus  Centenses  adduxerat,  Owen* 
talesque  Saxones  et  Anglos,  copiasque  multiplices.  Aciebus 
igitur  dispositis  cum  in  directum  tendentes  appropinquarent, 
Edelhun  praecedens  Westsexenses,  regis  insigne  draconem 
scilicet   aureum   gerens,    transforavit  vexilliferum   hostilem. 

*  The  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  (Rolls  Series,  1861),  pp.  80,  81.  Her 
Cuthred  Westseaxna  cyning  gefeaht  py  xii  geare  his  rices  aet  Beorhforde 
vnr6  Aethelbald  Myrcna  cyning  hine  gefl3mide.  (Brit.  Mus.  MS.  Cott. 
Tiber.  B.  iv.) 

*  Ricardi  de  Cirencestria  Speculum  Historiale  de  gestis  Regum  Angliae 
(Rolls  Series,  1863),  vol.  i,  239;  cf.  Matthaei  Parisiensis  Chronica  Maiora 
(Rolls  Series,  1872).  vol.  i,  p.  341. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  153 

Unde  clamore  orto,  pars  Cudredi  valde  confortata  est ; 
statimque  acies  sibi  invicem  offenderunt.  Ergo  tonitruum 
belli,  scilicet  offensionis  armorum  et  sonitus  ictuum  clamoris- 
que  cadentium,  terribiliter  exarsit,  bellum  maximum  et 
inaestimabile  incipitur  :  quod  vel  Mercenses,  vel  eos  West- 
sexe,  usque  in  longam  posteritatem  vincenti  supponeret. 
Videres  igitur  acies  loricis  crispantes,  galeis  acutas,  lanceis 
hirsutas,  vexillis  depictas,  auro  resplendentes,  parvo  tempore 
sanguine  perfusas,  lanceis  cassas,  ruina  dissipatas,  cerebris 
asperas,  visu  horrendas.  Congregantes  autem  se  ad  vexilla 
utrinque  procaces  et  fortissimi,  gladiis  et  securibus  Amazonicis 
rem  agentes,  acies  aciebus  funeste  irruebant.  Memoria  fiigae 
nulla,  spes  victoriae  utrinque  certa :  Mercenses  superbiae 
tumor  invitabat,  Westsexas  servitutis  horror  accendebat. 
At  ubicunque  consul  praedictus  aciebus  se  infigebat,  via 
ruinarum  patebat,  dum  securis  eius  timendissima,  modo 
fulminis,  corpora  findebat  et  arma.  Rex  fortissimus  autem 
Edelbaldus  quacunque  ruebat,  strages  hostilis  fiebat,  dum 
gladio  eius  invictissimo  essent  arma  pro  veste,  ossa  pro  carne. 
Cum  igitur,  quasi  duo  ignes  diversis  in  partibus  impositi 
obstantia  quaecunque  consumerent,  contigit  ut  sibi  obviam 
rex  et  consul  venirent.  Uterque  vero  alteri  terribilis  corpore 
infrenduit,  dextram  excussit,  se  in  armis  collegit,  et  ictibus 
immensis  arma  obstantissima  pares  lacessunt.  Deus  autem, 
qui  superbis  resistit,  a  quo  robur  fortitudo  et  magnanimitas 
procedit,  gratiae  suae  regi  Edelbaldo  terminum  posuit, 
animoque  regis  confidentiam  solitam  dempsit.  Cum  igitur 
nee  animum  suum  nee  vires  ipse  recognosceret,  pugnantibus 
adhuc  suis,  a  Domino  omnipotenti  territus,  fugam  primus 
incepit.  Nee  ab  hac  die  usque  ad  mortis  suae  tempora  pro- 
sperum  aliquid  ei  Deus  permisit.^ 

It  is  clear  from  these  accounts  that  Burford  lay  upon  a  well- 
known  and  customary  line  of  the  travelling  of  that  period. 
Neither  army  was  at  Burford  to  begin  with  ;  they  were  moving 
towards  one  another,  when  they  met  here,  and  the  line  of 
march  must,  from  their  use  of  it  at  this  juncture,  have  been 
one  of  the  best  to  take  in  moving  from  Wessex  into  Mercia, 
or  from  Mercia  into  Wessex. 

The  name  of  Battle  Edge,  by  which  a  piece  of  land  on  the 
slope  of  the  hill  west  of  the  town  is  known,  is  supposed  to 
mark  the  site  of  the  battle  ;    and  Camden  relates  that  in  his 

»  Henrici  Archdiaconi  Huntendunensis  Historia  Anglorum  (Rolls  Series, 
1879),  p.  121. 


154     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

day  the  Burford  people  used  to  '  make  up  a  dragon  and  giant, 
and  carry  them  about  in  procession  '  on  Midsummer  Eve/ 
in  allusion  to  the  standard  borne  (whether  on  Ethelbald's  side 
or  on  Cuthred's,  for  the  Chroniclers  do  not  agree  upon  this 
point  2)  in  the  fight. 

On  the  strength  of  the  records  of  this  event,  the  derivation 
of  the  place-name  of  Burford  has  usually  been  given  as- 
Beorh-Ford,  the  Hill-Ford.  lYi  effect,  this  derivation  depends 
on  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  alone.  The  later  Chroniclers 
must  have  copied  from  that  the  form  of  the  name,  since  at  the 
period  at  which  they  .were  writing  that  form  is  never  found  in 
documents.  The  various  MSS.  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle 
give  the  name  as  '  Beorgeforda '  (C.C.C.  Camb,),  '  Beorh- 
forda  '  (Bodl.  Laud  636 ;  Brit.  Mus,  Cott.  Tiber.  A.  6,  and 
B.  i),  and  '  Beorhforde  '  (Brit.  Mus.  Cott.  Tiber.  B.  4). 

It  may  be  difl5cult,  in  the  face  of  this  authority,  to  suggest 
any  other  derivation.  Yet  the  later  forms  of  the  place-name 
are  all  against  this  one.  In  Doniesday  it  appears  as  '  Bure- 
ford  '  ;  and  that  remains  throughout  the  three  succeeding 
centuries  the  almost  invariable  form,  with  occasional  instances 
of  the  present  form  of  '  Burford  '.  Now  the  Anglo-Saxon 
'  Beorh-  '  could  not  possibly  modify  naturally  into  '  Bure-  '. 
The  pronunciation  of  that  word — and  it  is  on  the  pronuncia- 
tion of  words,  in  those  days  of  little  writing,  that  our  judgement 
must  depend — would  be  more  or  less  like  our  pronunciation 
of  the  word  '  bear '.  This  would  modify  into  '  Bere-  ',  and 
ultimately  produce,  as  in  actual  instances  it  has  produced, 
a  place-name  '  Barford '.  Amid  many  hundred  written 
examples  of  the  name  of  Burford  the  form  '  Bereford  '  only 
occurs  twice,  and  it  never  occurs  at  all  in  documents  of  local 
origin. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  altogether  a  gratuitous  complication 
of  a  subject  at  best  obscure  to  offer  an  alternative  derivation 

* 'Camden,  Britannia  (2nd  edition,  London  1806),  vol.  ii,  p.  3. 

•  Richard  of  Cirencester  and  Matthew  of  Paris  say  that  '  Ethelmus  ' 
carried  the  banner  of  Ethelbald,  which  was  a  golden  dragon.  Henry  of 
Huntingdon  says  that  Edelhun,  a  '  consul '  of  Cuthred's,  who  had  pre- 
viously, according  to  the  paragraph  preceding  the  one  quoted,  been  in 
revolt  against  Cuthred,  bore  in  this  battle  Cuthred's  standard,  a  golden 
dragon. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  155 

of  the  name  from  '  Burh-Ford  ',  the  ford  with  defensive 
enclosure.  This  would  modify  quite  naturally  into  '  Bure- 
ford  ',  and  ultimately  produce  '  Burford  '.  The  local  dialect 
word  which  represents  to  this  day  the  Anglo-Saxon  '  Burh  ' — 
namely,  '  Burry  ',  meaning  '  Sheltered  '  or  '  Protected  '  ^ — 
gives  us  precisely  the  pronunciation  which  would  account  for 
'  Bureford  '.It  is,  of  course,  necessary,  if  this  derivation 
is  to  be  put  forward,  to  suggest  some  reason  for  the  appearance 
of  the  place  as  '  Beorhforda  '  in  the  Chronicle.  But,  bearing 
in  mind  the  rarity  of  the  written  word  in  those  times,  and 
considering  that  the  author  of  the  Chronicle  would  no  doubt 
have  heard  that  the  fighting  took  place  on  a  hill  above  the 
river,  it  is  not  fantastic  to  suppose  that  his  version  was  his 
own  version,  created  to  meet  the  need  for  a  written  form, 
and  not  that  current  in  speech  among  the  people  of  the  place 
itself.  All  the  evidence,  as  written  documents  increase  in 
number,  goes  to  show  that  in  their  minds  it  was  from  the 
burhs  that  the  settlement  took  its  name. 

Derived  in  this  way,  it  would  be  a  far  more  distinctive 
name  than  the  other  derivation  would  give.  Beorh-Ford 
would  not  be  distinctive  at  all.  Any  ford  over  the  Windrush 
from  Minster  Lovell  upwards  would  be  quite  equally  a  Hill- 
Ford,  both  in  the  approach  to  it  and  in  the  passage  up  from 
it.  But  if,  as  the  names  of  Bury  Orchard  and  Bury  Barns 
have  already  suggested,  there  were  near  this  ford  two  burhs, 
the  settlement  at  such  a  point  might  easily  be  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  the  Burh-Ford. 

The  natural  situation  would  certainly  lead  us  to  accept 
without  surprise  the  existence  of  two  burhs.  For  while  the 
new  trackways  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  period  had  made  the  ford 
a  point  requiring  defence,  the  older  way  down  the  crest 
of  the  watershed  remained,  and  would  surely  afford  a  reason 
for  another  defensive  enclosure  protecting  a  settlement 
situated,  during  the  long  struggles  between  Wessex  and 
Mercia,  upon  very  debatable  ground.  If  there  was  such 
a  work,  Bury  Barns,  standing  just  at  the  point  where  the 

»  e.g.  Va  nice  burry  spot',  meaning  a  spot  protected  from  the  wind. 
The  word  is  in  use  still  in  Gloucestershire  and  the  Cotswold  region. 


156    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

crest  road  and  the  road  from  the  ford  meet  on  the  way  to 
the  Thames,  is  exactly  where  it  might  be  expected  to  be  placed. 
Bury  Orchard,  in  its  turn,  occupies  the  most  obvious  ground 
for  defending  the  ford  (presuming  that  the  latter  was  near 
the  line  of  the  present  bridge),  since  it  lies  in  a  salient  angle 
formed  by  the  course  of  the  river,  from  which  the  ford  could 
be  effectively  enfiladed.  In  neither  place  are  there  any 
surviving  traces  of  a  burh  ;  unless  the  noticeably  square  out- 
line of  some  fields  at  Bury  Barns,  marked,  moreover,  along 
part  of  their  sides  by  a  narrow  strip  of  rough  ground  carrying 
a  belt  of  trees,  be  indication  of  an  old  defensive  enclosure. 

The  small  community  recorded  in  Domesday  was  settled 
beside  the  river  burh.  This  would  be  almost  certain  from 
the  existence  of  the  ancient  church  on  the  river's  bank,  the 
town  mills  a  little  higher  up  the  stream,  and  the  fact  that,  at 
the  earliest  dates  at  which  grants  of  houses  begin  to  define 
the  situation  of  them,  they  are  found  to  be  more  or  less 
near  the  river.  But  it  is  rendered  quite  certain  when  we 
observe  that  the  town  of  Burford,  as  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  remark  later,  was  for  a  long  period  confined  to  the  lower 
portion  of  the  ground  it  covers  to-day.  FitzHamon's  charter 
having  been  granted  at  some  date  within  twenty  years  of 
Domesday,  it  is  evident  that  the  situation  of  the  town  it 
ultimately  created  must  locate  for  us  the  Domesday  com- 
munity. 

For  their  arable  land,  however,  those  who  settled  here  had 
had  to  go  to  some  distance.  Close  at  hand  they  had  only 
ground  with  a  northward  aspect.  But  at  the  top  of  the  hill 
they  found  land  with  a  good  sunny  aspect,  sloping  slightly 
towards  the  south  as  far  as  the  Shil  Brook,  which  was  in  the 
end  to  become,  for  a  great  part  of  its  length,  the  boundary 
of  the  common  field  on  that  side,  and  of  the  ecclesiastical 
parish  of  Burford.  Here,  then,  they  cultivated  their  crops, 
using  the  ground  that  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  way  leading 
over  the  hill  to  the  Thames  at  Lechlade.  This  way  made 
a  natural  division  of  the  land  into  two  parts,  an  East  Field 
and  a  West. Field;  and  throughout  the  history  of  Burford 
the  common  field  cultivation  remained  on  a  two-field  basis. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  157 

As  time  went  on,  and  more  land  was  needed,  parts  of  the 
northward-facing  slope  adjoining  to  the  original  fields  were 
put  under  cultivation.  But  these  were  reckoned  as  belonging 
to  either  the  East  or  the  West  Field. ^ 

Thus  the  situation  of  the  community  here  accords  well 
with  certain  observed  characteristics  of  the  villages -of  this 
part  of  Oxfordshire.  Dr.  Warde  Fowler,  in  his  masterly 
piece  of  village  history,  Kinghant  Old  and  New,^  writes : 
'  It  is  characteristic,  not  only  of  Kingham,  but  of  almost  all 
the  villages  round  us,  that  the  church  stands  at  one  extremity, 
while  the  houses  straggle  away  in  one  or  two  streets  towards 
the  land  which  before  the  enclosures  was  the  "  open  field  ". 
In  the  hams  and  tons  of  the  valley,  the  church  is  usually  at 
the  end  nearest  the  river,  and  the  village  has  grown  out  in 
the  direction  of  the  slopes  where  the  arable  of  the  farms  is 
for  the  most  part  situated.' 

But,  of  course,  that  growth  is  of  a  later  date.  The  Domes- 
day community,  comprising,  apart  from  the  demesne  servi, 
some  forty  households,  would  find  ample  space  on  the  level 
ground  near  the  church.  If  it  reached  out  at  all,  it  would 
be  more  likely  to  have  stretched  along  the  level  towards  the 
valuable  hay  meadows,  which  lay  to  the  east  beside  the  river 
in  the  direction  of  the  present  Witney  road.  Grants  of  houses 
in  Witney  Street  are  found,  in  fact,  as  early  as  those  of  houses 
elsewhere  in  the  town. 

The  river-side  burh  thus  proving  to  be  the  one  that  dictated 
the  site  of  the  town,  what  was  the  destiny  at  this  period  .of  the 
hill-top  burh  ?  The  answer  is  that,  by  all  the  evidence,  it 
became  the  enclosure  of  the  manor  house.  The  history  of  the 
Burford  manor  house  is  obscure  ;  and  it  is  a  singular  fact 
that  no  house  at  the  present  day  retains  the  tradition  of  being 
the  manor  house,  nor  for  the  past  four  hundred  years  does 
any  document  conveying  the  manor  lands  and  the  manorial 
rights  mention  a  house.  Its  former  situation,  however,  is 
not  open  to  doubt. 

Domesday  places  at  Burford  a  mansio  of  considerable  size. 

»  See.  e.  g.,  the  schedule  of  arable  lands,  Part  III.  pp.  353-5- 

»  Kingham  Old  and  New.  by  W.  Warde  Fowler.  D.Litt  (Oxford  191 3),  p.  8. 


158    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Among  the  houses  of  manorial  lords  recorded  at  the  opening 
of  the  Oxfordshire  Survey  is  one  here  belonging  to  Earl 
Alberic.    The  entry  reads  : 

Ad  terras  quas  tenuit  Albericus  comes  pertinent  i  ecclesia 
et  iii  mansiones  Harum  ii  iacent  ad  ecclesiam  S  Marie  reddentes 
xxviii  denarios  et  tertia  iacet  ad  Bureford  reddens  v  solidos. 

Now  although  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  any  exact  estimate 
of  the  comparative  importance  in  the  shire  of  this  mansio, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  mansiones  of  most  of  the  chief 
lords  are  entered  simply  by  the  total  numbers  and  total 
value,  not  by  the  value  of  each  separately,  yet  it  is  not 
difficult  to  deduce  from  the  nature  of  those  totals  that  the 
Burford  mansio  was  at  any  rate  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
county. 

It  is,  therefore,  the  more  curious  that  the  early  Inquisitions 
Post  Mortem,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  make  no  mention  of 
a  house  as  among  the  possessions  of  the  manor.  Nor  does 
any  early  Account  Roll  (though  one  for  the  years  1235-9 
gives  expenses  of  the  manor  for  three  successive  years)  record 
any  payment  for  work  done,  either  in  repairs  or  new  building, 
on  the  manor  house.  It  is  not  until  1344,  in  connexion  with 
the  settlement  of  the  manor  made  by  the  Hugh  le  Despenser 
of  that  date,  that  a  house  is  again  mentioned,  the  capitate 
messnagium  then  being  entered  at -an  annual  value  of  2s. 

That  is  a  considerable  decline  from  the  55.  of  Domesday. 
But,  indeed,  the  circumstances  of  the  manor  would  lead  us 
to  expect  a  decline.  The  great  men  who  held  it  in  chief,  with 
their  large  territories  and  their  castles,  would  never  need 
for  their  own  use  the  house  of  this  small  and  remote  manor. 
The  thirteenth-century  tenant  by  sub-infeudation,  John 
Giffard,  was  also  a  man  of  wide  possessions,  from  the  Cotswolds 
to  the  Welsh  Border,  and  would  be  as  little  likely  to  need 
a  house  here.  It  may  well  have  sunk  to  being  no  more  than 
a  residence  for  the  steward  of  the  manor.  That  some  life, 
at  any  rate,  went  oh  in  it  we  may  conclude  from  one  small 
indication  in  the  Account  Roll  of  1235-9,  ^^  entry  of  money 
spent  on  leeks  and  cabbages  and  salt  ad  potagium  famulorum.^ 
»  Part  III,  p.  607. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  159 

These  famuli  must  have  been  the  house  servants  of  the  manor 
house. 

Such  as  it  was,  it  stood  at  Bury  Barns.  Fairly  good  evidence 
of  this  is  given  by  a  couple  of  references  in  the  Burford 
Records.  In  the  Lay  Subsidy  list  of  1316  is  a  lohannes  ad 
Aulam  ;  and  in  the  list  of  1326-7,  which  distinguishes  between 
the  three  members  of  the  manor,  lohannes  atte  Halle  appears 
among  the  Signett  assessments.^  More  definite  is  the  entry 
in  the  Edwardian  Survey  of  a  close  called  '  Hawllecrofte 
iacentem  prope  Burybarnes  '.^  But  the  final  proof  is  to  be 
drawn  from  the  later  history  of  the  manor.  When  at  length 
the  agricultural  portion  begins  to  be  entered  in  documents 
under  a  name  of  its  own,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  chartered 
borough,  the  name  given  to  it  was  '  the  manor  of  Bury  Barns 
alias  Burford  '.^  Obviously  that  name  would  not  be  chosen  at 
random  ;  it  would  almost  certainly  represent  the  seat  of  the 
manorial  court  to  which  the  tenants  of  this  portion  owed 
suit ;  and  thus  it  might  be  advanced  by  itself  as  proof  of  the 
site  of  the  manor  house.  The  matter  is  put  beyond  doubt 
by  the  Deeds  of  Sale  of  the  town  and  manor  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  Tanfield,  Falkland,  and  the  Lenthalls  were  lords 
of  the  manor.  But  the  only  manorial  property  conveyed  in 
these  Deeds,  besides  the  lordship  of  the  town,  is  Bury  Barns. 
That  must,  therefore,  on  all  these  grounds,  have  been  the  old 
manor  house,  occupying  the  position  of  the  hill-top  burh. 

Little  use  though  its  lords  may  have  made  of  it,  it  had  kings 
of  England  under  its  roof  more  than  once  in  these  early 
centuries.  The  first  Royal  visitor  of  whom  we  have  record 
is  Stephen,  who  tested  at  Burford  two  charters  to  the  Monas- 
tbry  of  Gloucester.*  His  visit  may  best  be  dated  between  1147 
and  1 150.  For,  considering  the  relations  between  Stephen  and 
Robert  of  Gloucester,  it  is  not  very  likely  that  a  grant  to 
Gloucester   by  the  former  would   have   been   made   before 

»  Part  III,  pp.  594,  596.  *  Part  III.  p.  631. 

»  Part  III,  p.  624. 

•  History  and  Cartulary  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Peter  of  Gloucester  (Rolls 
Series,  1865),  vol.  ii,  pp.  108.  176.  The  two  charters  have  the  same 
witnesses,  so  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Stephen  was  here  more 
than  once. 


i6o     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Robert's  death  in  1147 ;  nor,  it  may  be  added,  very  likely 
that  before  that  event  Stephen  would  have  been  staying  on 
one  of  Robert's  manors,  when  there  was  the  royal  domain  of 
Wychwood  close  at  hand. 

The  next  king  whom  we  know  to  have  been  here  was 
King  John.  Whether  he  was  ever  here  during  the  early  years 
of  his  reign,  when  he  actually  held  the  manor,  cannot  be  said. 
It  is  difficult  to  think  that  he  was  not,  coming  so  often  as  he 
did  to  Oxford,  where  he  seems  to  have  been  particularly  fond 
of  spending  Christmas.  But  the  only  definite  record  of  his 
being  here  occurs  quite  at  the  end  of  his  life.  It  was  on 
September  2,  1216,  on  his  way  from  Cirencester,  where  he  had 
been  the  day  before,  to  Oxford  ;  and  he  only  stayed  for 
a  single  night.  That  was  little  more  than  a  month  before  his 
death  ;  and  it  can  hardly  have  been  a  joyous  Court  that 
the  Burford  folk  saw  gathered  then  round  the  bitter  King. 

Before  the  century  closed  another  king  visited  the  place, 
Edward  I.  A  writ  of  his  is  dated  here  1291 ;  and  he  too  was 
only  here  for  a  single  night.  It  may  be  added  here  that 
£dward  III  was  in  Burford  in  1329,  and  Richard  II  in 
1399.1 

Of  the  topography  of  Burford  during  the  two  centuries 
after  Domesday  we  have  very  little  information.  The  two 
mills  can  be  placed.  In  the  sixteenth  century  there  is  a  grant 
by  the  Crown  of  '  two  corn  mills  built  under  one  roof  called 
Burford  Mills  '  ;  and  we  find  later  that  mills  near  the  bridge 
were  called  the  Port  Mills. ^  That  name  is  enough  to  justify 
the  conclusion  that  these  were  the  mills  of  Domesday ;  and 
there  need  be  no  hesitation  in  identifying  them  with  the  two 
mills  under  one  roof  of  the  sixteenth-century  grant. 

We  know  also  that  the  Hospital  was  in  existence  before 
1226;  3  and  can  thus  identify  another  occupied  site.  But 
the  references  during  these  centuries  to  houses  do  not  specify 
their  situation.  At  some  date  before  1107  two  houses  here 
were  given  to  the  Abbey  of  Tewkesbury  by  '  Ralph  the 
Priest ' ;    and  at  some  date  before  1205  two  burgages  were 

»  Pat.  Roll,  Rich.  II,  1399,  ps.  II,  m.  18. 

»  Part  III,  pp.  504.  '  Part  III,  p.  568. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  i6i 

• 

given  to  Bruern  Abbey  by  a  man  with  an  extraordinary  name, 
•  ex  dono  Lowinilapis  '.i  Both  the  abbeys  must  have  sold 
these  houses,  since  neither  of  them  held  property  in  Burford 
at  the  time  of  the  Dissolution  ;  and  thus  we  are  deprived  of 
any  chance  of  identifying  the  houses. 

In  1200  two  messuages  and  a  half  are  mentioned  in  a  case 
brought  by  '  Willelmus  Clericus  de  Bureford  '  and  Richard 
son  of  Simon  against  William  of  Upton  and  his  wife  Paulina, 
concerning  a  division  of  property.^  In  1193  it  appears  from 
another  partition  of  property  that  Thomas  de  Langley,  who 
was  Warden  of  Wychwood  Forest,  held  five  messuages  in  the 
town. 

The  single  identification  that  can  be  made  during  this 
period  is  of  a  house  granted  to  the  Priory  of  Cold  Norton 
circa  1250.^  From  later  grants,  and  from  the  fact  that  it 
ultimately  became  one  of  the  houses  held  here  by  Brasenose 
College,  the  house  can  be  placed  at  the  southern  corner  of 
Lawrence  Lane  and  the  High  Street,  on  the  site  of  what  was 
later  the  King's  Head  Inn.* 

Although  that  is  the  only  scrap  of  topographical  detail 
among  these  references,  the  others  are  not  without  some 
interest.  The  half-messuage,  for  instance,  is  an  indication 
of  increasing  population  ;  it  shows  that  the  original  buildings 
of  the  burghal  tenants  were  beginning  to  be  subdivided,  in 
order  to  accommodate  new  inhabitants  unable  to  pay  a  full 
burgage  rent. 

It  is  interesting  also  to  observe  that,  even  at  this  early  date, 
one  effect  of  the  granting  of  charters,  and  of  the  consequent 
tenure  of  houses  at  a  money  rent  with  right  of  disposal  by 
will,  was  the  accumulation  of  house  property  as  a  form  of 
wealth.  Ralph  the  Priest  had  two  houses  ;  William  the  cleric 
and  the  other  parties  in  1199  dispute  about  two  and  a  half 
houses,  which  must  have  been  a  single  holding,  since  there 
is  question  of  division  between  two  parties  ;  Thomas  de 
Langley  held  five.  Evidently  the  burgage  tenure  was  already 
producing    a    class    of    landlords,    holding    several    of    the 

»  Part  III,  p.  571.  '  Part  III.  p.  s66. 

»  Part  III.  p.  668.  *  Part  III,  pp.  670-72. 

2304  M 


i62     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

messuages  at  the  small  burgage  rent,  and  sub-letting  them 
to  occupiers. 

This  deduction  becomes  of  some  importance  in  connexion 
with  estimating  the  population  of  the  town  at  later  dates 
in  these  two  centuries.  The  first  facts  that  we  have  to 
rely  on,  after  the  date  of  Domesday,  are  contained  in 
the  Inquisition  Post  Mortem  of  1299.  ^^  this  the  '  free 
tenants  '  are  entered  as  numbering  105.  But  if  the  burgages 
were  in  some  instances  grouped  in  single  ownerships,  this 
figure  may  need  some  modification  before  reckoning  from  it 
the  probable  total  population.  However,  a  reference  of  later 
date  shows  that  the  precaution  is  hardly  necessary.  The 
Survey  of  6  Edward  VI  gives  at  that  date  only  124  full 
burgages  in  the  town.  There  would  certainly  not  be  more 
than  this  in  1299.  The  conclusion  therefore  must  be  either 
that  the  accumulation  of  several  burgages  in  single  hands 
had  not  proceeded  far ;  or  that  in  this  Inquisition  it  is  of  no 
account,  the  '  free  tenants  '  being  the  occupiers.  In  the 
latter  case,  which  is  the  more  likely,  the  population  of  the 
town  in  1299  may  be  put  at  about  500.1 

That  was  not  the  total  population  of  the  manor,  for  the 

hamlets  of  Signett  and  Upton  appear  separately.     In  the 

former  there  were  twelve  villeins  holding  a  full  virgate,  and 

three  holding  a  half  virgate,  which  gives  fifteen  households 

and  some  seventy-five  inhabitants.     They  already  held  at 

a  money  rent  in  lieu  of 'services,  the  rent  for  a  full  virgate, 

entered  as  twenty  acres,  being  125.  6f^.,  and  for  a  half  virgate 

of  ten  acres  65.  3^^.     At  Upton  there  were  eight  custx)mary 

tenants,  which  would  add  forty  persons  to  the  total  population, 

the  whole  manor  of  Burford  thus  containing  by  estimation 

about  600  people.     The  customary  tenants  of  Upton  were 

still  on  the  old  terms  of  tenure.     A  money  value  of  their 

services   is,    indeed,  entered,    but  in  such  a  manner  as    to 

leave  it  more  probable  that  they  were  not  yet  actually  in  the 

position  of  paying  a  nioney  rent. 

*  The  increase  in  the  number  of  burgages  between  1399  and  1552  may 
seem  very  small.  But  it  has  to  be  remembered  that  by  the  latter  date 
there  had  been  much  subdivision  of  burgage  tenements  to  accommodate 
the  increasing  population. 


TOPOGRAPHY  A>fD  POPULATION  163 

Evidence  of  the  state  of  the  population  for  the  next  two 
hundred  years  is  very  scanty.  The  Lay  Subsidy  Rolls  for 
1316  and  1326-7  give  lists  of  the  persons  assessed  here  to  the 
tax  ;  but  no  later  Rolls  give  similar  lists  until  the  Subsidy  of 
1524.  At  the  same  time  another  source  of  information  is 
removed  by  the  fact  that  in  1344  Hugh  le  Despenser  and  in 
1459  Isabella,  Countess  of  Warwick,  made  settlements  of  the 
manor  of  Burford  (among  other  of  their  lands)  to  feoffees  in 
trust  for  their  heirs,  so  that  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem  no 
longer  give  details  of  the  manor.  Consequently  from  1344 
until  well  into  the  sixteenth  century  practically  no  estimate 
of  the  population  can  be  made. 

Hence  we  are  unable  to  see  with  any  certainty  the  effects 
in  Burford  of  that  event  which  is  so  terribly  important  in 
relation  to  the  population  of  England  at  this  period,  namely, 
the  Black  Death.  All  that  we  have  to  go  upon  points  to  the 
rather  strange  conclusion  that  some  such  heavy  blow  as  fell 
on  the  rest  of  the  country  in  1348  had  fallen  here  some  time 
before  1344.  In  the  Inquisition  of  that  year  concerning  Hugh 
le  Despenser's  request  for  licence  to  'alienate  the  manor  to 
trustees  for  his  heirs  the  total  rental  qi  the  '  liberi  et  nativi 
tenentes  '  of  the  manor  is  entered  at  £14  105.  Now  if  we  put 
together  the  rents  of  the  borough  tenants  and  those  of  the 
agricultural  hamlets  entered  in  earlier  Inquisitions,  we  find 
that  in  1295-9  they  amounted  to  £35  os.  iifrf.,  and  in  1307 
to  £37  15.  od.  The  same  extraordinary  decline  is  visible  if  we 
take  the  total  value  of  all  the  assets  of  the  manor.  In  1261 
these  amounted  to  £61  195.  id. ;  in  1295-9  to  £55  165.  o^d. ; 
in  1307  to  £62  165.  2d.  ;  and  in  1344  to  no  more  than 
£19  165.  4d. 

Such  evidence  as  can  be  gathered  from  the  totals  of  Lay 
Subsidies  is  very  similar  in  effect.  The  total  of  a  Subsidy  of 
a  twentieth  in  1326-7  was  £11  8s.  gd.  ;  the  total  of  a  Subsidy 
of  a  tenth  and  a  fifteenth,  which  should  have  produced  at 
least  three  times  as  much,  in  1347  was  only  £19  125.  4^. 
Again,  the  decline  occurs  before  the  date  of  the  Black  Death. 
No  conclusion  seems  to  be  possible  except  that  Burford  had 
been  ravaged  by  some  epidemic  before  1344 — perhaps  a  minor 

M  2 


i64     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

incursion  of  the  same  plague.  When  the  culminating  horror 
came,  the  place  suffered  again,  A  tenth  and  fifteenth  in 
1383-4  produced  only  £14  I5.  ^d.,  or  £5  105.  less  than  even 
in  1347,  though  thirty-five  years  had  intervened  for  recovery 
from  the  plague. 

A  few  points  of  general  interest  arise  from  an  analysis  of 
the  Subsidy  Lists  of  1316  and  1326-7.  In  the  latter  case 
separate  lists  are  given  for  Burford,  Upton,  and  Signett. 
The  earher  list  makes  no  distinction  of  this  kind ;  but,  by 
comparison  with  the  later  one,  we  find  that  it  contains 
37  Burford  names,  13  Upton  names,  and  8  Signett  names. 
In  1326-7  there  are  48  names  under  Burford,  20  under  Upton, 
and  14  under  Signett.* 

It  is  evident  that  the  later  figures  are  the  more  instructive  ) 
the  increase  under  each  heading  shows  that  there  had  been 
a  stricter  enumeration  for  assessment,  and  therefore  a  better 
representation  of  the  population.  Taking  those  figures,  then, 
the  first  thing  that  strikes  us  is  the  increase  in  the  population 
of  Upton.  Instead  of  the  eight  tenants  of  1295  (seven  in 
1307),  there  are  now  twenty  men  of  substance.  This  is  an 
interesting  reflection  of  the  changes  in  the  manorial  system 
which  were  making  the  tenure  of  land  less  onerous,  especially 
the  substitution  of  money  rents  for  services.  Signett,  where 
money  rents  were  in  operation  in  1299,  shows  no  increase 
in  1326-^7.  Upton,  where  the  tenants  were  on  the  old  service 
tenure  in  1295  and  1307,  has,  since  the  latter  date,  trebled  its 
population  ;  the  change  to  money  rents  must  have  taken  place 
there.  The  inducement  to  live  in  the  town,  which  the  burghal 
tenure  offered,  had  disappeared. 

Two  other  conclusions  which  emerge  from  the  lists  are, 
first,  that  even  leaving  the  burghal  tenants  at  the  same 
number  as  in  1299,  less  than  half  of  them  were  of  sufficient 
substance  to  be  taxed  on  their  movable  goods  ;  and  secondly, 
that  comparison  of  the  amounts  paid  by  individuals  in  the 
town  and  in  the  two  hamlets  shows  that  the  people  of  the 
borough  were  on  much  the  same  level  of  assessments  as  the 
people  of  the  agricultural  settlements.  These  facts,  in  con- 
»  Part  III,  pp.  594-5- 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  165 

junction  with  an  inability  to  deduce  any  increase  of  the  town 
population,  can  only  mean  that  the  Market  and  Gild  privileges 
had  not  as  yet  brought  much  prosperity  to  the  town. 

This  deduction,  bearing  in  mind  the  circumstances  of  the 
time,  becomes  of  importance  in  any  attempt  to  reconstruct 
the  general  life,  of  Burford  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries.  For  we  are  already  well  into  the  famous  Cotswold 
wool  period  ;  yet  the  Subsidy  lists  show  us  no  individual  or 
individuals  of  outstanding  wealth.  There  are  certain  levels 
of  assessment,  to  which  the  inhabitants  of  substance  conform, 
to  such  a  degree  that  regular  classification  would  not  be 
impossible ;  and  all  would  come  into  one  or  the  other  class. 
No  one  is  markedly  better  off  than  others  who  could  be 
ranked  as  of  the  same  assessment  class. 

The  truth  is,  as  this  would  lead  us  to  expect,  that  the  more 
magnificent  aspect  of  the  Cotswold  trade,  the  wholesale 
dealing  of  the  woolmen,  is  seen  "but  rarely  in  the  Burford 
Records.  It  appears  occasionally,  as  in  the  licence  granted 
in  1273  to  Lambert  le  Fraunceis  to  export  twenty  sacks  of 
wool ;  and  in  the  Chancery  cases  arising  out  of  the  deals  in 
which  John  Pynnok  and  Thomas  Stanton  were  concerned  at 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  But  they  are  usually  small 
affairs  ;   Pynnok's  was  a  matter  of  £92,  Stanton's  of  £68.1 

The  business  of  Burford  was  rather  in  occupations  sub- 
sidiary to  the  wool  trade.  These  are  constantly  met  with,  as 
in  the  mention  of  drapers  in  1250,2  1375,^  and  1404,*  a  shear- 
man in  1461,^  tailors  in  1316  and  1327,®  dyers  and  weavers, 
and  an  individual  described  as  '  le  Napper  ','  which  probably 
indicates  the  occupation  otherwise  known  as  fulling — the 
raising  of  the  nap  on  cloth.  Moreover,  wealthier  men,  when 
described,  are  clothiers,  dealers  in  the  manufactured  product, 
not  woolmen. 

No  reason  can  be  given  for  this,  unless  it  be  that  the  situation 
of  the  town  on  a  river,  convenient  for  washing  and  dyeing 
cloth  and  for  the  erection  of  fulling-mills,  inclined  the  inhabi- 
tants to  woollen  manufacture  rather  than  to  the  production 

*  p.  665. 


'  Part  III,  p.  616. 

»  p.  668. 

•  p.  317 

'  p.  670. 

•  P-  596. 

'  p.  594. 

i66    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

of  the  raw  article.  It  is,  of  course,  possible — and  indeed 
likely,  in  view  of  the  adornment  of  the  Church — that  some  of 
the  richer  citizens  of  the  fifteenth  century,  of  whose  occupa- 
tions we  have  no  record,  were  more  or  less  regular  woolmen. 
But  Burford  has  no  one  to  reckon  among  the  great  Staplers. 

Thus  we  must  see  the  place  as  engaged  in  woollen  manu- 
facturers and  general  trade.  Of  its  mercantile  life  we  can 
gather  a  very  fair  picture  from  the  Records.  Tradesmen 
whose  occupations  are  mentioned  (other  than  those  just 
given)  are  a  tanner,^  some  bakers,^  a  brewer,^  an  ironmonger,* 
a  glover,^  a  slater,®  some  spicers  (or,  as  we  should  now  say, 
grocers),'  butchers,®  chandlers,'  a  cook-shop  keeper,^"  and 
a  nail-maker.^.  The  description  '  merchant ',  wTiich  is  applied 
to  several  townsmen  late  in  the  fifteenth  century,  needs  to  be 
interpreted  with  some  caution.^^  j^  one  instance  a  man  is 
described  as  '  merchant  alias  mercer ',  which  shows  that  the 
term  does  not  necessarily  imply  any  very  large  business 
dealings. 

But  the  best  idea  of  the  trade  of  the  place  is  to  be  derived 
from  the  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  II,  establishing  the  Bridge 
tolls  in  1322.^^  All  sorts  of  live  stock  came  to  market,  horses, 
cattle,  pigs,  sheep,  and  goats  ;  hides  of  horses  and  oxen  both 
fresh  and  tanned,  fleeces  of  sheep,  skins  of  goats,  of  deer 
of  several  kinds,  of  rabbits,  hares,  foxes,  rats,  and  squirrels ; 
fresh  and  salt  meat  and  bacon  ;  fresh  and  salt  salmon,  mullets, 
conger  eels  and  fresh-water  eels,  stock-fish  (or  salt  cod),  and — 
an  interesting  item — '  fish  of  Aberdeen  ',  which,  mentioned  as 
it  is  in  conjunction  with  stock-fish,  shows  that  red  herrings 
were  an  Aberdeen  export  six  hundred  years  ago.  Various 
kinds  of  woven  stuffs  came  in  for  sale,  as  samite,  diaper,  and 
baudekyn  cloth,  silk  fabrics  with  and  without  gold  embroidery, 
linen,  and  cloths  of  Galway  and  worsted.  Wine  and  cider 
are  mentioned,  oil,  honey,  cheese,  butter,  salt,  peas  and  beans; 
as  also  verdigris  and  certain  unguents.  Iron,  lead,  copper  and 
tin,  horse-shoes,  cart-wheel  tires,  large  and  small  nails,  and 

»  Part  III.  p.  323.  *  p.  338.  *p.  419.  *p.  613. 

*  P-  347-  •  p.  316.  '  p.  312.  »  p.  321. 

*  p.  325-  "  P-  332.  "  p.  312-  "  P-  426. 
"  P-  436. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  167 

brazing  materials  were  to  be  had  in  the  market ;  and  so  were 
wood,  coal,  turf,  and  faggots. 

When  increasing  use  and  more  careful  preservation  of 
written  documents  begin  to  reveal  more  of  the  topography  of 
Burford,  the*  extent  of  the  town  becomes  apparent.  Until 
well  into  the  sixteenth  century  it  did  not  reach  up  the  steeper 
part  of  the  hill.  It  formed,  roughly  speaking,  a  square 
between  the  river  on  the  north  and  the  line  of  Sheep  Street 
and  Witney  Street  on  the  south,  the  Priory  on  the  west  and 
the  further  end  of  Witney  Street  on  the  east.  For  thus 
limiting  the  mediaeval  Burford  there  are  several  reasons. 
One  is  that  no  documents  of  this  period  refer  to  any  houses 
in  what  is  now  the  upper  part  of  the  town.  Moreover,  when 
houses  in  that  direction  do  begin  to  occur,  in  the  later  six- 
teenth century,  they  are  described  as  lying,  not  in  the  High 
Street  simply,  but  as  '  in  the  High  Street  on  the  hill ',  or  some- 
times merely  '  on  the  hill '}  Clearly,  therefore,  they  were  in 
a  place  which,  not  having  been  hitherto  commonly  mentioned 
in  documents,  had  to  be  specially  defined.  Finally,  it  is  to 
be  noticed  that  more  than  once  the  early  descriptions  of 
houses  employ  a  form  of  phrase  which  could  not  have  arisen 
if  the  town  had  had  its  present  shape.  A  grant  of  1413  speaks 
of  a  house  standing  about  where  the  Grammar  School  stands 
to-day  as  being  '  in  the  eastern  part  of  Burford  '.^  A  house  in 
that  position  could  only  be  described  to-day  as  in  the  northern 
part.  But  in  a  town  not  of  greater  extent  from  north  to  south 
than  from  east  to  west,  the  part  near  the  Church  would  be 
the  eastern  part.  Similarly  there  are  descriptions  of  houses 
near  the  Priory,  which  we  should  equally  regard  as  in  the 
northern  area  of  the  town,  as  '  in  the  western  part '.  The 
High  Street  then  divided  the  place  into  halves. 

Within  this  square,  the  plan  of  the  streets  was  exactly  as 
it  is  to-day.  The  High  Street;  Witney  Street,  Sheep  Street, 
and  both  the  lanes  leading  to  the  Church  are  mentioned. 
The  modern   names  of  these  two  lanes,   however,   are  not 

»  This  distinction  still  survives.     Burford  people  usually  speak  of  '  the 
hill '  as  something  different  from  the  High  Street. 
»  Part  III,  p.  360. 


i68    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  ' 

found.  They  are  called,  as  a  rule,  the  upper  lane,  and  the 
lower  lane,  leading  to  the  Church.  But  the  latter  has,  in  one 
deed  of  1493,  the  queer  name  of  Bordemwetlane — queer,  but, 
on  a  superficial  view,  probably  descriptive  of  its  normal 
condition.  References  to  Church  Green  and  Guildenford 
Lane  are  frequent.  The  street  leading  to  the  Priory  was  called 
St.  John's  Street ;  and  Priory  Lane,  which  has  now  extended 
its  name  to  this  street,  was  only  the  narrow  way  leading  up 
behind  the  present  Lamb  Inn.  Both  sides  of  Sheep  Street 
and  both  sides  of  Witney  Street  were  built  upon,  but  not 
to  the  full  length  of  the  modern  streets  in  either  case.  The 
end  of  Sheep  Street  on  the  south  side  is  described  in  the 
sixteenth  century  as  newly  built  upon  ;  ^  and  a  description 
of  some  premises  in  Witney  Street  in  1423  as  situated  in 
*  le  Newelond  '  ^  implies  that  at  that  date  fresh  ground  was 
being  occupied  there. 

Grants  of  houses  at  this  time  so  invariably  specify  their 
situation  that  a  rather  more  detailed  picture  can  be  attempted. 
The  Vicarage  stood  where  it  does  now,  since  an  early  deed 
concerning  houses  on  the  site  of  Cob  Hall  speaks  of  them 
as  standing  between  the  Vicarage  and  the  river.     A  little 
higher  up  was  a  house  belonging  to  the  Abbey  of  Keynsham, 
and  somewhere  near  the  corner  of  the  road  leading  to  the 
Priory  was  a  forge.    On  the  opposite  side  of  the  High  Street, 
the  ground  between  the  two  lanes  to  the  Church  was  occupied 
by  a  group  of  houses  and  gardens,   a  small  pasture-close, 
and  a  stable.     The  corner  house  on   Lawrence   Lane  was 
the  one  already  mentioned  as  belonging  to  the  Priory^of  Cold 
Norton.     Next  to  it  in  Lawrence  Lane  were  a  house  and 
garden   belonging   to   Thomas   Spicer,    and   then    came   the 
pasture-close   with   the   stable   at   its   edge,    curving   round 
by  the  churchyard  much  as  the  Grammar  School  site  curves 
round  to-day.    At  the  Grammar  School  corner  stood  another 
house,  and  next  to  it  in  Church  Lane  a  cottage  and  a  bake- 
house.   Between  this  and  the  High  Street  came  a  garden  with 
another  house.    On  the  other  side  of  Church  Lane  was  a  garden, 
as  there  is  to-day,  and  a  large  house  towards  the  High  Street 
»  Part  III,  p.  342.  *  Part  III,  p.  669. 


PLATE    VIII.      FIFTEENTH-Cl-NTURY    ARCH 
HIGH    STREET    (W.    SIDE) 

LEADING  TO  A  ROW  OF  COTTAGES  CALLED  THE  COLLEGE 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  169 

end  called  Broadgates.  The  site  of  the  Almshouses,  until 
their  erection,  was  open,  consisting  of  two  pasture-closes ;  but 
there  was  a  house  on  the  site  of  the  present  Church  School 
next  the  churchyard,  the  tenement  of  one  John  Bavork,  from 
whom  the  site  was  for  a  long  time  known  as  '  Bavorks  '. 

Returning  to  the  High  Street,  the  first  spot  above  Church 
Lane  on  the  eastern  side  which  we  can  determine  is  the 
Cock  Row,  npt  far  below  the  Witney  Street  corner ;  it  has 
now  been  cleared  away,  but  a  gap  in  the  line  of  houses  shows 
where  it  was.  At  the  upper  corner  of  Witney  Street  the  house 
on  the  turning  and  the  house  next  to  it,  now  the  Bull,  are 
mentioned.  On  the  other  side  of  the  High  Street  the  most 
easily  identified  house  is  the  Novum  Hospitium  Angulare,  which 
stood  at  the  Sheep  Street  corner  on  ground  now  occupied  by 
two  houses.*  The  only  shop  of  the  period  definitely  mentioned 
as  such  was  beside  the  George  archway,  on  the  south  of  it. 
Lower  down  on  that  side,  behind  the  houses  in  the  angle 
formed  by  the  High  Street  and  the  road  to  the  Priory,  lay 
an  open  space  called  Salmon's  Close. 

In  Witney  Street  two  houses  east  of  the  Bull  back  gate, 
in  one  of  which  a  fifteenth- century  doorway  could  quite  lately 
be  seen,  are  mentioned.  So  is  the  barn  opposite  that  back 
gate,  which  stood  then,  as  it  does  now,  at  the  comer  of  an 
opening  from  the  street ;  at  that  time,  however,  the  opening 
led  through  into  the  High  Street  by  way  of  the  Cock  Row. 
The  further  end  of  the  street  gave  upon  small  enclosed  fields, 
much  as  it  does  to-day. 

In  Sheep  Street  the  Gild  of  the  town  had  a  tenement, 
standing  apparently  in  rather  extensive  grounds,  about 
the  middle  of  the  south  side  of  the  street.  At  the  further  end 
on  that  side  the  street  was  open  to  a  pasture- close  with 
a  dove-cot  on  it,  which  gave  it  the  name  of  the  Culverhey. 
The  site  of  the  present  Bank  house  was  occupied  by  a  house 
with  a  garden,  which,  judging  by  later  mentions  of  it,  must 
have  been  a  good-sized  messuage. 

*  As  some  attempt  has  been  made  to  identify  this  inn  with  the  Lamb, 
it  may  be  as  well  to  remark  that  the  site  is  described  beyond  all  possibility 
of  question  in  the  Records.    See  CH  5,  Part  III.  p.  421. 


170    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Several  closes  and  garden  grounds  not  attached  to  houses 
are  mentioned.  The  area  of  mediaeval  Burford  would  easily 
accommodate  all  the  houses  we  need  allow  for,  and  yet  leave 
space  for  a  good  many  open  plots.  At  present  there  are  within 
the  limits  given  some  one  hundred  and  seventy  houses,  and 
a  great  deal  of  garden  space  behind  them ;  so  that  one 
hundred  and  twenty  burgages  or  so  would  not  have  crowded 
the  ground.  But  many  of  the  closes  were  on  the  steep  hill 
above  the  inhabited  space.  On  the  west  side  of  the  hill  they 
belonged  chiefly  to  the  demesne  land  of  the  manor ;  *  but  on 
the  east  side  also  was  a  succession  of  small  enclosures  reaching 
out  along  the  slopes  as  far  as  the  houses  reached  in  Witney 
Street,  and  these  would  account  for  a  good  many  of  the 
pasture- closes  mentioned. 

The  manor  house,  standing  at  the  top  of  this  open  rise  of 
the  hill,  comes  at  last  more  definitely  into  Burford  history 
in  1428.  In  that  year  the  demesne  was  leased  at  farm  to 
Robert  Atkyns  for  three  lives,  a  tenancy  that  would  run 
through  a  great  part  of  the  rest  of  the  century.  There  is, 
of  course,  no  certainty  that  this  was  the  first  tenant  occupa- 
tion of  the  place,  but  it  is  the  first  of  which  we  have  record. 
Atkyns  held  the  whole  of  the  manor  land  ;  and  we  may 
attribute  conjecturally  to  this  date  the  fine  cruciform  barn 
still  existing  at  Bury  Barns  ;  it  has  all  the  characteristics 
of  a  fifteenth-century  structure  of  this  class.  It  is  possible 
also  that  some  remains  of  old  building  at  the  back  of  the 
present  dwelling-house  are  of  this  period  ;  and  if  so,  it  will 
hardly  be  too  much  to  suggest  that  Atkyns's  tenancy  marks 
a  new  stage  in  the  history  of  the  manorial  domain,  the  lands 
being*  no  longer  kept  in  hand  under  the  management  of 
a  steward,  but  leased  out  in  a  way  which  would  be  very  likely 
to  cause  the  buildings  to  be  improved  for  the  tenant's 
residence. 

The  town  of  Burford,  thus  planned,  would  have  presented 

not  only     a  smaller,  but  also  a  much  humbler,  appearance 

than  the  town  of  to-day.     For  the  houses  up  to  the  end  of 

the  fifteenth  century  must  have  been  very  largely  of  wooden 

»  See  Part  III,  p.  334. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  171 

construction.  In  some  cases  there  would  be  a  lower  storey 
of  stone,  with  an  upper  storey  of  timber  and  plaster.  But  the 
majority  must  have  been  built  throughout  of  wattle  and  daub 
between  timber  uprights  based  on  a  low  plinth  of  two  or  three 
courses  of  stonework.  The  extent  to  which  timber  entered 
into  house-building  here,  even  as  late  as  the  fifteenth  century, 
is  shown  by  a  clause  in  the  lease  of  a  house  in  Witney  Street, 
dated  1404,  by  which  the  tenant  is  allowed,  subject  to  the 
advice  of  the  lessors,  to  cut  down  trees  on  the  premises  for 
repairing  the  house.*  But  it  is  shown  more  conclusively 
by  the  fact  that  there  is  no  mention  of  quarries  in  any  of  the 
manorial  documents  until  1435.  There  cannot,  therefore, 
have  been  any  considerable  demand  for  building-stone  until, 
at  any  rate,  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century ;  if 
there  had  been,  quarries,  as  a  valuable  manorial  asset,  would 
have  been  sought  for  in  a  stone  country  like  this,  and  opened 
at  an  earlier  date. 

Three  are  entered  on  the  manorial  Account  Roll  of  1435-6.? 
One  was  a  freestone  quarry  called  Whiteladies  Quarry ; 
the  two  others,  of  slating  stone,  were  called  Sterte  Quarry 
and  Le  Wort  Quarry.  All  three  appear  again  in  the  Survey 
of  6  Edward  VI,  the  first  as  Whichelate  Quarry,  Sterte  under 
the  same  name,  and  the  third  as  '  le  Slatte  quarry  lying  in 
Signett '.  With  this  information  they  can  all  be  identified. 
The  ground  called  Sturt  is  in  the  extreme  south-east  part 
of  Burford  parish,  and  the  site  of  an  old  quarry  can  be  seen 
there.  The  only  old  freestone  quarry  in  the  place  is  the  one 
now  called  Upton  Quarry,  which  later  supplied  stone  for  the 
building  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and  for  the  rebuilding 
of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London.  The  reference  to  the 
remaining  quarry  as  lying  in  Signett  identifies  Le  Wort  as 
the  old  quarry  pit  on  the  east  of  the  Lechlade  road  about 
a  mile  from  the  town. 

The  fact  that  the  only  freestone  quarry  was  at  later  dates 

supplying  stone  for  great  buildings  elsewhere  is  proof  that  it 

had  not  been  very  heavily  worked  for  building  in  Burford. 

This  supports  the  view  that,  even  when  stone  began  to  be 

'  Part  III.  p.  318.  •  Part  III.  p.  608 


172     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

more  freely  used,  it  was  not  as  a  rule  employed  above  the 
ground-floor  storey,  the  upper  parts  of  the  houses  being  still 
of  timber  with  wattle  and  daub  filling.^ 

That   would    account   for   a   certain    architectural   incon- 
gruity which  must  have  puzzled  many  observers  in  Burford, 
namely,  the  existence  of  fine  old  pointed  archways  in  what  are 
now  insignificant  positions.    These,  it  has  been  remarked  by 
a  distinguished  architect,  are  the  entrance  doorways  of  the 
larger  type  of  burgage  houses  here.^     Nowadays  they  open 
only  into  narrow  yards,  or  else  into  little  alleys  of  cottages ; 
while  nothing  in  the  buildings  in  which  they  are  set  is  of  an 
impressive  character.     The  explanation,  given  the  nature  of 
the  original  houses,  is  not  difficult  to  provide.    The  archways 
stood  in  the  centre  of  the  house  frontages,  with  living  rooms 
on  either  side  and  above,  and  led  through  the  buildings  to 
the  gardens,  closes,  barns,  wool-sheds,  and  workshops  of  their 
owners.     Now,  as  increasing  population  necessitated  division 
of  the  burgage  tenements,  a  house  of  this  kind  offered  itself 
peculiarly  to  the  purpose.    The  entrances  under  the  archway 
to  either  side  of  the  original  house  would  instantly  facilitate 
division  into  two  separate  dwellings.     At  the  same  time  ease 
of  access  through  the  archway  to  ground  at  the  back  would 
facilitate   the   building  of   rows   of   cottages   there,    on   the 
courtyard  or  close.     Once  the  tenement  had  been  thus  dealt 
with,  the  timber  and  plaster  upper  storey  would,  in  later 
times  when   stone  was   more  freely   used,   be   very   easily 
destroyed,  and  very  likely  to  be  destroyed,  to  make  way  for 
new  ideas  and  a  more  complete  partition  of  the  building. 
It  can  be  seen  in  this  way  how  nothing  of  the  original  structure 
would  remain  except  the  arch  ;   and  how,  by  the  very  nature 
of  the  case,  the  arch  would  survive  amid  a  number  of  small 
houses  having  nothing  in  common  with  its  own  character. 
These    entries,    then,    together   with    the    few    remaining 

*  This  in  turn  gives  yet  another  proof  that  the  mediaeval  town  lay 
within  the  limits  we  have  set  for  it.  A  great  number  of  houses  there, 
though  plastered  surfaces  disguise  the  construction,  have  the  upper  stories 
of  this  ancient  character ;  whereas  only  two  or  three  houses  on  the  hill 
ar6  so  built. 

*  Old  Cottages,  Farmhouses,  &-c.,  in  the  Cotswold  District,  by  W.  G.  Davie 
and  E.  G.  Dawber  (London  1905),  p.  62. 


PLATE    IX.     EARLY    SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY 
HOUSE    IN    HIGH    STREET 

THE     CELLAR    SHOWN    ON    P.     182     IS    UNDER    THE    HOUSE    ON    THE    LEFT 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  173 

specimens  of  timber  and  wattle  work  in  ground-floor  storeys,* 
are  some  of  the  oldest  survivals  of  domestic  architecture 
which  can  be  definitely  indicated  in  Burford.  Others  of  the 
same  type,  escaping  the  first  subdivisions  only  to  be  more 
radically  altered  and  rebuilt  later  on,  must  have  perished 
without  leaving  even  an  archway.  But,  as  these  would  be 
the  most  important  houses  of  the  town,  they  cannot  have  been 
very  numerous.  The  smaller  burgage  house,  such  as  the  one 
in  the  High  Street  of  which  we  have  the  dimensions  in  1403  * — 
20  feet  long  and  23  feet  deep — would  not  have  room  for  this 
kind  of  arched  entrance. 

One  other  architectural  feature  of  Burford  may  be  noted 
in  connexion  with  the  documents  of  this  period,  A  grant 
of  1404  gives  the  dimensions  of  a  shop  in  the  High  Street.^ 
It  was  lyi  feet  long,  7  feet  broad,  and  7  feet  high.  The 
curiously  shallow  depth,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the 
separate  sale  of  the  shop,  without  a  tenement,  indicates  that 
the  shop  cannot  have  been  an  entirely  separate  structure, 
and  yet  was  not  part  of  a  house  proper.  But  being  sold  thus 
it  must  have  had  some  permanence  of  building.  If,  as  seems 
therefore  likely,  it  was  a  kind  of  lean-to  erection  against  the 
front  of  a  house,  it  may  be  suggested  that  the  stone-slated 
pent-houses,  which  are  a  feature  of  several  frontages  in  the 
High  Street,  represent  the  very  early  Burford  shops.  Most 
of  them  are  now  more  or  less  disguised  by  the  throwing  out 
under  them  of  bay-windows  to  the  ground-floor  rooms  of 
the  houses  behind  them.  But  the  dimensions  of  one  or  two 
which  remain  partly  open  can  be  seen  at  a  glance  to  corre- 
spond fairly  well  with  those  recorded  in  the  grant  of  1404. 
Originally  they  would  be  mere  shelters  on  wooden  uprights, 
just  wide  enough  to  protect  a  counter  for  the  display  of 
a  tradesman's  goods,  the  mediaeval  house  being  so  badly 
lighted  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  bring  the  goods  out  of 
doors  on  a  market  day. 

These  glimpses   of  the  ancient  town   can   be    completed 

'  For  instance,  a  piece  in  a  side  passage  by  Riverside  House,  and  a  piece 
in  the  courtyard  of  a  house  in  Sheep  Street,  occupied  by  the  author. 
»  Part  III.  p.  333.  »  Part  III.  p.  333. 


174     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

from  the  documents  with  some  information  as  to  the  common 
arable  fields.  A  terrier  of  the  Rectory  and  glebe  lands  in 
1 50 1  *  gives  indications  which  allow  us  to  delimit  roughly 
the  extent  of  the  fields  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century ; 
and  also  to  see  how  widely  cultivation  had  expanded  by  that 
time.  The  Inquisition  of  1299  enters  as  manorial  tenants 
twelve  virgaters  and  three  half-virgaters,  and  puts  the 
virgate  at  twenty  acres.^  In  1300,  therefore,  the  extent  of 
the  East  and  West  Fields  would  be  about  270  acres  each ; 
which  implies  that  the  Fields  barely  reached  to  Signett  on 
the  south,  and  did  not  reach  beyond  the  Shilton  road  on  the 
east  and  the  Westwell  road  on  the  west.  By  1500  most,  if 
not  all,  of  the  land  within  the  parish  boundaries  south  of  the 
Witney-Northleach  road  was  under  cultivation,  and  the  open 
fields  had  thus  reached  almost  their  fullest  extent.  For 
furlongs  are  recorded  abutting  upon  Westwell  Way,  upon 
White  Hill  and  a  hedge  near  there,  and  upon  both  sides  of 
Bampton  Way.^  Now  White  Hill  and  the  hedge  take  us 
quite  to  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  parish.  Bampton  Way 
cannot  be  the  modern  Bampton  road,  which  is  altogether 
outside  the  parish,  but  must  be  the  footpath  from  Signett 
across  to  the  Shilton  road  and  thence  into  the  Bampton  road 
near  Stonelands  ;  the  reference  to  both  sides  of  it  gives  us 
as  our  southern  limit  the  Shil  Brook,  again  the  parish 
boundary.  The  western  limit  is  not  so  clear.  The  only 
furlongs  naming  the  Westwell  road  lay  east  of  it.  But  it  is 
curious  that  the  terrier  speaks  of  furlongs  on  this  side  of 
the  common  lands  as  lying  in   '  the  East- West  field  ',   not 

•  John  Thorpe  records  in  '  The  Book  of  the  Vicaridge  Rights  '  (see 
p.  137)  that  on  a  certain  occasion  he  saw  John  Pryor  carry  off  from  a  house 
in  Burford  a  terrier  of  the  Rectory  lands.  Can  this  be  the  identical 
terrier  ?  Thorpe  says  he  thinks  it  was  written  by  Symon  Randolph, 
Town  Clerk  at  that  time  ;  and  if  so  obviously  this  is  not  the  one.  But 
Thorpe  may  have  been  mistaken,  and  the  fact  that  this  terrier  is  now  in 
the  Bodleian  Library  with  other  diocesan  documents  suggests  that  it 
passed  into  the  Bishop's  hands  with  the  rest  of  the  Rectory  property.  It 
is  a  tempting  addition  that  the  family  of  Pryor  were  certainly  living  in 
the  early  eighteenth  century  in  the  Rectory  house.  The  terrier  will  be 
found  transcribed  in  full  on  pp.  673-680, 

»  See  Part  III,  p.  582. 

'  See  the  maps  of  the  fields  on  pp.  194  and  227. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  175 

the  West  Field  '.  It  may  be  conjectured  from  this  formula 
that  the  fields  did  by  this  time  extend  beyond  the  Westwell 
road,  and  that,  as  this  road  made  so  marked  a  division,  the 
West  Field  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  in  two  parts,  of  which 
the  older  portion  (in  which  Rectory  and  glebe  lands  would  be 
likely  to  lie)  was  called,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  the  '  eastern 
west  field  '.  If  that  is  so,  the  Burford  Fields  on  this  side  also 
had  reached  their  full  extent;*  though  not  the  parish  boundary, 
Upton  Fields  intervening  in  that  direction.  At  the  White 
Hill  end  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  land  had  yet  been  taken 
into  cultivation  north  of  the  road  along  the  ridge ;  the  only 
named  furlongs  abutting  on  this  road  lay  south  of  it ;  but 
at  the  other  end  the  Fields  stretched  across  this  road  and 
already  came  down  to  the  end  of  Sheep  Street.  It  may  be 
added  that  the  terrier  shows  that  the  manor  demesne  was  by 
the  East  Field,  between  the  present  Lechlade  and  Shilton 
roads  ;  the  Lechlade  road  was  at  this  time  known  as  Dean- 
acre  (or  Denacre  or  Dynacre)  Way. 

In  the  East  Field  we  have  nineteen  furlongs  named  :  Hen 
furlong,  Brodhedden  furlong,  Bampton  Way  furlong,  the 
furlong  over  Bampton  Way,  Coppedslade  furlong,  Bellam  (or 
Beldam)  furlong,  Ridgway furlong,  Esterhen  furlong,  Westerhen 
furlong,  OfHey  furlong,  Sawnfyfe  furlong,  Whitston  furlong, 
Comfast  furlong,  Down  furlong,  Hedsondye  furlong, Stertwell 
furlong,  Uphed  furlong,  Hiot,  and  Monsty  furlong.  In  the 
West  Field  twenty  are  named  :  Cheyney  furlong.  Clay  furlong, 
Denacre  furlong,  Cleyt  furlong,  Westwell  Way  East  fur-long, 
Long  furlong.  Middle  furlong.  North  furlong,  Fuldenslade, 
the  Worthy,  Old  Hill  furlong,  the  Gorse,  Fulden  Hill  furlong, 
Hillslade,  Short  furlong,  Brighthill  furlong,  Ridgway  furlong, 
Ferny  furlong,  Whitslade  furlong,  and  Elerstub  furlong.^ 

»  It  may  also  be  remarked  that  one  of  the  named  furlongs  is  '  Westwell 
Way  Eastiurlong  ',  which  suggests  that  there  was  a  '  Westwell  Way  West 
furlong  '. 

»  Mr.  St.  Clair  Baddeley  has  kindly  suggested  explanations  of  some  of 
these  curious  names.  '  Brodhedden  '  may,  he  thinks,  be  '  Broad  Head« 
land  ',  and  '  Hedsondye  ',  '  Sandy  Headland  '.  '  Fulden  '  may  be  '  Foul 
Deane  ',  a  muddy  hollow.  '  Coppedslade  '  is  explained  by  its  abutting 
upon  '  Copped  Cross  ',  a  ridged  cross-roads,  perhaps  the  point  where  the 
path  to  Bampton  crosses  the  Shilton  road  on  a  rise  of  ground.     '  Hiot  * 


176     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Upton  had  its  own  arable  fields  farther  to  the  west.  They 
appear  to  have  lain  at  this  time  in  a  square  of  which  the 
eastern  boundary  was  a  roadway  turning  out  of  the  Witney- 
Northleach  road  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  Cirencester  turning 
and  running  straight  towards  Westwell,  and  the  western 
boundary  was  the  boundary  of  Burford  Parish,  while  the 
southern  boundary  corresponded  with  the  line  through 
Signett  and  the  northern  was  the  Witney-Northleach  road. 
This  square  is  divided  into  two  triangular  halves  by  the 
Cirencester  road  running  diagonally  across  it ;  and  each 
half  contained  about  250  acres  at  the  Enclosure.  This, 
while  more  than  enough  to  accommodate  the  seven  virgaters 
and  one  half-virgater  of  1307,  is  too  little  for  the  twenty 
inhabitants  of  Upton  on  the  Lay  Subsidy  of  1326-7.*  We 
must  therefore  suppose  that  in  this  case  the  land  on  the 
northward  face  of  the  hill,  across  the  Witney-Northleach 
road  and  towards  the  lower  road  to  Little  Barrington,  which 
was  included  in  Upton  Fields  at  the  time  of  the  Enclosure, 
had  already  been  taken  into  cultivation  to  accommodate 
the  new  tenants  brought  to  Upton  by  the  substitution  of 
money  rents  for  services.  That  gives  a  total  area,  at  the 
Enclosure,  of  over  800  acres  ;  which,  at  twenty  acres  to  the 
virgate,  would  exactly  correspond  to  the  holdings  of  twenty 
virgaters.2 

The  common  hay  meadow  is  only  referred  to  during  this 

may  be  '  High  Yate  ',  a  furlong  near  a  gate  on  a  rise  of  ground,  or  '  Hey 
Gate  ',  the  gate  in  a  hedge.  '  Monsty  '  may  be  '  mossy  '.  '  Uphed  '  may 
again  be  named  from  the  headland,  and  be  '  Upper  Headland  '.  '  Cleyt ' 
may  mean  clayey  (Mr.  Baddeley  compares  the  dialect  word  '  clitty ', 
for  ground  that  cakes) ;  but  it  is  odd  that  there  should  have  been  a  '  Clay ' 
furlong  also.  '  The  Worthy  '  is  clearly  named  from  '  Worth  ',  a  farm  or 
dwelUng,  which  would  perhaps  place  this  furlong  near  Signett.  '  Stertwell ' 
is  placed  by  the  surviving  name  of  Sturt  Farm  ;  the  meaning,  a  tail  or 
tongue  of  land,  impUes  an  outlying  piece  of  ground.  '  Elerstub  '  I  take  to 
be  '  Elder-tree  Stump  '. 

'  It  must,  of  course,  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  virgate  of  twenty  acres 
means  twenty  acres  in  each  Field,  one  field  being  fallowed  each  year. 
Thus  forty  acres  has  to  be  allowed  for  each  holding.  The  same  allowance 
has  to  be  made  in  calculating  the  extent  of  the  Burford  Fields. 

*  In  the  1552  Survey  the  two  Upton  Fields  are  not,  as  in  the  Burford 
Fields,  an  East  and  a  West  Field,  but  a  North  and  a  South  Field.  This 
agrees  with  the  natural  divisions  by  old  roads,  both  in  the  case  of  the 
small  original  square  and  the  larger  later  area. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  177 

period  as  '  commune  pratum ',  without  any  name ;  but 
it  can  be  seen,  by  comparing  early  gifts  of  meadow  land  to 
the  Church  with  later  lists  of  the  Church  lands,  that  the 
meadow  was  that  known  later  as  High  Mead.  It  has  already 
been  described  as  lying  to  the  east  of  the  town,  along  the  line 
of  the  Witney  road  close  to  the  river.  It  was  a  lot  meadow 
of  the  usual  type,  since  a  gift  of  meadow  land  in  1396  contains 
the  phrase  '  sicut  per  sortem  accident ' ;  and  a  grant  of  two 
half-acres  in  1422  has  the  more  specific  phrase  '  sicut  in  sorte 
Abbatis  et  sorte  de  Whitemeyes  accident '}  These  phrases 
need,  perhaps,  some  explanation. 

Hay  meadows  were  of  great  value  in  the  mediaeval  manor. 
They  were  not  possessed  by  every  community,  being  depen- 
dent upon  the  neighbourhood  of  a  river.  It  has  been  calcu- 
lated that,  on  an  average,  meadow  land  was  reckoned  at  from 
six  to  ten  times  the  value  of  arable  ;  and  the  Survey  of  1552 
shows  that  at  Burford  a  single  acre  of  meadow  was  the 
equivalent  holding  for  a  virgate  of  twenty  acres  of  arable. 
Consequently  the  meadow  and  the  arable  w'ere  controlled 
by  the  early  communities  in  quite  different  ways.  In  the 
arable  a  man  held  his  various  acre  strips  permanently  ;  a  strip 
he  once  acquired  was  always  his.  But  for  the  meadow,  since 
it  was  so  valuable,  a  system  was  devised  whereby  the  strips 
might  change  hands  every  year,  so  that  each  in  turn  might 
have  his  chance  of  getting  the  crop  from,  the  better  parts, 
and  no  one  would  be  permanently  confined  to  the  poorer 
parts.  This  was  achieved  by  an  annual  casting  of  lots.  But 
again,  if  the  lots  had  been  cast  once  for  the  whole  of  each 
man's  holding,  sufficient  variation  might  not  be  secured. 
Therefore  the  hay  land  was  divided  into  a  certain  number  of 
meads,  three,  four,  or  more,  and  the  lots  were  cast  in  each 
portion.  Thus  a  right  to  an  acre  means,  not  a  single  acre, 
but  an  acre  each  time  the  lots  were  cast.  In  the  Burford 
meadow  there  seem  to  have  been  four  such  divisions,  so  that 
an  acre  in  this  case  would  mean  four  acres. 

Hence  a  man's  holding  in  the  meadow  ,was  not  like  his 
holding  in  the  arable,  a  definite  piece  of  ground  to  be  described 
»  See  Part  III,  p.  421. 

3304  N 


178    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

by  its  position  ;  it  was  only  a  right  to  so  much  ground, 
which  might  be  in  one  spot  one  year  and  in  quite  a  different 
spot  the  next  year.  Obviously,  however,  it  would  soon  become 
necessary  for  a  man  owning  rights  in  the  meadow  to  be  able 
to  describe  them  in  some  definite  way  for  documentary 
purposes  when  he  wished  to  sell  his  land,  for  instance.  To 
meet  this  requirement  the  lots  were  named.  In  one  case  in 
which  these  ancient  customs  are  still  in  operation,  the  old 
lots  are  cast  with  small  balls  of  some  hard  wood — holly  or 
box — on  each  of  which  a  name  is  written,  and  every  man's 
holding  is  known  by  one  of  those  names.^  Each  time  the  ball 
with  that  name  comes  out  of  the  bag,  he  receives  his  acre  or 
half-acre  of  ground  for  that  year's  mowing.  Thus  he  is  able, 
if  he  wishes  to  describe  his  meadow  rights  for  purposes  of 
sale,  to  say  that  he  owns  an  acre  or  a  half-acre  of  So-and-So, 
using  the  name  on  the  ball.  The  gift  of  meadow  land  to 
Burford  Church  in  1422  shows  that  precisely  this  system 
was  in  use  .here;  the  donor  describes  his  gift  by  the  names 
of  the  lots.2 

Of  the  men  of  mediaeval  Burford  there  are  a  few  who  come 
down  to  us  as  more  than  shadows.  We  have,  for  instance, 
our  first  glimpse  of  the  men  of  authority  in  John  Wenryche 
and  Thomas  Spicer,  who  drew  up  the  Gild  Certificate  in  1382 
and  were  frequently  in  demand  for  the  witnessing  of  grants 
and  taking  charge  of  trusts.  Then  there  is  the  company  of 
men  who  have  writ  their  names  large  in  the  glories  of  Burford 
Church,  and  have  been  more  fitly  commemorated  in  another 
chapter — the  Spicers,  Leggare,  Bishop,  and  Pynnok.  Pynnok 
we  may  know  better  than  most  of  them,  because  his  will 
which  has  come  down  among  the  Records  contains  more 
domestic  detail  than  the  will,  also  among  the  Records,  of 
Henry  Bishop.  It  is  in  one  sense,  perhaps,  disappointing ; 
for,  in  comparison  with  wills  of  the  same  period  in  other  towns, 
it  betrays  the  fact  that  the  more  important  Burford  Burgess 
was  less  well  off  than  men  of  his  class  elsewhere.    His  house- 

*  I  have  described  the  lot-meadow  customs  in  this  case  in  the  Economic 
Journal,  vol.  xx,  no.  27,  and  vol.  xxii,  no.  85. 

*  For  the  later  names  of  the  lots  at  Burford,  and  the  meadow  customs 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  see  Part  III,  pp.  408-9. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  179  . 

hold  gear — tables  and  chests,  sheets  and  blankets,  brass 
pans  and  cooking  vessels,  brewing  plant,  wooden  platters, 
<tin  and  silver  spoons,  warming  stoves,  and  so  on — is  of  a  fair 
level  of  comfort  for  the  time.  But  his  personal  gear  is  very 
modest — a  saddle  and  bridle,  a  '  poll-ax '  and  a  sword,  for 
his  journeyings  ;  a  dyed  girdle  or  two,  a  cloak  or  two  and  some 
pieces  of  amber.  One  phrase  in  the  will  casts  an  interesting 
sidelight  on  the  life  of  the  good-sized  burgage  houses. 
A  certain  chest  is  among  the  bequests,  and  is  described  as 
'  stantem  in  camera  que  vocatur  Hardyngs  chamber '.  This 
curious  name  was  difficult  to  account  for  until  an  entry  in  the 
Eynsham  Cartulary  illuminated  it.  In  the  list  of  expenses 
for  the  year  1471  appears  :  '  Et  in  diversis  pannis  lineis 
emptis  de  lohanne  Hardyng  de  Burefford  xx5,  vii.'  ^  Now 
Hardyng  is  not  a  name  found  among  those  constantly  asso- 
ciated with  Pynnok  in  the  Burford  Records  ;  yet  we  should 
have  expected  to  find  it  if  he  was  a  Burford  man.  It  may 
be*conjectured  that  the  name  'Hardyngs  chamber'  is  a 
strange  little  indication  of  a  system  of  partnership.  Burford 
men  owning  good-sized  houses  may  have  kept  a  room  for  the 
use  of  merchants  and  traders  coming  to  the  town  from 
elsewhere,  who  may  thus  have  acquired  a  sufficient  status 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  privileges  of  Burford  residents  in 
the  market,  and  may  in  turn  have  provided  for  their  Burford 
hosts  similar  privileges  in  their  own  towns. 

More  vividly  human  even  than  those  of  Pynnok's  will  are 
some  of  the  touches  to  be  found  in  the  early  files  of  the 
Chancery.  There  we  meet  persons  like  John  Sclatter  and 
John  Stowe,  whom  we  might  otherwise  have  taken  for 
unexceptionable  fellows,  going  '  with  force  of  arms  '  to  the 
house  of  John  Dyer  and  carrying  off  in  one  encounter  a  horse, 
in  another  a  mixed  lot  of  goods,  and  in  yet  another  a  maid 
servant  whom  they  detained  for  a  year  and  a  half — an  epic 
feud.  There  is  much  human  nature  too  in  the  complaint 
of  John  Hatter  that  he  could  not  obtain  justice  against 
Thomas  Alys  and  John  Irnemonger,  who  had  assaulted  him 

»  Cartulary  of  the  Abbey  of  Eynsham,  edited  by  the  Rev.  H.  E.  Salter 
(Oxford  Hist.  Soc.  1908),  vol.  ii,  p.  Ixxxvii. 

N  2 


i8o     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

and  his  wife,  because  Alys  and  Irnemonger  were  on  such 
good  terms  with  the  Sheriff  and  Deputy- Sheriff  of  the  county. 
Again,  Pynnok's  gifts  to  the  Church  are  laid  open  to  some 
criticism  by  the  fact  that  he  had  a  debt  of  £80  outstanding, 
which  his  pious  generosity  rendered  him  unable  to  meet.* 

But  a  wider  horizon  has  to  be  added  to  our  picture  to  include 
some  solid  men  of  Burford  before  we  leave  our  account  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  The  inscription,  now  lost,  on  the  tomb  of 
John  Pynnok  who  died  in  1480  ^  records  him  as  '  eldest  son 
of  Thomas  Pinnock  gentleman  formerly  of  the  Society  of 
Gray's  Inn  '  ;  which  shows  that  the  family  had  ideas  and 
associations  beyond  Burford  and  its  wool  industries.  John 
Stowe,  again,  was  of  sufficient  consequence  to  marry  a  Berk- 
shire heiress ;  indeed,  it  is  through  him  that  the  well-known 
family  of  Eyston  of  East  Hendred  obtained  that  manor 
and  estate.  John  Stowe  had  married  Maud  de  Arches,  heiress 
of  the  Turberville  estates  at  East  Hendred.  His  daughter, 
Isabel,  married  John  Eyston,  and  as  her  father's  heir  brought 
the  estates  with  her.  The  Stowe  arms — argent  a  chevron 
gules  between  three  crows  proper,  beaked  and  legged  or — 
are  still  quartered  by  the  Eystons.^  Yet  another  of  our 
citizens  must  have  had  a  life  more  interesting  than  any  of 
these.  The  Bill  of  Attainder  passed  in  1485  by  Henry  VII's 
first  Parliament,  against  Richard  III  and  his  adherents, 
which  opens  with  the  resounding  names  of  John  Duke  of 
Norfolk  and  Thomas  Earl  of  Surrey,  ends  with  the  name 
of  William  Brampton  of  Burford.  The  name  of  Brampton 
is  found  at  intervals  in  our  Records  from  the  late  fourteenth 
century  onwards,  the  first  William  Brampton  being  some- 
times described  as  '  of  Oxford  '.  He  seems  to  have  been 
followed  by  a  Thomas  Brampton,  and  then  by  this  William 
of  the  Attainder  who  is  often  to  be  seen  in  Burford  annals 
going  about  his  business  as  a  mercer  and  dealing  with  house 
property.  There  is  nothing  to  show  how  he  became  involved 
in  affairs  of  State  and  in  such  high  company.     Seven  years 

>  Part  III.  p.  614. 

*  Not  the  Pynnock  just  previously  mentioned,  for  the  will  of   that 
Pynnock  is  dated  1473  and  he  died  in  1474 ;  see  p.  117. 
»  See  Visitations  of  Berkshire.    Harl.  Soc.  Publications,  vol.  Ivi  (1907). 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  i8i 

after  his  death  the  Act  of  Attainder,  so  far  as  it  concerned 
himself  and  his  heirs,  was  reversed  on  the  petition  of  his 
sister  and  heir,  then  the  wife  of  Hugh  Johnson,  a  Burford  man.^ 
This,  however,  did  not  restore  all  the  property  Brampton  had 
forfeited  :  he  had  owned  the  George  Inn,  and  this  had  been 
granted  by  Henry  VII  to  one  of  his  household — John  Basket, 
and  after  Basket's  death  Henry  VIII  granted  it  to  William 
Gower,  one  of  his  Grooms  of  the  Chamber.^  Brampton  appears 
to  have  been  the  only  person  who  ever  brought  Burford  into 
the  perilous  eminence  of  an  Act  of  Attainder. 

Signs  of  increasing  wealth  in  the  place  are  frequent  in  the 
Records  throughout  a  great  part  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Some  are  direct,  such  as  the  gifts  to  the  Church  and  the 
Gild,  the  foundation  of  the  Almshouses,  and  the  institution 
of  Charities  for  the  poor.  Another  indication  is  the  constant 
traffic  in  house  property,  with  a  general  tendency  towards 
the  acquisition  of  houses  by  Burford  residents  from  owners 
living  elsewhere.^  A  part  of  the  apparent  enrichment  should 
be  attributed,  doubtless,  to  the  easier  command  of  currency 
rather  than  to  actual  advance  in  wealth.  Nevertheless, 
a  certain  increase  in  material  prosperity  is,  at  this  time,  to 
be  seen  in  the  town. 

The  aspect  of  the  place  "was  beginning  to  change,  from 
the  freer  use  of  stone  in  domestic  building,  this  improvement 
being  dictated  in  the  main  by  sheer  necessity.  The  early 
timber;  building  would  not  be  very  durable,  especially  if 
neglected  ;  and  the  number  of  references  in  sixteenth-century 
Records  to  houses  in  decay  shows  that  a  considerable  amount 
of  rebuilding  must  now  have  become  necessary.  It  would 
be  helped  forward,  also,  by  the  more  vigorous  working  of 
the  freestone  quarry,  as  its  value  had  become  apparent,  and 
by  the  influence  of  the  skilled  masons  at  work  on  the  Church 
in  this  period  of  its  enlargement  and  adornment. 

Certain  remains  of  the  domestic  building  of  this  time — 
the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century — are  not  open  to  the 

»  Rot.  Pari.,  vol,  vi,  pp.  276,  454.  *  See  Part  III,  p.  653. 

*  See  the  Early  Chancery  Proceedings  passim,  as  well  as  Deeds  and 
Grants  in  the  Burford  Records. 


i82     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

casual  visitor  of  to-day.  Behind  many  a  comparatively 
uninteresting  Burford  frontage — tucked  away  in  back  courts 
or  surviving  incongruously  in  later  pieces  of  building — ^ia 
a  considerable  number  of  archways  and  window  openings  of 
early  date  ;    and  one  of  the  most  curious  features  of  Burford, 


for  the  inquiring  mind,  is  the  manner  in  which  its  houses, 
when  seen  from  their  backs,  reveal  a  quite  different  architec- 
tural history  from  that  which  their  frontages  suggested. 

Of  fifteenth-century  survivals  three  examples  may  be 
particularly  noted.  One  is  the  arch  with  ball-flower  ornament 
to  be  seen  in  the  back  wall  of  the  forge  of  Messrs.  Howse 
and  Son,  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  Street.    This  house  has 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION 


183 


a  fine  arched  passage-way  from  the  street.  The  second  is 
a  stone-vaulted  cellar  with  a  central  pillar  of  stone  under 
London  House — a  noble  and  interesting  piece  of  domestic 
building.  The  third,  and  much  the  most  important  specimen, 
is  the  cottage  beside  the  Bull  Inn  back  gate,  and  next  to 
the  Mason's  Arms.  Here,  incorporated  now  in  the  party  wall, 
is  a  row  of  four  pointed  arches,  rising  from  what  might  be 
termed  large  and  strong  mullions  rather  than  pillars  (they 
are  not  circular  or  square,  but  narrow  and  deep  uprights 


shaped  like  window  mullions),  the  row  continuing  through 
the  back  wall  of  the  cottage  room,  and  appearing  again  by 
the  staircase  behind  the  room.^  Along  the  row  of  arches, 
at  the  level  of  the  spring  of  the  arch  from  the  '  mullions  ', 
runs  a  wide  shelf  of  stone,  dividing  the  series  of  arches  into 
a  series  of  upper  and  lower  recesses.  In  the  outer  wall  of  the 
cottage  at  the  back  are  two  pointed  arches  joined  together 
at  right  angles  to  one  another  and  springing  from  the  same 
pillar  at  their  junction,  one  arch  a  trifle  larger  than  the  other.* 
In  an  outhouse  entered  through  one  of  these  arches  is  yet 
a  third  arch,  with  remains  of  a  billet-pattern  in  the  moulding. 

'  The  arches  are  interrupted  by  a  chimney-breast.     See  Plate  X. 
*  Illustrated  on  p.  182, 


i84     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

This  same  house  was  the  one  that,  until  recent  years,  had 
a  fifteenth-century  chimney  above  it :  the  chimney  rose  in 
fact  above  the  very  wall  in  which  the  extraordinary  row  of 
arches  survives,  and  a  curious  little  stone  bracket  is  now  just 
below  where  the  chimney  used  to  stand.  At  the  other  end 
of  the  block  of  building  of  which  the  cottage  forms  a  part 
is  a  piece  of  very  ancient  structure  in  which  was  a  pointed 
archway,  deeply  moulded,  with  Decorated  carving  above  it.^ 
It  is  natural,  perhaps,  that  remains  such  as  these,  and 
the  vaulted  cellar,  should  be  popularly  explained  as  relics  of 
'  chapels  ',  or  associated  with  the  Priory,  in  the  belief  that 
pointed  arches  must  be,  in  some  way,  ecclesiastical.  But  such 
belief  is  groundless  ;  and,  in  the  case  of  the  many-arched 
cottgige,  it  can  be  demonstrated  to  be  wrong ;  for  this  house 
adjoining  the  Bull  back  gate  can  be  identified  in  the  Records 
of  Burford  as  far  back  as  1500.  It  is  practically  certain,  too, 
that  the  house  given  to  the  Church  by  John  Pinnock  in  1473 
stood  close  by.  And  in  neither  of  these  cases  do  the  early 
deeds  make  any  mention  of  chapels  or  of  buildings  of  an 
ecclesiastical  character.  Nor,  indeed,  is  any  such  explanation 
required.  A  rich  burgess,  building  his  house  of  stone  in  the 
later  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  might  well  construct  such 
a  cellar  as  the  one  beneath  London  House  or  adorn  his 
dwelling  with  the  Witney  Street  arches — arches  which  were 
a  normal  feature  of  building  work  of  the  time.  Exactly 
what  purpose  the  row  of  arches  with  deep  shelves  was  made 
to  serve  may  not  be  easy  to  determine,  but  that  they  belonged 
to  a  domestic  building  all  the  available  evidence  goes  to  show. 
Of  the  general  architectural  style  that  the  new  ideas  in  build- 
ing developed  at  this  time  we  have  happily  one  or  two 
almost  complete  examples  left.  Means  of  recognizing  the  type 
is  afforded  us  by  the  ability  to  date  the  Almshouse  structure.^ 
Bishop  obtained  his  licence  to  erect  it  in  1456,  and  his  will, 
made  in  1478,  contains  no  provision  for  the  building,  which 
must  therefore  have  been  finished  by  that  date.  Although, 
as  a  tablet  on  the  building  records,  it  was  to  some  extent 
rebuilt  in  1828,  it  obviously  retains  most  of  its  original 
•  *  This  wall  collapsed  in  July  1919.     3ee  Plate  I.  *  See  Plate  II. 


PLATE    X.     CELLAR    UNDER    LONDON   HOUSE 
HIGH    STREET 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  185 

features.  Of  these  the  principal  ones  are  narrow  doorways 
with  a  pointed  arch  ;  square-headed  windows  divided  by 
stonework  into  more  than  one  light  *  ;  a  flat  frontage  ;  and 
a  long,  unbroken  roof-Hne. 

If  we  look  at  the  house  standing  near  by,  at  the  southern 
comer  of  Church  Lane  and  the  High  Street,  it  is  easy  to  see 
in  it  precisely  the  kind  of  domestic  building  which  would 
result  from  carrying  out  in  the  early  Tudor  period,  on  a  rather 
ampler  scale  and  with  the  modifications  arising  in  an  interval 
of  twenty  or  thirty  years,  the  architectural  type  visible  in  the 
Almshouse.  The  fiat  frontage,  the  unbroken  roof-line,  the 
square-headed  windows,  are  immediately  recognizable,  though 
the  doorway  shows  a  later  date  of  building  and  some  of  the 
windows  have  been  mutilated  by  alterations.  But  the  whole 
building  is  loftier,  showing  a  greater  height  allotted  to  each 
storey  ;  dormers  in  the  roof  give  it  a  third  storey  ;  and  the 
windows,  while  taller  and  wider,  are  also  much  plainer,  and 
of  a  more  strictly  domestic  order.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
comparing  this  structure  with  the  other,  that  this  house  gives  us 
very  distinctly  the  new  type  of  stone-built  burgage  at  its  best,* 
perhaps  some  thirty  or  forty  years  later  than  the  Almshouse. 

From  it  we  can  recognize,  especially  by  looking  at  upper 
storeys,  which  have  suffered  less  than  the  ground  floors 
reconstructed  for  shop  premises,  several  houses  of  the  period, 
of  differing  sizes.  They  may  all  be  dated  within  a  space  of 
about  fi  hundred  years,  that  being  the  period  during  which 
the  style  lasted.  As  we  can  date  its  origin,  so  we  can  fix  the 
time  at  which  it  gave  way  to  another  type.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century  houses  were  built  by  Simon  Wisdom, 
who  recorded  the  date  in  some  cases  on  tablets  let  into  the 
walls.    Thus  we  know  that  the'tenement  by  the  bridge,  which 

•  The  Decorated  character  of  these  windows  lends  colour  to  the  sugges- 
tion that  the  masons  at  work  on  the  chiirch  had  their  influence  on  the 
new  era  of  building  in  the  town.  The  square-headed  doorway  which  is 
now  the  main  entrance  to  the  Almshouse  is  obviously  of  rather  later  date. 

»  The  preservation  of  this  house  is  due  to  Mr.  E.  J.  Homiman.  It  was 
on  the  verge  of  irretrievable  ruin  when  he  bought  it,  and  carried  out  the 
admirably  directed  repairs  which  have  saved  it  in  all  its  characteristic 
dignity.  By  the  clearing  away  of  a  modem  structure  at  one  end  the 
original  proportions  of  the  house  have  been  most  happily  revealed. 


i86    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

so  charmingly  closes  the  view  down  the  High  Street,  is  of  the 
year  1576.^  It  shows  one  development  in  particular  from  the 
type  we  have  been  considering,  so  marked  as  to  constitute 
a  new  style.  The  windows  of  the  uppermost  floor  are  not 
set  back  in  the  roof  as  dormers,  but  are  brought  out  to  the 
line  of  the  frontage  in  bold  gables  rising  nearly  as  high  as  the 
ridge-line  of  the  roof.  '  The  result  is  that  the  roof-line  no 
longer  strikes  the  eye  as  straight  and  rigid  ;  it  is  in  effect 
broken  by  the  tall  gables  rising  in  front  of  it  and  carrying 
their  ridges  back  to  it ;  moreover,  the  long  gutters  or  valleys 
at  the  junction  of  these  gables  with  the  roof  break  the  upper 
structure  into  bays.  The  type  at  its  best  is  a  worthy  successor 
to  the  earlier  Tudor  type,  plain  yet  dignified,  not  concerned 
with  ornament,  but  achieving  distinction  by  its  varied  lines 
and  proportions. 

Again,  as  in  the  previous  case,  the  dating  of  an  example 
enables  us  to  recognize  the  work  of  this  period  elsewhere  in 
the  town.  In  general  the  square-headed  doorways  and  win- 
dows persist ;  but  in  a  few  cases  where  a  larger  entrance  was 
required  (as  at  the  George  Inn)  a  depressed  arch  is  found. 
One  building  in  Sheep  Street  is  interesting,  as  the  single 
instance  in  Burford  in  which  modification  of  the  type  becomes 
reminiscent  of  a  building  style  seen  in  Chipping  Campden  and 
other  Cotswold  towns  ;  the  frontage  line,  instead  of  being 
flat,  is  carried  out  in  two  bays  rising  to  the  line  of  the  eaves. ^ 

The  great  increase  in  stone  building  would  by  itself  have 
made  a  very  striking  difference  in  the  outward  aspect  of 
Burford.  But  to  it  must  be  added  the  advance  of  the  town 
up  the  hill.  This  appears  to  have  taken  place  only  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  No  house  on  the  hill  displays 
the  characteristics  of  the  early-Tudor  type  of  domestic  build- 
ing ;  but  there  are  several,  including  one  at  the  very  top  on 
the  west  side,  which  can  be  assigned  at  a  glance  to  the 
Elizabethan  type.  Moreover,  it  is  not  until  about  1570  that  we 
have  documentary  references  to  houses  on  the  hill.  Even  then 
the  town  did  not  there  present  the  continuous  lines  of  house- 
fronts  that  the  6lder  streets  must  have  presented.  Descriptions 
'  See  Plate  III.  »  See  Plate  XIV. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  187 

of  houses  on  the  hill  frequently  give,  as  the  boundary  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  '  the  land '  of  some  other  owner,  not  another 
tenement ;  so  that  clearly  many  open  spaces  were  left. 

Otherwise  the  ground-plan  of  the  town  remained  as  we 
have  seen  it  in  the  preceding  period.  All  the  principal 
streets  appear  under  the  same  names,  with  the  addition 
that  now  the  name  of  Church  Lane  is  found.  Curiously 
enough,  the  lower  lane  to  the  church  is  not  mentioned  at 
all  on  the  Survey  of  1552.  The  explanation  probably  is  (as  we 
might  easily  suppose  from  the  look  of  the  lane  to-day)  that 
at  the  date  of  the  Survey  there  were  no  houses  there  to  be 
recorded  among  the  town  tenements.  The  ground  had,  in 
our  view  of  the  place  during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries,  been  mostly  gardens  and  closes,  with  a  fringe  of 
houses  at  the  corners  of  the  High  Street  and  towards  Church 
Green  and  the  upper  lane.  What  tenements  there  were  in 
the  lower  lane  may  very  likely  have  been  but  a  few  small 
and  ancient  dwellings  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
surviving  from  the  Domesday  settlement  near  the  Burh. 
They  would  by  this  time  have  disappeared  ;  so  that  the  only 
houses  to  be  entered  on  the  Survey  would  be  in  such  positions 
that  they  would  be  entered  as  either  in  the  High  Street  or 
in  Church  Lane.  The  latter  name  included,  for  the  purposes 
of  this  document.  Church  Green,  since  the  Almshouses  are 
described  as  in  Church  Lane. 

We  can,  however,  add  to  our  ground-plan  two  by-ways 
not  previously  mentioned.  The  lane  leading  out  of  Witney 
Street  opposite  Qildenford  Lane  appears  as  Batts  Lane. 
The  continuation  of  it  up  the  hill  to  the  top  road  seems  to 
be  indicated  by  the  entry  on  the  Survey  of  a  certain  way  which 
the  tenants  of  Holwell  have  the  right  to  use  for  taking  their 
sheep  to  the  water  at  Gildenford  ;  no  other  lane  in  Burford 
would  be  so  likely  to  have  had  this  purpose. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  first  mention  of  the  Tolsey  by  that 
name  occurs  in  1561.  There  is  no  previous  reference  to  the 
actual  building  in  which  the  Bailiffs  had  held  the  Borough 
Court ;  but  the  Tolsey,  even  as  it  stands  to-day  after  much 
repair  and  reconstruction,   retains  enough  ancient  building 


i88    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

to  show  that,  although  this  is  the  first  occurrence  of  the  name 
in  the  Records,  it  was  applied  to  the  old  Court  House.  Proof, 
if  any  were  needed,  of  the  truth  of  the  tradition  that  it  con- 
sisted of  an  upper  storey  carried  on  pillars  is  provided  by  an 
entry  in  1579  of  a  payment  for  repairing  '  the  pillars  and 
stairs  '  of  the  Tolsey.^  Yet  the  substructure  must  have  been 
to  some  extent  enclosed  towards  the  back,  for  there  is  a  lease, 
dated  1580,  of  a  shop  '  adjoining  to  the  Tolsey  and  lying  next 
to  Sheep  Street  '.^  It  is  unlikely  that  this  shop  would  have 
stood  on  5ne  side  or  the  other,  where  the  openings  from  Sheep 
Street  led  round,  leaving  the  Tolsey  as  a  kind  of  island.  The 
more  probable  situation  would  be  at  the  back ;  and  in  fact 
no  traces  of  old  pillars  can  be  seen  in  as  much  of  the  back  wall 
as  is  now  visible. 

This  was  the  Burford — a  bright  and  prosperous  little 
Burford  with  its  fresh  stone  buildings,  and  green  with  its 
closes  and  garden  grounds — ^which  Queen  Ehzabeth  saw  when 
she  paid  the  visit  recorded  with  so  much  satisfaction  in  the 
Corporation  Memorandum  Book.^  She  came,  as  the  record 
shows,  from  Langley,  being  there  doubtless  on  a  visit  to  the 
old  royal  hunting  lodge,  since  she  was  not  at  that  time  on 
one  of  her  famous  Progresses  through  her  kingdom  ;  and  she 
received  the  *  purse  of  gold  '  (in  this  case  containing  twenty 
angels)  which  was  the  form  wherein  her  subjects  were  expected 
to  display  their  gratification  at  sight  of  her. 

It  appears  that  she  must  have  been  here  again  at  a  later 
date,  though  of  this  we  have  no  local  record.  In  September 
1592  she  was  making  a  Progress,  and  having  come  from 
London  by  way  of  Newbury,  Ramsbury,  and  Cirencester,  she 
was  entertained  for  some  days  at  Sudeley  Castle.*  Thence  she 
went  to  Woodstock,  and  so  to  Oxford.  Now  Lord  Burghley's 
diary  of  events  in  that  month  includes  the  following  entries  :  * 

Sep.    9.  The  Q.  cam  to.Sudley  Castell. 

Sep.  14.  To  Shyrborn,  Dottons  houss.  Teyntonbre,  {sic). 

Sep.  15.  At  Burford. 

Sep.  16.  To  Wytney. 

»  Part  III,  p.  412.  «  Part  III,  p.  400.  *  Part  III,  p.  415. 

*  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  John  Nichols,  vol.  iii,  p.  129. 
»  Ha^eld  House  Papers  (Hist.  MSS.  Com.  191 5).  Part  XIII,  p.  466. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  189 

Burghley  was  in  attendance  on  the  Queen,  and  his  use  of 
a  different  form — '  I  went '  or  '  I  came  ' — in  later  entries 
implies  that  the  entries  quoted  refer  to  movements  of  the 
Queen.  Moreover,  from  Sherborne  to  Woodstock  the  Queen's 
way  would  naturally  take  her  through  Burford.  A  particular 
point  of  interest  is  that  the  form  '  At  Burford  ',  taken  in 
conjunction  with  the  sequence  of  dates,  makes  it  fairly  clear 
that  on  this  occasion  the  Queen  actually  stayed  the  night  here. 
It  is  difficult  to  think  where  she  can  have  been  lodged,  unless 
we  may  assume  that  already  Lawrence  Tanfield's.new  house 
on  the  Priory  site  was  at  the  disposal  of  a  royal  visitor. 

The  extension  of  the  town  up  the  hill  is  as  much  enlarge- 
ment as  we  need  look  for  ;  the  population,  even  at  this  stage 
of  the  town's  prosperity,  did  not  call  for  any  great  multiplica- 
tion of  dwellings.  From  all  the  indications  that  can  be  used 
for  making  an  estimate  it  would  appear  that  until,  at  any  rate, 
the  end  of  the  century  the  total  population  was  under  a  thou- 
sand. The  earliest  fact  of  much  service  for  our  purpose  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Chantry  Certificate  of  1547.^  On  this  the 
number  of  '  howselyng  people  ' — or,  as  we  should  now  say, 
communicant  members  of  the  Church  of  England — is  entered 
as  544.  In  estimating  from  this  figure  several  points  must  be 
borne  in  mind,-  The  first  is  that  at  that  date  the  age  of  Con- 
firmation and  First  Communion  was  much  lower  than  at 
present ;  next,  there  was  no  other  church  than  the  Church 
of  England  ;  thirdly,  it  was  a  serious  matter  of  misdemeanour 
to  be  notably  lax  in  attending  Divine  Service,  or  to  fail  to 
attend  the  statutory  minimum  of  Communions  ;  and  fourthly, 
the  tendency  of  those  who  furnished  returns  for  the  Certificate 
would  naturally  be  to  enter  the  highest  possible  figures  of 
Church  membership.  On  all  these  grounds  the  '  howselyng 
people  '  must  be  taken  as  representing  a  proportion  of  the 

*  Part  III.  p.  643. 

»  There  seems  to  be  no  authoritative  pronouncement  as  to  the  pro- 
portion which  the  number  of  these  '  howselyng  people '  may  reasonably 
be  held  to  bear  to  the  total  population.  I  have  proceeded  on  certain 
considerations  which  are  set  out  above  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  figures 
thus  arrived  at  tally  well  with  those  derived  from  calculations  on  quite 
a  different  basis  does  give  validity  to  those  considerations. 


igo    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

population  out  of  all  relation  to  modern  standards.  Every 
one  over  the  age  of  twelve  or  so  would  be  included.  Therefore, 
if  we  follow  the  reasonable  course  of  taking  the  figure  as 
standing  for  about  two-thirds  of  the  inhabitants  of  all  ages, 
we  should  arrive  at  a  total  population  of  some  825  souls. 

This  is  fairly  accordant  with  such  calculations  as  can  be 
made  from  the  Edwardian  Survey  of  the  manor  and  town. 
That  document  gives  us  upon  analysis  one  hundred  and  forty 
households  in  the  town,  made  up  of  twelve  holdings  of*  a  bur- 
gage and  a  half,  one  of  a  burgage  and  a  quarter,  eighty-four 
single  burgages,  forty-two  half-burgages,  and  one  quarter- 
burgage.  On  this  basis  the  town  population  should  have  been 
about  700.^  To  this  must  be  added  the  population  of  Upton 
and  Signett,  since,  as  the  one  Church  of  Burford  served  all 
three  members  of  the  parish,  the  hamlets  must  have  been 
included  in  'the  reckoning  of  the  '  howselyng  people  '.  The 
Survey  gives,  for  Upton  and  Signett,  ten  messuages.  But 
from  the  Domesday  of  Enclosures  ^  it  is  plain  that  several 
tenements  existed  on  a  single  messuage  ;  in  one  case  there 
were  four,  in  another,  though  no  figure  is  given,  the  value 
entered  shows  that  there  were  more  than  this.  Supposing 
that  we  allow  for  thirty  tenements  altogether  on  the  ten 
messuages  (which  is  not  too  much,  seeing  that  in  1326-7  the 
number  of  households  in  the  hamlets  was  33)  we  shall  add  150 
to  the  town  inhabitants,  and  arrive  at  a  total  population  of 
850,  which  is  near  enough  to  the  estimate  based  on  the 
number  of  '  howselyng  people  '  five  years  earlier.  *To  give 
a  margin  for  the  greater  crowding  of  the  time,  and  for  other 
circumstances,  we  may  put  the  number  in  round  figures  at  900.^ 

*  Analysis  of  the  town  Survey  is  difficult,  since  it  is  not  always  clear 
when  mixed  holdings  of  complete  and  half  burgages  ought  to  be  reckoned 
as  one  household.  In  a  few  instances  there  is  a  possibility  that  as  many 
as  two  and  a  half  burgages  were  thus  combined  into  one  tenement.  But 
the  figures  given  above  may  be  taken  as  approximately  representing  the 
conditions. 

*  Vol.  i.  p.  344. 

*  It  has  been  supposed,  from  a  misquoted  reference,  that  the  population 
in  the  sixteenth  century  must  have  been  much  larger  than  this.     The 
reference  upon  which  such  calculations  have  been  based  will  be  found 
in  Part  III,  p.  655,  in  a  letter  from  Thomas  Cade,  Vicar  of  Burford,  to . 
Thomas  Cromwell.    The  statement  there  made  that  the  clothier  Tucker 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  igj 

Forty  years  later  there  is  evidence  that  a  long  time  of  com- 
parative peace  and  plenty  had  again  enlarged  the  population. 
An  assessment  list  for  the  Lay  Subsidy  of  1596  contains  120 
names.  Now  the  list  for  1524  shows  only  78  names.  The 
advance  must  not  be  attributed  wholly  to  a  proportionate 
increase  of  population  ;  it  would  be  due  in  great  measure  to 
a  more  widely  spread  ability  to  pay  the  small  sums  taxed,  of 
which  the  majority  are  sixpence  or  less.  If  we  consider  that 
the  number  of  inhabitants  had  increased  by  one- third,  that 
is  the  utmost  allowance  that  need  be  made  to  explain  the 
figures  of  1596 ;  and  we  shall  thus  conclude  that  by  the  end 
of  the  century  the  population  had  risen  to  some  1200. 

There  is  indication  now  of  very  much  more  marked 
differences  in  wealth  than  we  were  able  to  find  in  the  previous 
period.  The  richest  man  of  whom  we  have  record  is  one 
John  Busbyne  or  Busbye,  assessed  at  £200  in  goods  and 
paying  £10  to  the  Subsidies.  For  so  rich  a  man,  he  appears 
singularly  little  in  our  Records.  He  served  as  Bailiff  in  1524 
and  1527, ;  but  is  not  found  holding  any  other  office,  not 
even  that  of  a  Feoffee  of  Charity  Lands.  After  1527  the 
name  is  not  seen  again  except  in  the  entry  on  the  Survey  of 
1552  of  one  Richard  Busby  of  Islington  as  holding  a  burgage 
in  High  Street  and  a  close  in  Batts  Lane. 

Apart  from  him,  however,  there  is  a  small  group  of  men 
ranking  by  themselves  in  the  assessments — William  Hodges 
at  £80,  Richard  Smyth  at  £50,  Peter  Eyhesdale,  Thomas 
Teysdale,  and  John  Lambert  at  £40.  Next  to  them  come 
ten  men  assessed  at  between  £10  and  £20.  Thirty-seven 
assessments  are  between  £3  and  £10,  and  twenty-eight 
under  £3. 

This  gives  us  a  classification  which  may  usefully  be  com- 
pared with  the  rough  classification  of  the  burgage  holders. 

employed  500  persons  has  been  misquoted  as  a  statement  that  he  employed 
500  persons  at  Burford,  and  it  has  been  argued  from  this  that,  if  500  persons 
were  employed  by  one  man,  the  total  population  must  have  been  very 
large.  But  it  is  not  stated  that  he  employed  500  at  Burford.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  explicitly  stated  that  he  sent  much  of  his  work  to  Abingdon 
and  Stroud. 


192     STUDIES  IN  THP  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

The  figures  do  not  exactly  correspond,  but  they  are  interest- 
ingly parallel.  We  have  fifteen  men  of  comfortable  substance 
on  the  Subsidy — five  whom  we  might  call  '  forty-pound 
men ',  and  ten  whom  we  might  call  '  twenty-pound  men  ' — 
and  thirteen  holders  of  tenements,  comprising  more  than 
a  single  burgage.  We  have  sixty-five  men  on  the  Subsidy 
who  may  be  taken  as  the  general  run  of  tradesmen  and 
craftsmen  in  the  town,  and  eighty-four  holdings  of  a  single 
burgage.  Finally,  it  may  be  noted  from  the  number  of 
servants  taxed  as  such  on  their  wages,  that  ten  households  in 
the  town  kept  these  men-servants. 

In  other  words,  the  improved,  more  systematic  civic  life  of 
Burford  in  the  sixteenth  century  can  now  be  seen  as  a  reflec- 
tion of  its  attainment  at  last  to  the  natural  and  obvious 
characteristics  of  a  market  and  manufacturing  town.  The 
old  equality  between  the  to\^n  residents  and  tRose  of  the 
hamlets  has  disappeared.  Only  one  man  in  the  hamlets  is 
assessed  at  anything  like  the-  higher  town  figures,  and  his 
assessment  is  but  £20.  That  is  to  say,  the  richest  group  in 
the  town  is  now  beyond  all  comparisen  with  the  agricultural 
tenants,  and  even  the  second  group  comes  out  as  essentially 
of  the  town.  Moreover,  the  gap  between  these  two  groups 
implies  that  better  brains  and  energy  were  going  into  the 
town's*  trade,  and  reaping  the  results  ;  while  at  the  same 
time  stimulating  a  competitive  spirit,  which  has  its  effect 
in  the  existence  of  the  small  group  between  the  richest  men 
and  the  mass  of  the  tradesmen. 

A  fair  idea  of  the  general  spread  of  the  prosperity  accom- 
panying the  particular  successes  thus  traceable  can  be 
derived  from  the  one  Muster  Roll  for  Burford.  Forty-seven 
men  are  entered  as  of  substance  to  equip  themselves  or  their 
substitutes  as  archers,  and  forty-one  to  do  the  same  as 
billmen.  It  is  useful  to  compare  this  with  the  Witney  Muster 
Roll  of  the  same  date.  Throughout  the  Lay  Subsidy  lists 
Witney  is  entered  for  higher  sums  than  Burford.  Yet  its 
Muster  Roll  shows  a  smaller  total — 70  as  against  88 — and 
still  more  significantly  shows  only  twenty-seven  men  to 
provide  archers.    The  deduction  from  this  is  that,  although 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  193 

Witney  may  have  had  men  of  greater  individual  wealth, 
whose  taxes  would  make  the  Subsidy  totals  larger  than  those 
of  Burford,  there  was  in  Burford  a  much  greater  number  of 
men  of  moderate  substance,  and  the  general  level  of  trading 
prosperity  was  higher. 

It  happens  that  less  can  be  said  about  the  actual  trades 
pursued  here  during  the  sixteenth  century  than  could  be 
said  about  those  of  the  earlier  period.  The  occupations  of 
persons  mentioned  in  grants  and  leases  are  not  so  often 
inserted  ;  and  no  such  illuminating  document  as  the  grant 
of  the  Bridge  tolls  occurs  to  assist  us.  But  all  the  trades 
previously  mentioned  can  be  found  recorded,  while  the 
saddlers,  who  were  soon  to  make  their  trade  famous  here, 
begin  to  appear.  It  is  also  clear,  from  the  fines  in  the  Court 
Rolls  of  1547  and  1549,  that  business  was  becoming  good 
enough  to  lead  to  the  setting  up  of  permanent  shops  for 
victuals,  instead  of  the  trade  being  confined  to  market  days. 
Several  bakers,  butchers,  fishmongers,  and  vintners  were 
carrying  on  trade  apart  from  the  market.  It  is  also  clear 
from  the  same  Rolls  that  Burford  A^as  already  the  town  of 
inns  which  it  so  markedly  was  later  on.  Alehouse  keepers, 
inn  keepers,  brewers,  and  keepers  of  hostelries  are  rather 
numerous ;  and  the  grant  of  the  George  Inn  to  servants  of 
the  Royal  Household  imphes  that  an  inn  here  must  have 
been  worth  possessing.  That  the  George  was  at  this  time 
the  chief  inn  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
only  inn  mentioned  by  name  in  the  Survey  of  1552.  Others 
recorded  in  various  town  grants  and  leases  were  the  Bull 
(in  the  same  position  as  the  Bull  of  to-day,  since  its  back  gate 
on  Witney  Street  is  mentioned),  the  Crown  (which  was  the 
old  Novum  Hospitium  Angulare  at  the  northern  corner  of 
Sheep  Street  and  the  High  Street),  the  Angel  (apparently 
next  to  the  Bull  at  the  corner  of  Witney  Street),  and  the 
Bear. 

The  mills  had  increased  in  number.  Besides  the  two 
called  Burford  Mills  there  were  now  a  corn-mill  at  Upton 
and  a  fulling  mill  in  Burford.  The  latter  may  be  taken  to 
be  the  one  at  the  end  of  Witney  Street,  at  the  present  day 

93«4  O 


194    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

the  electric  light  works.  At  any  rate  the  Survey  places  a  mill 
there,  in  the  description  of  a  close  as  lying  '  in  Witneystret 
iuxta  le  Walkemylle  '.  All  four  mills  were  leased  by  the 
Crown  in  152 1  to  another  servant  of  the  Royal  Household, 
Thomas  Wildyng,  a  Yeoman  of  the  Ewery ;    in  1538,  upon 


Map  of  Burford  in  1793,  showing  the  open  field  cultivation. 
From  the  map  engraved  by  Davis  of  Lewknor. 

Wildyng's  death,  John  Jones,  a  Burford  man,  took  over  the 
lease.  In  1545  Edmund  Harman  bought  them ;  the  fulling 
mill  he  sold  later  to  Edmond  Silvester.* 


Further   analysis   of   the   Edwardian   Survey   shows   how 

complete  was  that  separate  development  of  the  town,  apart 

from  the  hamlets,  which  the  Lay  Subsidies  indicate.     It  is 

on  the  Survey  that  the  hamlets  appear  for  the  first  time  with 

»  Part  III,  p.  657. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  195 

the  distinct  title  of  '  The  Manor  of  Bury  Barns  ',    The  details 
under  that  head  have  several  interesting  features. 

Firstly,  we  can  see  how  the  new  ideas  of  farming,  which 
were  giving  rise  to  so  many  complaints  in  the  political  satires 
of  the  time,  had  here  replaced  the  old  system.  At  our  last 
view  of  the  hamlets  in  1299  and  1307  the  old  order  was,  of 
course,  still  undisturbed ;  twelve  tenants  in  Signett  held 
a  full  virgate,  and  three  a  half-virgate ;  in  Upton  there  were 
seven  virgaters  and  one  half-virgater.  Thus  in  the  two  there 
were  twenty-three  tenants  with,  twenty-one  virgates.  In 
1552  the  holdings  are  almost  doubled  in  extent,  but  the 
tenants  number  less  than  half ;  there  are  ten  tenants  with 
thirty-five  virgates.  Four  of  the  tenants  are  still  small 
cultivators,  two  holding  a  virgate  and  two  a  half-virgate. 
Of  the  rest  one  man  holds  seven  virgates  with  two  messuages, 
three  hold  four  virgates  each,  one  has  three  and  a  half  vir- 
gates, and  two  have  three  virgates  each.  Here,  on  a  small 
scale,  is  precisely  that  gathering  of  the  farm  land  into  a 
few  hands  which  was  one  of  the  great  economic  perils  and 
problems  of  the  time.  It  was  inevitable,  no  doubt ;  as 
capital  increased,  and  commercial  ideas  improved,  the  power 
to  make  money  out  of  the  land  was  bound  to  have  its  way. 
The  change  would  be  seen  comparatively  early  in  manors 
like  this,  which  included  a  borough  ;  the  prosperity  of  the 
tradesmen  would  provide  capital  for  engrossing  the  land  on 
the  skirts  of  the  town.  Nor  is  Burford  devoid  of  the  evil 
which  followed  upon  this  engrossing.  Two  cases  here  of 
destruction  of  tenements  on  the  agricultural  messuages  appear 
in  the  Domesday  of  Enclosures,  the  local  instances  of  another 
inevitable  process  in  the  creation  of  large  farms,  namely,  the 
expulsion  from  tenements,  which  had  now  lost  their  old  fixed 
relation  to  the  virgates,  of  those  who  had  become  labourers  for 
a  wage  instead  of  independent  virgate-holders.*  The  man  who 
held  four  virgates  did  not  need  for  himself  the  four  tenements 
they  had  once  supported  ;  he  wanted  a  single,  and  better, 
house,  and  the  tenements  disappeared  to  make  way  for  it, 
leaving  the  occupiers  to  find  cottages  as  best  they  could. 
•  Domesday  of  Enclosures,  i.  344. 


196    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

The  number  of  virgate  tenants  entered  on  the  Survey 
leaves  us  in  no  doubt  that  by  this  time  any  portions  of  the 
later  common  fields,  which  may  have  been  uncultivated  in 
1500,  were  in  use.  The  portion  north  of  the  ridge  road  near 
White  Hill  must  have  been  broken  up,  and  the  small  detached 
portion  near  Holwell ;  *  and  the  fields  must  have  been  much 
as  they  were  at  the  time  of  the  Enclosure.  At  that  date 
the  Burford  and  Signett  Fields  stretched  from  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  parish  beyond  White  Hill  to  the  junction 
with  Upton  Fields  on  the  west,  and  from  the  Shil  Brook 
on  the  south  to  the  Witney-Northleach  road  on  the  north, 
taking  in  also  a  portion  beyond  this  road  on  the  White  Hill 
slope.  This  area  and  Upton  Fields  both  north  and  south 
of  the  Witney-Northleach  road  contained  together,  at  the 
dates  of  the  Enclosure  Awards,  1,955  acres.  For  the  thirty- 
five  virgates  of  the  tenants  of  1552,  together  with  the  six 
virgates  held  in  demesne  and  six  and  a  half  virgates  held  by 
tenants  in  the  town  we  require,  on  the  Survey's  allowance 
of  twenty-four  acres  to  the  virgate,  2,280  acres.^  These, 
however,  were  customary  acres,  not  the  modern  surveyed 
acres,  and  the  apparent  discrepancy  need  not  disturb  us. 
At  the  same  time,  this  virgate  total  can  hardly  be  accommo- 
dated unless  by  Jthe  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
common  fields  had  already  attained  their  full  extent. 

This  reveals  the  interesting  fact  that  the  arable  land  held 
by  the  borough  inhabitants  was  not  now  common  field  land 
at  all.  In  earlier  days  the  townsmen  had  held  in  the  fields 
side  by  side  with  the  people  of  the  hamlets.  In  1552  not 
only  is  it  impossible  to  find  room,  at  the  extreme  extent  of 
the  fields,  for  more  than  the  hamlet  tenants,  but  the  entries 
concerning  the  town  holdings  are  of  so  distinct  a  form  that 
they  clearly  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  common  field. 
They  are  in  no  case  complete  virgates  or  fractions  of  virgates  ; 
they  are  all  of  an  arbitrary  number  of  acres.    They  carry  no 

•  See  the  maps  on  pp.  194,  227. 

*  It  may  perhaps  be  remarked  again  that  the  virgate  area  as  entered  on 
documents  has  to  be  doubled  in  order  to  give  the  true  extent.  Half  the 
common  field  was  fallowed  each  year,  so  that  a  virgate  holding  has  to 
mean  a  virgate  in  each  field  alternately. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  197 

commonable  rights  ;  and  the  tenant  has  only  a  single  cropping 
of  them  in  the  year.  As  it  happens,  two  residents  in  the 
town  did  hold  in  the  common  fields,  and  the  difference  is  at 
once  apparent ;  for  in  their  cases  the  virgate  measurements 
apply,  nothing  is  said  about  a  single  cropping,  and  it  is 
specifically  recorded  that  they  have  common  with  the  tenants 
of  the  manor  of  Bury  Barns,  and  owe  suit  to  that  court  for 
this  land.  These  entries,  put  beside  the  others  concerning 
arable  land  held  with  town  tenements,  prove  beyond  question 
that  the  arable  of  the  townsmen  was  not  in  the  common 
fields. 

We  need  not  be  at  a  loss  to  discern  where  it  was.  The 
map  which  represents  the  Enclosure  Award  shows  several 
stretches  of  old  enclosures.  One  lies  on  the  hill-side  imme- 
diately east  of  the  town,  its  name,  the  Leasowes,  indicating 
old  enclosure.  Another  is  found  at  Sturt,  in  the  south- 
eastern extremity  of  the  parish  ;  another  beyond  Signett 
towards  Westwell,  again  at  the  extremity  of  the  parish. 
Roughly  speaking  these  areas  contain  about  520  modern 
acres.  The  arable  land  entered  to  town  tenants  in  the  Survey 
amounts  to  789  acres.  The  discrepancy  between  the  modern 
and  the  old  customary  acre  is  here  rather  larger  than  in  the 
case  of  the  common  fields  ;  but  it  is  likely  that  in  enclosures 
the  acre  was  often  overestimated.  At  any  rate,  with  these 
old  enclosures  before  us,  we  may  conclude  that  the  town 
arable  was,  as  might  be  expected,  situated  in  such  places  on 
the  edges  of  the  common  fields  as  the  virgate  holders  had 
left  outside  their  cultivated  area. 

The  meadow  holdings  of  borough  and  hamlets  had  become 
equally  distinct.  In  the  earlier  days  town  and  agricultural 
tenants  alike  had  held  in  High  Mead,  the  riverside  meadow 
east  of  the  town.  But  the  1552  Survey  shows  that  the 
meadow  west  of  the  town  had  become  equally  important, 
and  it  was  here,  in  Veronhill  and  Wyldmore  Meads,^  that  the 
hamlet  tenants  held  their  meadow.  It  is  remarkable  that 
in  this  matter  the  town  tenants  retained  the  older  land,  and 

>  The  modern  name  of  Fernhill  Copse  places  these  meads  for  us  along 
the  riverside  at  Upton. 


198     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

were  not  reduced  to  taking  what  the  virgaters  left.  But  of 
course  meadow  is  on  a  very  different  footing  from  arable  in 
this  respect — that  old  arable  has  a  value  accruing  to  it  from 
past  cultivation  and  manuring ;  whereas  one  meadow,  in 
days  when  no  manure  was  given  to  such  land,  was  no  better 
than  another  as  well  situated  in  relation  to  the  river.  The 
reason  why  the  virgaters  moved  from  High  Mead  may  well 
be  that,  when  the  demesne  portion  was  taken  out  of  it,  the 
remainder,  while  corresponding  closely  to  the  virgate  holdings 
of  1299-1307,  was  too  small  for  the  requirements  of  the 
more  numerous  virgaters  of  1552.  The  town  holdings  of 
meadow  amount  in  the  Survey  to  21  acres,  which,  with 
the  demesne  meadow  here  of  seven  acres  and  one  or  two 
small  enclosed  portions,  make  up  the  thirty  acres  of  High 
Mead.  But  the  hamlet  tenants  required  41^  acres,  and 
evidently  moved  to  the  western  meadows  to  find  them. 
High  Mead,  thus  left  to  the  town  tenants,  reveals  the  change 
in  the  arbitrary  character  of  the  holdings  there.  The  virgaters 
maintain  in  their  meads  the  strict  relation  of  one  acre  of 
meadow  to  a  virgate.  Among  the  town  tenants  we  find  men 
with  143  and  no  acres  of  arable  possessed  of  only  one  acre 
and  one  and  a  half  acres  respectively  of  meadow,  while  a  man 
with  only  .44  acres  of  arable  has  5^  acres  of  meadow. 

The  processes  of  divergent  development  on  the  part  of 
the  town  and  the  hamlets  must,  of  course,  have  been  gradual. 
But  the  Survey  of  1552  enables  us  to  see  them  as  practically 
complete,  and  we  can  understand  better  how  the  necessity 
had  arisen  for  providing  separate  names  for  two  such  distinct 
kinds  of  community.  We  may  indicate  the  change  (speaking 
now  not  historically,  but  loosely)  by  saying  that  the  old 
mediaeval  manor  of  Burford,  consisting  of  a  territory  with 
a  privileged  community  living  on  part  of  it,  has  disappeared, 
and  in  its  place  there  is  a  town  with  farm  lands  around  it. 
Town  and  farm  land  are,  indeed,  still  joint  members  of 
a  single  lordship  ;  but  from  henceforth  their  histories  run  in 
quitfe  separate  directions. 

The  story  of  the  hamlets  becomes  ever  more  meagre.  The 
tenancy  of  the  manor  domain  we  can  follow  through  nearly 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  199 

the  whole  of  the  century.  It  was  leased  by  the  Crown  to 
one  WilHam  Gittyns  or  Gittons  in  1526  for  a  term  of  21  years. 
In  1542  Thomas  Edgare  obtained  a  similar  lease  to  commence 
on  the  expiry  of  Gittyns's  tenancy.  But  he  can  never  have 
taken  this  up,  because  at  just  about  the  time  when  Gittyns's 
term  was  expiring  Edmund  Harman  took  a  lease  for  three 
lives.  He  may  perhaps  have  farmed  the  land  himself,  since 
the  Survey  of  1552  mentions  no  sub-tenant.  Upon  his  death 
the  Crown  leased  the  manor  lands  to  three  joint  tenants, 
John  (or  Thomas)  Moore,  Thomas  Cooke,  and  Margaret 
Curteis,  for  21  years  ;  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  to  Richard 
Bell,  who  presumably  did  sub-let  the  land,  for  he  is  himself 
described  as  of  Gray's  Inn,  London. 

The  house  at  Bury  Barns  was  still  in  a  real  sense  the  manor 
house  ;  the  Courts  of  which  we  have  record  in  1547  ^^id 
1549  must  have  been  held  in  it.  But  the  fact  that  its 
occupiers  were  not  owners  of  the  manorial  rights  must  have 
tended  to  weaken  the  association  of  those  rights  with  this 
house,  and  so  have  prepared  the  way  for  that  entire  loss  of 
the  manor  house  tradition  which  was  inevitable,  when  new 
lords  of  the  manor,  the  first  resident  owners  of  the  rights, 
established  themselves  in  a  mansion  built  on  the  site  of 
the  Hospital. 

The  history  of  the  town,  on  the  other  hand,  becomes  more 
ample  and  more  interesting.  Many  circumstances,  as  the 
History  of  the  Corporation  has  shown,  combined  to  make  it 
so  ;  but  no  one  who  studies  the  Records  can  fail  to  notice 
the  mark  upon  the  age  made  by  two  or  three  individuals — 
a  mark  so  strong  as  to  produce  the  impression  that  without 
them  no  material  circumstances  would  have  availed  to  make 
this  century  quite  what  it  was  in  Burford. 

Foremost  among  them  all  is  Simon  Wisdom.  We  first 
meet  the  name  in  1530,  when  in  the  course  of  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln's  investigations  of  heresy  in  his  diocese 

Simon  Wisdom  of  Burford  was  charged  in  judgment  for 
having  3  books  in  English,  one  was  the  Gospels  in  English, 
another  was  the  Psalter,  the  third  was  the  summ  of  Holy 
Scripture  in  English. 


200    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

He  abjured,  and  no  penance  or  punishment  is  recorded  in 
the  case.^ 

In  1538  a  Simon  Wisdom  was  Collector  of  the  Lay  Subsidy 
for  the  Hundreds  of  Bampton  and  Chadlington  ;  ^  and  in 
the  same  year  the  name  appears  among  the  Burf  ord  Burgesses. 
There  is  no  earher  trace  of  the  name  of  Wisdom  in  Burford, 
and  it  would  appear  likely  that  Simon  came  of  a  family  of 
substance '  living  elsewhere,  and  settled  himself  here.  He 
must  have  lived  to  a  good  age,  for  he  was  certainly  alive  in 
1581.  There  is  no  need  to  assume  that  we  have  to  deal  with 
a  father  and  son  of  the  same  name.  For  if  the  notable  Simon 
Wisdom  was  old  enough  to  become  a  Burgess  in  1538  (and 
no  other  of  the  name  appears  later,  so  that  this  must  be  our 
Simon)  he  would  not  be  too  young  to  have  been  charged  in 
1530.  The  absence  of  any  penance  implies  the  likelihood 
that  it  was  a  case  against  a  quite  young  man  or  even  a  lad. 

In  1539  he  was  tenant  of  some  of  the  Priory  lands  situated 
at  Great  Rissington,  and  in  1553  he  was  Steward  of  the 
Burgesses.  From  that  time  on  he  must  have  devoted  himself 
to  the  town,  being  Alderman  of  the  Gild  for  no  less  than 
twenty-two  years,  and  serving  more  than  once  as  Bailiff. 
To  him  we  owe  the  only  Memorandum  Book  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, which  is  largely  written  with  his  own  hand.  That  he 
had  a  particular  taste  for  system  and  organization  may  be 
seen  not  only  from  his  draft  in  this  book  of  the  oath  to  be 
taken  by  the  Steward  of  the  Corporation,  but  still  more  in 
the  Rules  and  Constitutions  composed  by  him  for  the  conduct 
of  the  Grammar  School.  The  great  part  he  took  in  the 
foundation  of  the  School  is  related  elsewhere,  in  the 
Introduction  to,  the  School  Records.  He  also  established 
a  small  Almshouse,  and  benefited  the  town  by  rebuilding 
much  of  the  dilapidated  charity  property.  He  was  a  man  of 
several  occupations  ;  he  is  described  on  occasions  both  as 
a  clothier  and  a  mercer  ;    but  in  1547  and  1549  he  is  found 

•  Foxe's  Ads  and  Monuments  (edition  of  1684),  ii.  196. 

*  See  Part  III.  p.  606. 

»  Apart  from  other  considerations,  these  '  books  in  EngHsh '  were  out 
of  the  reach  of  poor  men.  An  English  Bible  would  cost  at  least  20s.  See 
Acts  and  Monuments,  ii.  ^y. 


PLATE   XI.     TURRET    AT    BACK    OF    ONE    OF 
SIMON    WISDOM'S    HOUSES    ON    THE   HILL 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  201 

acting  as  a  fish  merchant,  and  in  1552  he  held  so  much  arable 
land  that  he  may  have  been  a  farmer  as  well,  especially  as 
he  describes  himself  sometimes  as  '  yeoman  '.  Building  must 
have  had  a  peculiar  attraction  for  him  ;  no  man  has  left  his 
name-  or  his  device  on  so  many  houses  in  the  town.  It  is 
a  singular  fact  that,  after  all  he  did  for  Burford,  there  should 
be  no  record  of  his  burial-place,  nor  any  sort  of  memorial  to 
him.  He  died  about  1585,  apparently  unmarried ;  no  lease 
or  conveyance  of  any  of  his  numerous  bits  of  property 
mentions  a  wife.  One  Raphe  Wisdom,  perhaps  a  nephew, 
carried  on  the  name  for  some  time  in  Burford  ;  it  lasted 
longer  in  the  family  of  a  brother,  Thomas  Wisdom,  at  Shipton. 
No  figure  can  quite  be  placed  beside  Simon  Wisdom's 
for  interest.  Yet  Peter  Eynesdale,  the  first  who  actually 
bears  the  title  of  Alderman  in  the  Records,  and  who  brought 
the  Gild  through  the  rather  perilous  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, deserves  to  be  mentioned.  He  was  energetic  in  charge 
of  Church  and  Charity  Lands.  At  the  other  end  of  the 
century,  Richard  Merywether  stands  out  as  the  one  successor 
to  Simon  Wisdom  who  appears  to  have  had  something  like 
his  vigour  and  capacity.  He  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the 
recovery  of  the  confiscated  Charity  Lands  in  1595  ;  and  the 
Roll  of  the  Burgess  Rules  and  Customs  was  drawn  up  while 
he  was  Alderman,  therefore  probably  upon  his  suggestion 
and  advice. 

Of  the  attitude  and  the  incHnations  of  Burford  men  during 
the  Civil  War  we  have  no  knowledge.  If  feelings  ran  high 
on  one  side  or  the  other,  nothing  has  come  down  to  us  which 
reveals  them.  It  is  unfortunate  that,  so  soon  after  the  six- 
teenth-century Memorandum  Book  was  filled,  should  have 
come  the  dispute  with  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield  and  the  extinc- 
tion of  all  the  duties  that  would  have  made  the  keeping  of 
another  Memorandum  Book  likely ;  and  equally  unfortunate 
that  this  disaster  should  in  its  turn  have  been  followed  so 
soon  by  the  Royal  Commission's  reconstitution  of  the 
charities.  Resentful,  we  may  well  imagine,  perhaps  also 
rather  bewildered  by  what  had  befallen  them  and  the  com- 


202    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

parative  insignificance  to  which  they  were  reduced,  the 
Burgesses  never  again  attempted  to  keep  even  those  casual 
records  which  the  habits  of  Simon  Wisdom  preserved  for  us 
through  thirty  years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Even  before 
disaster  fell  upon  the  Burgesses,  that  kind  of  record  had 
become  very  fragmentary.  It  had  not  been  entirely  dropped  ; 
in  1600  some  one,  apparently  Symon  Symons,  then  Steward 
of  the  Burgesses,  drew  up  a  statement  as  to  the  recovery  by 
the  town  of  the  confiscated  Charity  Lands.  This  is  precisely 
the  kind  of  thing  that  might  have  had  its  place  in  a  new 
Memorandum  Book.  But  it  stands  alone,  bound  up  now  as 
the  first  few  leaves  of  an  Account  Book. 

There  is  thus  no  section  of  the  Records  in  which  we  can 
look  for  light  upon  the  townsfolk's  feelings  in  the  Civil  War. 
We  can  indeed  be  sure  of  one  or  two  Royalists  ;  the  Calendar 
of  the  Committee  for  the  Advance  of  Money  enters  three 
sums  from  Burford.  Leonard  Yates  lent  £40,  David  Hughes 
14  guineas,  and  Thomas  Silvester  £77,  and  the  contributions 
of  Yates  and  Silvester  are,  for  their  position,  large.  On  the 
other  hand  it  is  to  be  observed  that  there  are  but  three  loans, 
and  there  were  at  least  a  score  of  men  in  Burford  whose 
circumstances  were  no  humbler  than  those  of  Yates  and 
Hughes.  For  the  rest  we  have  only  isolated  facts  which 
show  Burford  at  times  in  the  track  of  war.  The  town  first 
saw  fighting  on  New  Year's  Eve  of  1642/3.^  On  December  30, 
1642,  Sir  John  Byron  had  been  ordered  to  proceed  with 
his  whole  regiment  to  Burford,  to  convoy  two  cartloads  of 
ammunition  for  the  Marquis  of  Hertford,  who  was  expected 
at  Stow  on  the  following  day.  On  reaching  Burford,  Byron 
made  inquiries  about  the  Parliament  forces  at  Cirencester, 
and  we  may  perhaps  catch  a  ghmpse  of  the  townsmen's 
sympathies  in  the  fact  that  he  could  '  get  no  satisfaction  ' 
from  them.  But  the  position  of  Burford,  near  enough  to 
Oxford  to  be  drawn  into  trouble,  yet  not  near  enough  to  be 
occupied  permanently  by  either  side,  may  well  have  incHned 
the  inhabitants  to  caution,  and  we  need  not  conclude  from 

1  The  best  account  of  this  afiair  is  to  be  found  in  Mercurius  Aulicus, 
under  date  January  ist,  1643. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  203 

this  incident  that  the  place  was  Parliamentarian  in  feeling. 
Byron  sent  a  patrol  out  towards  Cirencester,  and  they,  after 
approaching  to  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  that  town,  brought 
back  word  that  there  were  not  above  five  hundred  dragoons 
there.  The  next  day,  a  Saturday,  passed  quietly  until  seven 
o'clock  at  night,  when  another  patrol  from  the  Cirencester 
road  came  in  with  news  that  about  two  miles  from  Burford 
they  had  met  four  dragoons,  who,  on  encountering  them, 
had  ridden  back  so  fast  that  they  could  not  be  captured. 
Byron  at  once  ordered  one  of  his  captains  to  take  forty  men 
along  the  Cirencester  road,  and  warned  the  whole  regiment 
to  be  in  readiness  at  the  sound  of  the  trumpet.  He  then 
went  up  the  hill  to  post  sentries,  apparently  at  the  cross 
roads  by  Bury  Barns.  Coming  back  into  the  town  he  found 
that  half  of  the  party  ordered  to  the  Cirencester  road  had 
not  yet  started ;  but  before  he  could  give  any  other  orders 
muskets  began  to  go  off ;  the  Parliamentarians  were  in  the 
town.  Byron's  first  care  was  to  secure  the  Bridge  with  a 
'  competent '  party  of  horse  under  his  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
to  avoid  being  cut  off  from  Lord  Hertford,  and  to  dispatch 
the  ammunition  at  once  with  a  small  guard  of  thirty  men. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  Parliamentarians  knew  of  Byron's 
business,  and  were  intending  to  intercept  the  ammunition. 
If  so,  they  were  late  in  attacking,  for,  since  Hertford  was 
expected  at  Stow  that  day,  the  chances  would  be  that  the 
convoy  would  have  been  on  its  way  to  him  before  they 
reached  Burford.  The  more  reasonable  conjecture  to  make 
is  that,  without  knowing  the  cause  of  Byron's  presence,  the 
troops  at  Cirencester  had  heard  of  the  patrols  on  the  road, 
and  had  therefore  come  up  to  reconnoitre,  and  to  attack  if 
the  chance  offered.  But  in  any  case  Byron's  precautions 
were  good.  Having  thus  secured  the  Bridge,  he  returned  to 
the  town,  to  find  the  firing  coming  from  the  direction  of  the 
White  Hart,  '  an  Inne  in  the  utmost  part  of  the  Towne, 
from  whence  a  lane  leadeth  to  the  Market  Crosse  '.  This 
would  place  the  skirmish  that  ensued  in  Witney  Street,  not 
only  from  the  fact  that  an  inn  of  that  name  survived  in 
Witney  Street  till  modem  times,  but  also  because  it  is  not 


204     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

likely  that,  with  the  look-out  that  was  being  kept  towards 
the  Cirencester  road,  the  attack  could  have  come  so  suddenly 
from  the  Sheep  Street  side.  It  is  more  probable  that  the 
four  troopers  who  had  been  observed  had,  on  riding  back 
to  the  main  body,  given  warning  that  that  approach  to  the 
town  was  watched,  and  the  force  had  thereupon  struck 
across  country  from  the  Cirencester  road  eastwards,  so  as 
to  make  a  surprise  attack  from  the  other  side.  Byron  was, 
in  fact,  being  taken  in  the  rear.  But  it  was  not  a  serious 
affair.  Byron  found  his  men  being  driven  out  of  Witney 
Street,  and  seeing  the  danger  of  allowing  the  enemy  to  hold 
the  centre  of  the  town  he  rallied  his  men,  charged  in  with  his 
sword,  having  no  other  weapon,  and  in  spite  of  some  firing 
from  the  back  of  the  enemy  forced  the  Parliamentarians 
down  Witney  Street  again  to  the  inn.  Here  he  received 
a  wound  in  the  face  from  a  halberd,  and  finding  himself  ill 
supported  (most  of  his  troops,  misunderstanding  his  orders, 
had  remained  about  the  Market  Cross  to  secure  the  centre  of 
the  town)  he  returned  to  bring  up  more  forces.  But  the 
fight  in  the  dark  was  really  over.  When  Captain  Apsley 
tackled  the  inn  once  again  the  enemy  were  already  escaping 
by  the  back  door,  although  the  one  loss  on  Byron's  side 
happened  at  this  moment,  a  trooper  being  killed  as  he  entered 
the  inn.  The  Parhamentarians  were  pursued  for  six  miles; 
but  the  darkness  and  the  lack  of  a  moon  saved  them. 

The  parish  registers  contain  a  record  of  the  skirmish, 
which  reveals  in  an  interesting  way  the  losses  on  either  side. 
One  man,  '  slain  in  Burford  ',  was  buried  on  January  i,  and 
six  soldiers,  also  '  slain  in  Burford  ',  on  the  2nd.  But  as 
the  name  of  the  single  interment  is  given,  and  the  other 
entry  only  records  '  six  soldiers  ',  we  may  conclude  that  the 
one  was  the  loss  on  Byron's  side,  his  comrades  being  there  to 
give  his  name,  and  the  others  were  the  casualties  left  by  the 
Parliamentarians,  and  therefore  nameless.  There  appear 
to  have  been  two  deaths  from  wounds ;  on  January  lo 
Thomas  Tunkes,  '  slaine  w*''  the  shot  of  musket ',  was  buried, 
and  on  January  15  William  Bolton,  '  slaine  in  Like  manner  '. 
On  the  8th  had  been  buried  '  a  soldier  dying  of  sicknes  ', 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  205 

Soldiers  must  have  been  about  Burford  early  in  the  following 
year,  though  there  are  no  accounts  of  any  fighting.  Andrew 
Royer,  '  a  fifrench  Leiftenant  slaine  in  Burford  ',  was  buried 
on  February  17,  1643/4 ;  and  on  March  12  *  Bryan  Roy  an 
Irishman  &  soldier  ', 

Later  in  that  year  the  town  was  within  an  ace  of  being  the 
scene  of  what  might  have  proved  a  most  important  battle. 
It  was  at  Burford  that  Charles  called  the  first  real  halt  on 
that  famous  march,  when  he  had  slipped  out  of  Oxford  by 
night  between  the  armies  of  Essex  at  Bletchingdon  and 
Waller  at  Newbridge  ;  he  and  his  personal  troop  rested  at 
the  Priory,^  and  his  army  about  the  town,  from  the  afternoon 
until  nine  o'clock  at  night,  when  they  moved  out  again, 
reaching  Bourton-on-the- Water  by  midnight.  This  was  on 
June  4,  1644.  Waller,  getting  first  news  of  what  had  happened, 
sent  some  horse  up  so  quickly  that  they  found  a  few  Royalists 
still  in  the  town  ;  but  Essex  was  not  here  in  pursuit  till 
xjune  6.  So  there  was  no  battle,  and  Essex,  finding  himself 
so  far  behind,  stayed  a  few  days,  quartering  his  troops  in  the 
Church,  while  he  summoned  his  principal  officers  to  a  council 
of  war.  It  must  have  been  at  this  time  that  his  troopers  took 
the  banners  over  the  Tanfield  tomb  for  scarfs. 

The  result  of  Essex's  deliberations  was  such  that  Charles 
was  able  to  return  to  Oxford,  and  a  fortnight  later  the  King 
was  back  in  Burford,  staying  the  night  at  the  George, ^  and 
going  to  Church  to  hear  a  sermon  next  morning  before 
resuming  his  march.  Four  thousand  troops  and  fifteen  pieces 
of  cannon,  which  he  had  left  in  Oxford  and  Abingdon,  were 
sent  to  rejoin  him  in  Burford.  Again  our  one  local  record  of 
this  event  may  be  an  entry  in  the  Register  stating  that 
'  William  Callis  of  ffilkins  a  wounded  man  and  lyeing  under 
y*"  chirurgeons  hand  at  Burford  dyed,  and  was  buried  y' 
4th  of  July  '. 

In  November  of  the  same  year  Prince  Rupert  was  here, 
being  joined  at  Burford  by  General  Gerard  with  his  forces.* 
He  came  to  the  town  on  November  i.    On  this  occasion  our 

•  Symonds's  Diary  (Camden  Society,  74),  p.  8.  '  Ibid.,  p.  15. 

'  English  Historical  Review,  vol.  xiii,  p.  729- 


2o6    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Registers  seem  to  indicate  some  rowdiness  and  indiscipline. 
There  are  two  entries  :  *  Thomas  WiUiams  a  Trooper  slaine 
by  his  fellow  soldier  with  shott  of  a  PistoU  and  buried  the 
24th  day  of  Novemb.' ;  and  '  Lewis  Davies  a  serjeant  of 
a  ffoote  company  under  Generall  Gerrard  dyed  of  a  wound 
given  him  by  a  Captaine  &  was  buried  y'  29th  of  Novemb.' 

Three  more  entries  reveal  to  us  the  presence  of  soldiery 
in  the  town  from  time  to  time.  '  John  Hethewood  a  soldier 
belonging  to  S*^  Marmaduke  Langdale  dyed  of  hurt  received 
from  a  fellow  soldier  and  was  Buried  y^  30th  of  ffebruar  ' 
(1644-5)  ;  '  George  Rowley  an  officer  in  Prince  Rupert  his 
Army  dyeing  of  a  wound  receaved  was  buried  y*  eight  of 
May  '  ;  and  '  John  Bullocke  Farrier  in  the  Lord  Goreings 
army  shott  by  his  fellow  soldier  buried  eodem  die  '.  The 
two  latter  entries  can  be  connected  with  the  fact  that  Prince 
Rupert  and  Prince  Maurice  were  in  Burford  with  a  thousand 
foot  and  a  thousand  horse  on  May  3rd.^  It  may  be  remarked 
that  our  Registers  add  one  more  to  the  proofs  that  the  use 
of  churches  for  billeting  troops  was  not  confined  to  one  side 
in  the  war  ;  there  are  entries  of  payments  for  '  takeing  downe 
the  wall  for  the  carryinge  of  straw  into  the  Church  for  the 
souldiers ',  and  '  for  makeing  cleane  the  church  when  the 
souldiers  went  away  '.  These  can  only  refer  to  the  Royalist 
troops.  An  entry  of  a  payment  for  ringing  the  bells  '  for  the 
Prince  '  must  also  refer  to  this  visit.  Rupert  was  here  again 
this  year,  on  September  14,  but  that  was  not  an  occasion  on 
which  he  would  have  been  gratified  by  the  ringing  of  bells. 
The  entry  in  the  diary  of  his  marches  reads  :  *  Our  convoye 
left  us.  Layd  downe  armes.'  ^  He  was  on  his  way  from 
Cirencester  to  Oxford,  where  on  the  17th  he  was  relieved  of 
his  command  on  instructions  from  the  Lords  by  letter  from 
the  King,  and  his  regiments  were  cashiered. 

Of  what  the  townspeople  thought  of  all  these  things — the 
hasty  marches,  the  to  and  fro  of  captains,  the  dead  men  in 
the  streets — we  know  nothing.  We  cannot  tell  how  many  of 
them  had  their  sympathies  with  Lord  Falkland,  whom  they 
had  so  often  seen  among  them,  knowing  not  how  a  few  pages 

•  Dugdale's  Diary.  *  English  Historical  Review,  loc.  cit. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  207 

of  great  literature  were  to  make  him  a  better  known  figure 
of  the  Civil  War  than  many  men  of  more  forceful  character. 
It  is  likely,  however,  that  they  found  their  guide  in  the  new 
owner  of  the  Priory,  and  were  well  content  to  make  under 
Speaker  Lenthall's  wing  the  transition  from  one  regime  to 
the  other. 

The  part  which  Burford  played  in  one  critical  episode  of 
that  other  regime — the  famous  scene  of  the  execution  here  of 
the  '  Levellers  '  and  the  suppression  of  the  mutiny  of  1649  in 
the  Parliamentary  army — offers  so  many  points  of  detailed 
interest  that  it  is  treated  in  a  separate  chapter. 

Of  those  other  aspects  of  Burford  history,  the  character 
of  the  town,  the  number  of  people  it  contained,  their  occupa- 
tions and  conditions,  which  we  have  followed  through  previous 
centuries,  we  are  not  left  in  the  seventeenth  century  without 
information. 

Upon  the  size  of  the  town,  to  begin  with,  much  light  is 
thrown  by  two  Burgage  Rent  Rolls,  for  the  years  1652  and 
1685,  which  somehow  found  their  way  into  the  Corporation 
Records.  They  differ  in  one  respect  from  the  Survey  of  i552. 
In  the  latter  document  the  burgage  holdings  are  given  simply 
as  totals,  without  specification  of  the  particular  tenements  ; 
a  man  is  entered  as  holding  '  eight  burgages  in  High  Street 
and  Witney  Street ',  or  '  three  burgages  in  High  Street '. 
Consequently  the  probable  population  had  to  be  estimated 
on  the  total  number  of  burgages.  The  two  Burgage  Rent 
Rolls  are  drawn  up  on  a  much  more  informative  system. 
Each  tenement  is  entered  separately,  with  its  situation 
mentioned  ;  and — still  more  usefully — the  number  of  occu- 
piers is  given.  Thus  we  can  base  calculations  on  a  recorded 
number  of  households,  not  on  a  number  only  conjecturally 
derived  from  a  total  of  burgages  ;  and  we  can  also  discover 
the  number  of  households  existing  in  each  street. 

The  Rolls  are  ^o  near  in  point  of  time  and  in  their  main 
statistics  that  it  would  not  much  matter  which  of  them  were 
used  for  calculation.  The  1652  Roll  enters  128  tenements  and 
the  1685  Roll  127  tenements.  The  latter  is,  for  practical 
reasons,  the  more  convenient  for  our  purpose  ;    because  the 


2o8    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

former,  evidently  in  use  for  several  years,  has  so  many 
erasures  and  corrections  in  the  names  of  occupiers  that  it  is 
a  confusing  document  to  analyse. 

Taking  the  1685  Roll,  then,  it  appears  on  a  superficial 
glance  that  the  numbers  of  households  in  each  street  are 
singularly  near  the  totals  of  to-day.  On  the  east  side  of  the 
High  Street  there  were  55  households ;  to-day  there  is 
actually  the  same  number  ;  on  the  west  side  there  were  45  as 
against  51  to-day.  On  the  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  there 
were  9  as  against  8  to-day,  and  on  the  south  side  14  as  against 
20.  On  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street  there  were  17  as 
against  25,  and  on  the  south  side  8  as  against  10.  In  Priory 
Lane  and  St.  John's  Street  together  there  were  9,  as  against 
16  in  the  modern  Priory  Lane,  which  covers  the  ground  of 
both  the  older  names.  On  Church  Green  there  were  exactly 
the  same  number  of  separate  buildings  as  to-day,  namely 
a  house  next  the  churchyard,  the  Almshouse,  and  a  house 
at  the  Gildenford  end  of  the  Almshouse.  Church  Lane  is 
a  difficult  point,  because  to-day  almost  the  whole  of  it  on 
both  sides  is  School  building ;  in  1685  there  were  seven 
households  here.  A  few  households  are  entered  in  Gildenford 
Lane,  but  the  number  is  not  specified  ;  as  they  were  all  in 
the  hands  of  John  Castle,  who  later  on  gave  six  houses  in  the 
Lane  for  the  purposes  of  an  Almshouse,  we  may  perhaps 
conclude  that  this  would  be  the  number  of  his  tenements  here 
on  the  1685  Roll. 

Now  it  is  at  first  sight  curious  that  the  numbers  of  the 
separate  houses  should  so  nearly  correspond  with  those  of 
the  present  day.  True,  there  has  been  no  considerable 
increase  of  population.  But  general  ideas  of  the  closer  quarters 
and  more  cramped  way  of  living  in  the  earlier  period  would 
lead  us  to  expect  that  the  houses  nowadays  would  be  more 
numerous,  even  if  the  population  were  much  the  same.  The 
answer  to  this  difficulty  may  be  found  on  a  little  further 
analysis.  To  begin  with,  the  apparent  correspondence  of 
the  High  Street  figures  needs  modification.  Several  cottages 
lying  back  from  the  Street,  like  the  row  up  an  alley  below  the 
Post  Office,  would  be  entered  under  the  burgage  rent  of  the 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION     209 

tenement  on  the  back  premises  of  which  they  had  been 
constructed,  and  so  would  appear  under  the  head  of  the 
High  Street.  Similarly  some  cottages  which  we  should  now 
describe  as  lying  on  the  north  side  of  Priory  Lane,  at  the 
back  of  the  Falkland  Hall,  would  for  the  same  reason  appear 
in  1685  as  High  Street  households.  Again,  no  entries  are 
made  for  Lawrence  Lane,  though  there  are  houses  there 
obviously  older  than  the  date  of  this  Roll ;  they  must  have 
been  classed  with  the  High  Street  tenement  behind  which 
they  stood.  This  is  the  first  consideration  which  makes  it 
necessary  to  subtract  from  the  High  Street  totals  of  1685. 
Another  is  that,  although  for  general  comparison  we  com- 
bined in  the  earlier  figures  the  High  Street  and  the  Hill,  it  is 
also  requisite  to  separate  them  for  a  proper  view  of  the 
conditions  then  and  now.  In  1685  there  were  only  ten  houses 
on  the  Hill,  five  on  the  east,  four  on  the  west,  and  one  not 
assigned  on  the  Roll  to  either  side.  It  is  not  quite  easy, 
owing  to  lack  of  any  definite  indication  of  where  the  High 
Street  ceased  and  the  Hill  began,  to  provide  any  corresponding 
figures  from  the  town  of  to-day  ;  but,  roughly  speaking,  we 
may  take  it  that  where  there  were  only  ten  houses  in  1685 
there  are  now  about  forty. 

Adding  to  these  considerations  the  fact  that  the  modern 
figures  give  us  five  more  houses  in  Sheep  Street,  ten  more  in 
Witney  Street,  and  a  number  in  Gildenford  Lane,  with 
perhaps  two  or  three  more  in  Priory  Lane,  we  can  see  where 
the  real  change  has  been,  behind  the  apparent  similarity  of 
the  figures.  Improved  ideas  of  comfort  and  privacy  have 
expanded  the  town  outwards  from  an  overcrowded  central 
space  to  the  side  streets  and  the  Hill.  The  High  Street 
below  the  Witney  Street  and  Sheep  Street  turnings  must 
have  been  in  1685  a  mixture  of  some  rather  large  houses  with 
huddled  cottages  between  and  behind  them.  Taking  the 
total  population  of  the  town,  on  a  basis  of  180  households, 
as  about  900,  we  find  some  460,  or  rather  more  than  half, 
living  in  that  area. 

It  follows  that  we  cannot  yet  picture  the  town  as  having 
attained  quite  its  modern  form.    The  Hill  was  as  yet  chiefly 

2304  p 


210    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

open  ground  with  a  few  houses  scattered  up  it ;  and  there 
were  some  clear  spaces  on  the  south  side  of  Sheep  Street, 
and  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street  towards  the  river. 

It  is  not  possible  to  say  exactly  where  the  larger  houses 
broke  the  frontage  lines  of  the  streets.  On  the  east  side  of 
the  High  Street  there  were  several.  One,  which  paid  burgage 
rent  at  the  highest  rate  recorded  on  these  Rolls,  namely  gs., 
appears  to  have  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  Wesleyan 
Chapel.  Another,  which  paid  65.,  probably  stood  just  above 
this  one.  Three  others  on  that  side  paid  together  165.  Higher 
up  on  the  same  side  a  large  house  stood  at  the  corner  of  the 
modern  Swan  Lane,  its  ground  running  back  alongside  the 
lane.  It  has  a  particular  interest,  because  it  is  associated 
with  the  family  of  Warren  Hastings.  A  document  of  1648 
shows  that  the  ownership  was  partly  vested  in  '  George 
Hastings  of  Dalford  in  the  County  of  Worcester  '}  When 
the  messuage  ceased,  at  some  time  between  the  two  dates  of 
these  Rolls,  to  be  a  single  residence,  and  was  divided  between 
three  occupiers,  one  of  them  was  Hercules  Hastings.^ 

On  the  west  side  of  the  High  Street  there  were  fewer 
large  houses.  One  mansion  paid  6s.,  and  another,  held  with 
some  arable  land,  85.  8d. 

In  Sheep  Street  the  largest  house  stood  about  in  the  middle 
of  the  south  side.  It  appears  from  various  indications  to  be 
the  one  formerly  held  by  the  Gild,  with  rather  ample  ground 
about  it ;  and  to  have  occupied  the  ground  now  covered  by 
three  houses  and  several  gardens. 

A  few  small  details  can  be  added  to  our  mental  picture 
of  the  town.  Opposite  the  Tolsey  stood  the  High  Cross  ;  it 
was,  of  course,  standing  there  in  earlier  times,  but  the  first 
actual  mention  of  it  is  not  before  1608.  The  base  of  it,  dug 
up  during  a  re-making  of  the  roadway,  now  stands  behind  the 
Tolsey  railing  in  Sheep  Street.  On  the  east  side  of  the  High 
Street  was  a  forge  known  as  '  Middle  Forge ' ;  it  stood  just  below 
the  Witney  Street  corner ;   on  the  west  side  was  a  pump. 

■»  Part  III,  p.  462. 

^  He  was  a  clockmaker,  some  of  his  productions  being  still  in  existence. 
One  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  John  Lane. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  211 

Indications  such  as  those  which  have  assisted  us  in  dating 
the  buildings  of  earlier  periods  are  not  lacking  in  the  later 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  is  not,  however,  easy  to 
assign  definitely  to  the  first  half  of  this  century  any  of  our 
buildings.  The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  there  are  con- 
siderations which  might  assign  to  that  time  the  building  of 
the  beautiful  three-gabled,  barge-boarded  house  on  the  west 
side  of  High  Street,  opposite  the  end  of  Sheep  Street. 
Obviously  this  frontage  involved  a  much  freer  use  of  glass 
for  the  windows  of  the  upper  storey  than  did  the  late  sixteenth- 
century  type.  Yet  as  late  as  1608  '  the  glass  in  the  windows  ' 
was  valuable  enough  in  Burford  to  be  separately  scheduled  in 
the  sale  of  quite  a  large  house.^  Therefore  the  frontage  which 
has  just  been  mentioned  should  probably  be  regarded  as  not 
earlier  than  1625. 

Of  an  early  type  of  Jacobean  structure  we  need  hardly 
expect  to  find  many  examples.  So  much  rebuilding  had 
been  done — so  many  substantial  stone  houses  erected — in 
the  Elizabethan  period.  Yet  of  course  necessity  is  not  the 
only  cause  of  new  building;  it  may  equally  be  dictated  by 
changing  taste  backed  by  easier  means.  When  we  find,  as 
we  shall  shortly  be  finding,  among  the  inhabitants  of  Burford 
a  distinctly  new  kind  of  resident,  we  may,  therefore,  be  pre- 
pared for  the  appearance  also  of  a  new  kind  of  domestic  archi- 
tecture. Some  houses  bearing  an  inscribed  date,  which  allow 
us  to  date  others  by  their  resemblance,  prove  that  the  latter 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  almost  as  active  a  building 
period  as  the  latter  half  of  the  previous  century  had  been. 

The  front  of  the  Vicarage  towards  the  High  Street  bears  the 
date  1672  ;  a  house  in  Sheep  Street  is  inscribed  1696 ;  and 
with  these  we  may  place  the  house  at  Kit's  Quarries  built, 
according  to  a  stone  let  into  the  wall,  by  Christopher  Kempster 
in  1698.  In  these  three,  different  as  they  are  in  general  out- 
line, we  can  discern  certain  common  characteristics.  They 
have  stone  fronts  of  more  carefully  worked  ashlar  than  the 
earlier  houses  had,  extremely  well  fitted  and  pointed.  The 
window  openings  are  plain  with  a  broad  shallow  moulding 
•  Part  III.  pp.  402-3. 
P2 


212    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

outlining  them,  and  are  tall  in  proportion  to  their  width  ;  they 
are  very  distinctly  designed  for  sash  windows.  The  whole 
effect  is  of  a  smoother,  more  refined  style,  with  a  tendency 
to  rectangular  outline  and  to  a  great  restraint  in  taste. 

Two  houses  almost  opposite  the  Vicarage,  obviously 
built  at  one  time  and  included  under  one  roof-line — perhaps 
for  economy  in  labour — display  the  same  characteristics  ; 
and  so  does  a  house  higher  up  the  street  on  the  same  side, 
a  little  above  the  Wesleyan  Chapel. 

We  may  without  much  hesitation  assign  to  about  this 
period  the  building  on  the  south  side  of  Witney  Street  now 
called  the  Great  House.  It  has  the  same  kind  of  window 
opening,  varied  with  pleasing  circles  in  the  uppermost  storey 
and  oval  lights  for  the  cellar ;  and  the  same  good  ashlar 
stonework.  Other  decorative  details,  such  as  the  large  pine- 
cone  ornaments,  the  pedimented  frontage  and  the  castellated 
turrets,  are  not  unsuitable  to  so  high  a  fagade.  This  may 
perhaps  be  the  building  which  appears  for  the  first  time  on  the 
Burgage  Rent  Roll  of  1685  as  part  of  Mr.  Robert  Glyn's 
land — '  a  new  tenement  on  the  south  side  of  Witney  Street 
in  the  possession  of  the  said  Robert  Glyn  '. 

There  is  reason,  too,  for  classing  among  our  late  Jacobean 
buildings  the  present  frontage  of  the  Bull.  In  the  Burford 
Records  is  a  lease  of  the  Bull  to  Edmund  Heminge,  dated 
October  13,  1658.  The  house  is  described  as  '  now  in  his 
tenure ',  but  the  new  lease  is  not  to  begin  until  October  18, 
1661,  and  then  the  rent  is  to  be  raised  from  £6  a  year  to  £14 
a  year,  with  an  increased  chief  rent  to  the  lord  of  the  manor 
which  the  lessee  covenants  to  pay.  ,The  post-dating  of  the 
new  lease  has  one  obvious  explanation  ;  the  existing  lease 
of  the  premises,  granted  in  1630,  was  not  due  to  expire  before 
1661.  But  there  are  some  facts  which  require  further  ex- 
planation. Heminge  was  already  in  possession,  and  had  no 
need  to  anticipate  by  so  long  a  time  the  end  of  his  tenure. 
The  new  lease  imposes  a  very  heavy  advance  of  rent,  which  is 
the  more  striking  because,  after  the  Commission  of  1628  had 
fixed  the  fair  rents  for  the  charity  properties,  the  practice  of 
the  Burgesses  was  to  maintain  them  at  the  same  figures, 


PLATE    XII.     THE    GREAT    HOUSE 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  213 

even  when,  in  justice  to  the  charities,  they  ought  to  have 
been  advanced  to  keep  pace  with  increasing  wealth.  An 
explanation  which  would  meet  these  facts,  and  would  at 
the  same  time  be  not  discordant  with  the  style  of  the  Bull 
frontage,  is  that  the  interval  of  three  years  prescribed  in 
Heminge's  new  lease  may  very  likely  have  been  arranged  to 
allow  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  inn,  after  which  it  would,  of 
course,  be  rented  more  highly. 

This  opens  the  way  to  an  interesting  conjecture.  The 
Bull  frontage  is  remarkable  as  being  the  single  instance  of 
a  considerable  use  of  brick  in  Burford  architecture* — a  very 
successful  use  of  it,  for  the  structure  is  in  no  way  displeasing, 
though  so  uncompromising  a  departure  from  the  natural 
building  material  of  the  district.  But  why  should  brick 
have  been  used  at  all  ?  The  answer  may  be  found  in  certain 
circumstances  of  Burford  life  at  this  time.  The  current  of 
road  traffic  and  travellers,  which  was  later  to  become  its 
chief  business,  was  beginning  to  flow  into  the  town.  A  project 
for  rebuilding  the  Bull  may  easily  have  arisen  from  the  idea 
that  mote  than  one  good  inn  might  profitably  be  kept  here, 
and  that  a  rival  to  the  George  might  stand  a  good  chance  of 
success.  If  so,  it  may  not  be  straining  the  point  too  far  to 
suggest  that  the  unusual  recourse  to  brick  may  have  been  due 
to  a  deliberate  intention  to  be  striking,  and  even,  considering 
the  great  beauty  and  distinction  which  brick  building 
attained  in  later  Jacobean  architecture,  to  be  fashionable 
and  up  to  date.  In  other  words,  the  one  brick  fagade  in 
Burford  may  be  an  early  instance  of  the  use  of  advertisement. 

That  new  element  in  the  population,  to  the  presence  of 
which. we  may  attribute  the  building  activities  of  this  period, 
is  singled  out  on  the  Burgage  Rent  Rolls  by  a  curious  little 
distinguishing  mark.  A  certain  number  of  the  chief  tenants 
are  entered  with  the  title  '  Mr.',  an  obvious  indication  that 
they  were  persons  of  consequence.  It  is  clear  from  the  use 
of  this  title  that  Mr.  Highlord,  Mr.  John  Jordan,  Mr.  Robert 
Glyn,  Mr.  Heylin,  Mr.  Templer,  Mr.  William  Elstone, 
Mr.   Robert  Pleydall,   Mr.   Robert  Veysey,  ranked  as  of  a 

»  See  Plate  XIII. 


214    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

different  station  even  from  men  like  the  Bartholomews,  the 
Taylors,  the  Silvesters,  the  Webbes,  and  so  on,  who,  though 
there  can  have  been  little  difference  in  wealth,  are  not 
endowed  with  any  formal  title.  A  group  of  residents  is  thus 
seen  growing  up  in  the  town  somewhere  between  the  few  who 
were,  in  those  more  accurate  days,  entitled  to  be  addressed 
as  '  Esquire ' — like  the  Lenthalls  or  the  Buttons — and  the 
traditior^al  Burgess  families.  It  is  the  beginning  of  an 
upper  middle  class  in  Burford,  to  be  increased  in  time  by 
the  physicians,  like  John  Castle,  and  the  lawyers,  like  the 
Randolphs. 

We  can  discern  some  families  of  the  townsfolk  on  the  way 
from  one  classification  to  the  other.  Though  the  Burgage 
Rent  Rolls  do  not  explicitly  recognize  their  status,  the 
Bartholomews,  some  of  the  Silvesters,  and  a  few  more  are 
in  some  documents  described  as  '  gentlemen ' ;  and  in  such 
casQS  as  the  references  to  '  William  Webbe  the  younger,  of 
Clifford's  Inn,  London,  gentleman,  son  of  William  Webbe,  of 
Burford,  yeoman  ',  and  '  William  Hunt,  of  New  College,  in 
the  University  of  Oxford,  gentleman,  son  of  John  Hunt,  of 
Burford,  mercer',  the  process  of  rising  in  the  world  was 
evidently  being  assisted  by  departure  from  the  town. 

But  the  distinct  position  of  the  group  of  residents  to  whose 
names  the  title  '  Mr.'  is  prefixed  is  for  the  moment  sharply 
defined,  and  even  emphasized,  by  the  fact  that  none  of  them 
ever  appears  among  the  Burgesses.  There  can  have  been  no 
great  social  distinction  to  account  for  this.  Mr.  Highlord's 
ancestry,  within  two  or  three  generations,  took  him  back  to 
London  tradesmen  ;  ^  Mr.  John  Jordan,  though  a  man  of 
property  who  ultimately  became  lord  of  a  manor  (that  of 
Black  Bourton),^  was  at  this  time  Steward  to  the  Lenthalls, 
and  several  of  his  name  were  in  trade  in  Burford.  Such  men 
can  hardly  have  held  their  heads  higher  than  the  Bartholo- 
mews, who  were  Burgesses.  The  only  conclusion  open  to  us 
is  that  the  new  group  ranked  essentially  as  men  of  comfortable 
means  and  leisured  independence,  and  were  for  that  reason 
outside  the  circle  of  the  tradespeople. 

»  See  Part  III,  p.  474.  •  See  Part  III,  p.  470. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  215 

They  are  our  representatives  of  a  class  that  was,  of  course, 
increasing  greatly  in  numbers  all  over  England.  A  better 
understanding  of  the  principles  of  currency,  combined  with 
the  enormous  addition  to  the  stock  of  precious  metals  which 
the  discoveries  and  conquests  of  the  sixteenth  century  had 
brought  about,  had  spread  through  innumerable  channels  of 
domestic  trade  the  prosperity  accruing  from  the  expansion  of 
foreign  mercantile  adventure.  At  the  same  time  improved 
education,  the  multipHcation  of  books,  and  an  advancing 
standard  of  comfort  were  adding  attractiveness  to  the  leisure 
thus  rendered  possible.  Men  not  of  noble  or  gentle  birth 
could,  if  they  chose,  find  for  themselves  in  social  life  a  pleasant 
place  which  neither  shackled  them  to  affairs  nor  involved 
them  in  aping  their  betters. 

In  most  towns  the  mild  sophistication  of  life  which  this 
new  class  was  producing  must  have  been  evident  at  this 
period.  In  Burford  it  may  well  have  been  hastened  by  the 
fact  that  the  situation  of  the  town  in  relation  to  the  routes  of 
travel,  which  has  already  been  seen  to  have  so  much  impor- 
tance in  our  history,  was  again  about  to  become  an  active 
factor  in  its  development.  The  ridge  of  hill  above  the  town 
south-east  of  the  Windrush  valley  lies  along  the  shortest 
practicable  route  from  Oxford  to  Cheltenham,  on  the  way  to 
Gloucester  and  the  crossing  of  the  Severn  into  Wales.  There 
is  one  curious  little  sign  in  the  Burford  Records  of  the  traffic 
along  this  route,  namely,  the  frequent  occurrence  of  Welsh 
names  in  grants  and  leases  of  the  sixteenth  century.  John 
Griffith,  Hugh  Owen,  Griffith  Jones,  William  Hughes,  John 
Lloyd,  William  Roberts,  John  Jones,  John  Williams,  Owen 
Thomas,  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkins,  David  Hewes  alias  Lloyd, 
George  Watkyns,  Evans  Lloyd,  Griffith  Lewis — all  these  are 
found  among  the  Burford  residents  of  that  century,  and  some 
of  them  became  Burgesses.  This  striking  incursion  of  Welsh 
names  is  enough  to  show  that  the  road  which  was  ultimately 
to  be  one  of  the  great  coach  roads  of  England,  the  road 
between  London  and  South  Wales  by  way  of  Gloucester,  was 
even  then  much  in  use. 

As  yet,  however,  the  road  just  at  this  point  was  not  of 


2i6    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

first-rate  importance.  Direct  traffic  from  London  to  Glouces- 
ter followed  a  line  south  of  the  Thames,  crossing  the  river  at 
Lechlade.^  But  at  that  period,  before  the  development  of 
the  through  coaching  systems,  the  wide  difference  between 
a  main  road  and  a  by-road,  a  coach  road  and  a  posting  road, 
had  not  arisen.  The  posting  system  was  all  that  had  been 
organized  ;  and  that  Burford  had  already  taken  its  place  in 
that  system  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  fact  that  so  early 
as  1685  there  is  a  reference  to  '  the  postmaster '  at  Burford.^ 
The  town's  main  activity  as  a  posting  station  came,  not 
from  the  Oxford-Cheltenham-Gloucester  route,  which  was 
later  to  be  its  chief  artery  of  life,  but  from  its  situation  on 
the  road  to  Stow-on-the-Wold,  a  junction  line  between  the 
southern  and  midland  through  routes. 

One  other  point  of  difference  between  the  roads  of  this 
and  later  periods  may  also  be  noted.  The  normal  way  from 
Oxford  to  Burford  did  not  at  this  time  lie  through  Botley 
and  Eynsham  to  Witney,  but  took  the  less  direct  course  by 
Bladon,  Long  Handborough,  and  the  northern  side  of 
Eynsham  Park.  That  was  the  direction  taken  by  Charles  I 
on  his  night  march  out  of  Oxford  ;  and  he  would  hardly  have 
taken  it  if  there  had  been  a  good  road  through  Eynsham, 
since  this  latter  route  would  have  kept  him  farther  away 
from  Essex  at  Bletchingdon,  while  bringing  him  very  little 
nearer  to  Waller  at  Newbridge.  But  a  more  significant  proof 
of  the  old  lie  of  the  road,  because  one  connected  with  an 
ordinary  journey  and  uncomplicated  by  considerations  of 
tactics,  is  the  fact  that  Charles  II,  returning  from  the  races 
at  Burford,  and  hawking  on  the  way  home,  finally  entered 
his  coach  at  Campsfield,  which  is  upon  the  road  between 
Oxford  and  Bladon.^ 

Burford  Races  can  claim  a  very  early  place  in  the  records 
of  organized  race-meetings.  The  history  of  the  sport,  as  we 
know  it  now  in  England,  may  be  said  to  have  begun  with 
James  I.     Horses  have  been  raced  against  each  other,  of 

1  See  Ogilby's  Britannia  Depicta. 

*  Ormonde  Papers  (Hist.  MSS.  Com.),  New  Series,  vol.  vii,  p.  410. 

»  Ormonde  Papers,  New  Series,  vol.  v,  p.  619. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  217 

course,  since  men  first  learned  to  ride  them ;  and  races 
arranged  more  or  less  on  the  moment  were  constantly  taking 
place  at  English  fairs  and  festivities.  But  not  until  the  reign 
of  James  I  do  we  come  upon  race-meetings  as  a  pastime,  or 
upon  challenge  trophies  (usually  in  those  days  gold  or  silver 
bells)  held  for  a  year  and  then  raced  for  again  on  the  same 
course.  Races  of  this  kind  date  from  1603  at  York,  and 
1609  on  the  Roodee  at  Chester ;  while  subscription  purses 
are  first  mentioned  in  1613.1 

Hence  a  record  of  racing  at  Burford  in  1620  gives  the  town 
an  early  place  in  the  annals  of  the  sport.  The  parish  registers 
contain  the  following  entry,  among  the  burials  : 

1620/1.  Robt  Tedden  a 'stranger  stabde  wth  a  knife  at 
the  George  by  one  Potley  at  the  race  buried  ult.  Januarie. 

And  in  1626: 

William  Backster  gent,  sometyme  of  Norfolk  and  in  that 
sheir  borne  and  now  belonging  to  the  Lord  Morden  was  slaine 
at  the  George  the  next  daie  after  the  race  and  buried  the  6  of 
November. 

Since  it  was  without  doubt  the  personal  passion  of  James  I 
for  the  sport  that  brought  horse-racing  into  fashion  in 
English  life,  it  seems  not  far-fetched  to  conjecture  that  on  his 
visit  to  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield  in  1603  2  he  may  have  per- 
ceived that  Burford  Downs  would  form  an  excellent  Course, 
and  may  have  helped  to  establish  the  meeting.  That,  from 
the  first,  it  was  a  fully  organized  meeting  we  may  conclude 
from  the  form  of  the  Register  entries  and  the  use  of  the  term 
'  the  race  '. 

Racing  continued  at  Burford  under  the  Commonwealth. 
The  following  entry  is  of  the  year  1654 : 

William  Howard  servant  to  Mr.  Rowland  Lacy  received 
a  wound  at  the  race  and  died  thereof  and  was  buried  the  10 
day  of  Aprill. 

In  1680/1  the  race  for  the  King's  Plate  was  transferred 
from  Newmarket  to  Burford.^     Charles  II  was  at  Oxford  that 

»  Encycl.  Brit.,  article  on  '  Horse-racing '.  *  See  chap,  xi,  p.  27 1 . 

*  Ormonde  Papers,  New  Series,  vol.  v,  p.  618. 


2i8    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

year,  and  he  came  over  to  witness  the  races  on  March  17, 
being  received  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  and  conducted 
by  them  to  the  Priory,  where  he  dined  before  proceeding  to 
'  the  large  plain  adjoyning '  for  the  races.  The  company  at 
the  meeting,  Anthony  Wood  tells  us,  was  larger  than  at  any 
time  on  Newmarket  Heath  ;  ^  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
racing,  according  to  one  of  the  Duke  of  Ormonde's  corre- 
spondents, was  inferior.  The  King  agreed  in  this  verdict ; 
but  he  liked  the  hawking  here  better  than  at  Newmarket. 
He  had  some  sport  of  that  kind  before  the  races  ;  when 
he  arrived  at  Burford  his  famous  huntsman.  Will  Chiffinch, 
met  him  '  with  his  little  devil  black  beagles  and  his  hawks  ; 
but  to  show  his  Majesty's  partiality  to  the  latter,  though  the 
former  brought  their  new  started  hare  into  his  view,  he  cried 
let  them  go  and  went  a-hawking  '.  The  country  was  evidently 
as  good  a  hare  country  then  as  it  is  now. 

In  spite  of  the  Royal  opinion  Burford  Races  were  to  continue 
for  over  a  century  longer.  This  meeting  that  Charles  II 
attended  was  a  spring  one  ;  Register  entries  already  quoted 
show  that  a  meeting  was  held  in  November ;  and  an  entry 
of  the  year  1630 — '  Mr.  William  Clarke,  servant  to  the  Lord 
Grey,  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  at  the  race  meeting 
June  8  ' — gives  us  a  summer  meeting  also. 

Burford  racing  was  discontinued  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  site  of  the  Course  can  be  identified 
still  by  remains  of  some  buildings  in  a  small  wood,  close  to 
the  road  on  the  way  from  Burford  to  Bibury,  about  a  mile 
before  Aldsworth.  These  buildings  are  obviously  remains  of 
a  grand-stand  and  stables. 

Races  to  which  the  King  came,  races  which  attracted 
a  larger  company  of  rank  and  fashion  than  Newmarket, 
must  have  meant  busy  days  in  the  town,  the  inns  full,  the 
streets  alive  with  comings  and  goings.  Whether  this  was 
quite  salutary  for  Burford  is  another  question.  It  may  have 
had  an  ill  effect  in  flooding  the'  place  with  easily  earned 
money,  and  introducing  a  certain  parasitic  habit,  likely  to 
sap  the  steadiness  of  trade.    It  is  significant  that  the  industry 

^  Wood,  Life  and  Times  (Oxfd.  Hist.  Soc),  vol.  ii,  p.  529. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  219 

specially  noted  by  Dr.  Plot  as  characteristic  of  Burford  in 
1675  was  malting.  Inns  begin  to  appear  in  the  Records  in 
astonishing  numbers.  Besides  the  old  signs  of  the  George, 
the  Bull,  the  Bear,  the  Angel,  and  the  Crown,  we  find  the 
Greyhound  (then  at  the  corner  of  what  is  now  Swan  Lane),  the 
.Swan  (which  occupied  Cob  Hall  between  the  Vicarage  and 
the  river),  the  King's  Arms,  the  Mermaid,  the  Three  Goats' 
Heads,  the  Blackamoor's  Head,  the  Three  Cups,  the  Black 
Boy,  the  Talbot,  the  White  Hart.  No  doubt  they  all  did 
a  good  trade ;  but  we  may  entertain  the  suspicion  that 
Burford's  activities  at  this  time  were  often  more  in  the  nature 
of  bustle  than  genuine  business. 

There  was,  indeed,  one  trade  here  as  important  as  malting  ; 
the  Burford  saddlers  had  a  great  reputation.  The  first  glimpse 
of  this  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the  letter,  previously  quoted, 
from  Thomas  Cade  to  Thomas  Cromwell,  recommending  as 
a  suitable  applicant  for  a  lease  of  some  Crown  property 
a  Burford  clothier  named  Tucker.  Cade  clinches  recommenda- 
tions of  various  kinds  by  the  promise  :  '  And  he  schall  gyf 
yow  xx*7t.  to  by  yow  a  sadell.'  ^  It  is  not  said  that  the 
saddle  should  be  a  Burford  one  ;  but  the  choice  of  this 
particular  article  for  the  offering  may  well  mean  that  it  was 
beginning  to  be  the  town's  best  product.  It  certainly  was 
so  in  1663,  when  three  saddles  were  presented  to  Charles  II 
and  the  Duke  of  York,  at  a  cost  of  £21 ;  in  1680/1,  when 
Charles  was  given  another,  which,  Anthony  Wood  says,  was 
a  finer  present  than  Oxford  had  made  to  the  King ;  ^  and  in 
1695,  when  two  were  given  to  William  III,  which  he  ordered 
to  be  reserved  for  his  own  personal  use.  The  tanners, 
curriers,  smiths,  and  collar-makers,  whom  we  find  also 
among  the  tradesmen  of  the  time,  reveal  a  general  harness- 
making  industry  such  as  would  naturally  flourish  in  a  posting 
town. 

But  though  the  Burford  saddlers  for  a  time  rivalled  in 
reputation  (and  in  more  belligerent  ways)  the  Witney  blanket- 
makers,  Burford  never  devoted  itself  in  the  same  degree  as 

1  See  Part  III,  p.  656. 

«  Wood,  Life  and  Times  (Oxfd.  Hist.  See),  vol.  ii,  p.  529. 


220    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Witney  to  one  staple  trade.  Broadweavers,  fullers,  a  felt- 
maker  kept  the  more  ancient  occupations  alive  to  some 
extent.  Masons,  joiners,  carpenters,  and  a  brazier  got  their 
living  from  the  taste  for  improved  housing  and  the  command 
of  easier  incomes. 

For  the  rest,  the  trade  of  the  town  tended  more  and  more 
towards  general  shop-keeping.  This  is  to  be  expected  both 
from  the  posting  traffic  through  the  place,  and  from  the 
demands  of  that  leisured  class  which  we  have  seen  appearing 
among  the  inhabitants.  Mercers,  haberdashers,  tailors, 
bakers,  and  so  on  are  as  common  among  the  Burgesses  as  are 
tanners.  Barber  surgeons,  a  physician,  and  an  apothecary 
or  two  had  found  it  worth  while  to  set  up  in  business.  But 
the  most  interesting  sign  of  the  rising  social  outlook  of 
Burford  is  that  there  was  already  a  bookseller's  shop. 

In  fact,  the  doubt  whether  this  was  really  Burford's  most 
prosperous  time  is  suggested  rather  by  the  quality  of  its 
trade  than  by  the  volume  of  it,  which  in  a  miscellaneous  way 
must  have  been  larger  than  ever.  It  sufficed  to  maintain 
Burgesses  like  Leonard  Mills,  Simon  Simons,  the  Silvesters, 
John  Hannes,  in  big  comfortable  houses  ;  to  establish  the 
Bartholomews  in  the  manor  house  on  Westhall  Hill ;  and  to 
send  the  scions  of  the  Webbes,  the  Hunts,  and  the  Jordans 
forth  into  the  world  as  gentlemen.  In  these  families  we 
discern  the  successors  of  what  might  be  called  the  '  forty- 
pound  group  '  of  Tudor  times  ;  and  in  the  Sessions,  the 
Serrells,  the  Taylors,  the  Yates,  and  so  on  we  can  equally 
discern  the  '  twenty-pound  group  '.  It  is  difficult,  after  the 
view  we  have  had  of  these  men  in  their  public  capacity  as 
a  rather  discredited  Corporation,  to  observe  them  without 
bias  in  their  capacity  as  tradesmen.  But  in  so  far  as  they 
can  thus  be  seen,  they  show  no  sign  in  their  business  of  the 
blight  that  had  fallen  upon  them  in  larger  affairs. 

This  is  the  period  when,  in  Burford  as  elsewhere,  trade 
was  assisted  by  the  use  of  a  local  currency — the  trades- 
men's tokens.  There  are  nine  known  Burford  tokens,  as 
follows : 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  221 

1.  Obv.    <^  A  (^  BURFORD  TOKEN  1669 
Rev.     B.  B.  .     on  either  side  of  a  lion  rampant. 

Value — One  farthing. 

2.  Obv.     ^  Thomas   0   MATH  EWES   0  At  (round  a 

chained  bear) 
Rev.    THE     BEARE     IN     BURFORD     (around    the 

device  pp^yip). 

Value — One  farthing.     Date 
between  1658  and  1669. 

3.  Obv.    AT  TH E  3  SHUGER  LOVES  (around  three  sugar 

loaves) 
Rev.     ^  IN  BURFORT  O  1653  (around  E  ^  C). 

4.  Obv.     <Q  LEONARD  MILLS  .  AT  (around  a  wagon 

and  team) 

Rev.     O  BURFORD.  WAGONNER  (around  \^q)- 

Value— one  farthing. 

5.  Obv.     0  JOHN  0  SINDRIY  <)  (around  a  shield  of  the 

Grocers'  Arms) 

Rev.     ^  OF  0  BURFORD  0  1653  (around  ^  o9  ). 

Value — one  farthing. 

6.  Obv.     {^  lOH  PAYTON  CLOTHYER  (around  a  talbot 

passant) 

,^P^ 

^  IN.  BURFORD.  1666  (around   T       6). 

7.  Obv.    0  lOHN  0  PAYTON— HIS  HALFPENY 
Rev.     OF  BURFORD  1669  (around  I.  P.  and  a  mer- 
chant's mark). 

8.  Obv.     AT.  TH  E.  G  EORG  E  (round  a  George  and  Dragon) 

IN  BURFORD  (around  R.  A.  V. ). 

Value — one  farthing. 


0.  Obv.     CHARLES  YATE  (around  three  eates) 

OF  BURFORD  1664  (around  C.  H.  Y. 


222     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Of  the  eighteenth  century  our  Records  have  very  little  to 
tell  beyond  the  range  of  the  controversy  that  arose  in  1738 
and  was  prolonged  till  1743  over  the  administration  of  the 
charities.    That  has  been  fully  discussed  elsewhere. 

Richard  Rawlinson  was  here  in  1717,  in  the  course  of 
collecting  the  notes  which  were  to  have  been  the  foundation 
of  his  projected  History  of  Oxfordshire.  But  his  manuscript 
tells  us  little.  He  devoted  himself  chiefly  to  the  monumental 
inscriptions  in  the  Church,  using  largely  the  notes  of  the 
1660  visitor ;  incidentally  he  mentions  that  the  inscription 
by  John  Leggare  outside  the  south  transept  window  ^  had 
then  been  re-cut  '  by  Mr.  Silvester  '.^  He  makes,  however, 
one  important  statement.  '  In  1645  ',  he  writes,  '  Sir  W™ 
Waller  demolished  the  Cross,  which  stood  upon  eight  pillars 
was  the  third  for  beauty  in  England,  the  vase  stands  now  on 
a  neighbours  house  near  adjoyning.'  ^  This  would  appear  to 
refer  to  the  Tolsey.  The  date  1645  is  perhaps  a  mistake  for 
1644,  in  June  of  which  year  Waller  was  here  for  several  days  ;  * 
it  may  be  suggested  that  the  few  Royalist  soldiers  he  caught 
in  the  town  had  attempted  to  hold  the  Tolsey,  and  so  brought 
about  this  demolition. 

Rawlinson  also  records  the  holding  of  the  Assizes  at  Burford 
in  1636,  on  account  of  the  plague  then  raging  in  Oxford  ; 
and  he  adds  that  the  condemned  persons,  three  men  and 
a  boy,  '  all  of  the  name  of  Thomas ',  were  hanged  on  Battle 
Edge.  One  of  the  bodies  was  dissected  by  Mr.  William 
Taylor,  and  Rawlinson  saw  the  skeleton,  then  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Mr.  Taylor's  grandson,  a  surgeon,  of  Burford. 

From  every  point  of  view  little  is  to  be  expected  of  this 
period  in  the  way  of  notable  additions  to  the  town's  buildings. 
Yet  there  is  a  type  of  house  which  is  probably  to  be  attributed 
to  the  early  eighteenth  century.  The  best  specimen  is  the 
fine  tall-windowed  fagade  opposite  the  Tolsey.  We  cannot 
date  it  with  the  accuracy  which  has  been  possible  in  the 
case* of  types  of  other  periods;  but  the  great  height  of  the 
windows  and  the  character  of  the  woodwork  in  them  are 
enough  to  give  an  approximate  date.    The  marked  feature  of 

»  See  p.  III.  »  Bodl.  MSS.  Rawl.  B.  400  B,  fol.  21. 

*  Bod.  MSS.  Rawl.  B.  400  F,  fol.  220.  *  See  p.  205. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  223 

the  style  is  that  the  frontage  is  carried  up  to  a  more  or  less 
emphatic  parapet,  throwing  the  roof  back  into  a  position  of 
minor  importance.  This  feature  had,  indeed,  found  a  place 
earlier  in  some  houses ;  the  facade  of  the  Vicarage  and  that 
of  the  Great  House  display  it.  But  both  of  these  are  cases 
in  which  the  parapet  is  an  ornate  detail  of  a  decoratively 
treated  frontage.  They  are  not  quite  on  the  same  level  as  the 
cases  in  which  the  parapet  is  the  governing  characteristic  of  the 
design  of  small  facades,  as  in  the  present  Post  Office,  or  a  house, 
lower  down  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  High  Street,  in  the  block 
between  Church  Lane  and  Lawrence  Lane,  or,  on  a  rather  bigger 
scale,  the  house  on  the  south  side  of  Sheep  Street  to  which  the 
sign  of  the  Greyhound  was  removed  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Several  houses  on  the  Hill  are  also  of  this  type. 

Apart  from  these  recognizable  structures,  this  period  must 
be  responsible  for  a  great  deal  of  entirely  featureless  building, 
which  filled  the  gaps  in  the  street  frontage  lines,  and  so 
allowed  a  little  more  elbow-room  to  the  population.  For 
two  maps  of  the  end  of  the  century  make  it  quite  clear  that 
by  that  time  the  streets  had  come  to  present  virtually  the 
unbroken  appearance  that  we  have  to-day.  One  is  the  map 
engraved  by  Davis  of  Lewknor  in  1797,  but  based  on  surveys 
made  in  1793  ;  and  the  other  is  the  map  of  1823,  drawn, 
as  there  is  reason  to  conclude,  from  the  Enclosure  Award 
Map  of  1795.  Neither  is  on  a  large  scale  ;  yet  the  scale  is 
sufficient  to  have  shown  any  considerable  gaps  in  the  street 
lines,  and  none  are  to  be  seen.  We  may  therefore  take  it 
that  much  of  the  building  work  of  the  century  was  given 
to  squeezing  in,  between  existing  houses,  cottages  and  small 
houses  to  accommodate  the  larger  population  of  the  time. 
For  the  first  of  the  modern  census  returns,  made  in  1801, 
shows  that  by  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  were 
not  less  than  1,500  persons  in  the  town. 

Probably  the  chief  part  of  the  increase  in  population 
occurred  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  century,  with  the  advent 
of  the  great  days  of  coach  travelling.  Until  the  middle  of 
the  century  Burford  was  relying  on  its  trade  as  a  posting 
station.  Even  the  1749  edition  of  Ogilby  represents  the 
through   road   to   Gloucester  as  still  passing  south  of  the 


224    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Thames ;  and  in  a  Road  Improvement  Act  of  1751  the  route 
in  which  the  BaihfTs  of  Burford  are  officially  interested  is  one 
that  leads  in  the  old  way  by  Campsfield.  But  a  change  was 
by  this  time  close  at  hand.  In  1761  a  coach  began  running 
from  Burford  to  London  by  way  of  Witney ;  the  enterprise 
was  undertaken  by  Thomas  Castell. 

Thus  was  opened  the  road  along  which  the  remunerative 
traffic  of  the  next  sixty  or  seventy  years  was  to  pour  through 
Burford.  It  is  probable  that  better  methods  of  road-making, 
combined  with  better  drainage  of  the  fields,  had  rendered 
practicable  all  the  year  round  the  rather  low-lying  stretch 
between  Oxford  and  Eynsham.  This  was  all  that  had  been 
needed  to  bring  the  Gloucester,  South  Wales,  and  Hereford 
traffic  down  from  London  by  way  of  the  Chilterns,  Oxford, 
Burford,  and  Cheltenham,  instead  of  by  the  roads  south  of 
the  Thames,  which  would  be  served  by  the  Bath  and  south- 
western coaches.  In  the  fierce  competition  that  was  now 
beginning  the  new  route  offered  an  ample  prospect  of  profit. 

Burford's  interest  in  the  coach  traffic  was  even  greater  than 
might  appear  at  first  sight  to  the  traveller  of  to-day  ;  for 
the  modern  main  road  really  passes  the  town  by,  keeping  to 
the  ridge  of  the  hill.  But  during  the  longer  part  of  the 
coaching  period  there  was  no  proper  road  along  the  ridge  at 
this  point ;  there  was  only  a  farm  track  serving  for  the  work 
on  the  arable  fields.  The  main  road,  directly  it  entered  the 
parish  of  Burford  at  the  eastern  boundary,  left  the  ridge 
and  turned  down  White  Hill,  to  come  right  into  the  town  by 
way  of  Witney  Street.  It  left  the  town  again  by  way  of 
Sheep  Street,  at  the  end  of  which  it  took  a  turn  down  through 
the  Priory  woods,  towards  the  river,  to  rise  steeply  from  the 
farther  corner  of  the  woods  up  past  Upton  quarries  to  the 
top  of  the  hill  once  more,  not  far  from  the  western  boundary 
of  the  parish.  Of  this  curious  deflection  towards  the  river 
the  traces  can  still  be  seen.  Inside  the  modern  wall  of  the 
Priory  grounds  just  beyond  the  Lamb  Inn  there  runs  a  short 
length  of  the  older  wall,  going  off  at  a  slant  inwards  ;  and 
beyond  the  woods  the  deep  indentation  of  the  old  road  in  the 
hollow  is  perfectly  plain. 


PLATE    XIII.     THE    BULL 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  225 

For  a  long  while,  even  after  Palmer's  reforms  of  the  coaching 
^  System  and  the  great  speeding-up  that  he  effected,  the 
coaches  continued  to  come  thus  into  the  heart  of  the  town  ; 
and  the  business  they  brought  must  have  been  considerable. 
True,  the  coaches  probably  did  not  make  any  long  stop  here  ; 
Witney  seems  to  have  been  the  stage  for  changing  horses,  and 
the  passengers  would  take  their  chief  meals  either  at  Oxford 
or  at  Cheltenham.  Much  the  most  profitable  business  in 
Burford  must  have  been  done  with  those  who  came  in  from 
the  country-side  to  catch  the  through  coaches  here.  That 
often  involved  a  stay  of  more  than  one  night,  for  coaches 
might  come  in  fully  loaded  and  unable  to  take  more  pas- 
sengers ;  there  was  then  nothing  to  be  done  but  wait  until 
a  later  coach  came  in  with  a  vacant  seat.  Moreover,  the 
posting  business,  though  no  longer  the  chief  trade,  must  still 
have  been  valuable. 

It  has  been  calculated  that  in  the  best  time  Burford  saw 
no  fewer  than  forty  coaches  passing  up  and  down  in  the  course 
of  the  twenty-four  hours.  From  the  reminiscences  of  Jin  old 
coaching  guard  on  this  route  we  know  the  names  of  some  of 
the  '  fliers  ',  and  can  calculate  the  hours  at  which  they  passed 
Burford.^  About  9.30  in  the  morning  the  Magnet  from 
Cheltenham  would  arrive,  on  its  way  to  Oxford,  and  just 
behind  it  came  the  Berkeley  Hunt,  a  green  coach,  working 
the  same  route.  At  11  the  Regulator  from  Gloucester  would 
rattle  in,  and  with  it,  or  on  its  heels,  the  Retaliator,  also 
from  GlouQester.  At  i  o'clock  the  Mazeppa  from  Hereford 
and  its  rival  on  the  same  road,  the  Rapid,  would  appear ; 
and  soon  after  they  had  gone  the  down  Magnet  and  the  down 
Berkeley  Hunt  would  be  roaring  up  the  narrow  end  of  Witney 
Street.  Later  in  the  afternoon  the  down  Regulator,  Retaliator, 
Mazeppa,  and  Rapid  were  due  ;  and  by  7  o'clock  the  first 
of  the  night  coaches,  the  Champion  from  Hereford,  came 
through,  followed  about  10.30  by  the  Paul  Pry  from 
Aberystwyth.  At  12.30  a.m.  the  down  Champion,  and  soon 
afterwards  the  down  Paul  Pry,  would  be  waking  the 
echoes.  Last  of  all  in  the  small  hours  came  the  Gloucester 
'  Collectanea  (Oxfd.  Hist.  Soc),  vol.  iv,  pp.  274  sqq. 

2304  Q 


226      STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Royal  Mail,  the  up  coach  at   1.30  a.m.   and  the  down  at 
4.30  a.m. 

Thus,  without  counting  the  less  important  coaches  and 
those  working  only  short  distances,  eighteen  of  the  through 
*  fliers  '  were  seen  here  every  day.  The  rows  of  hooks  that 
are  yet  visible  in  the  beams  under  the  archways  of  the  George 
and  the  Bull  must  always  have  been  laden  then  with  joints 
of  beef,  hams  and  hares  and  partridges  ;  and  the  yards  that 
are  now  so  quiet  can  never  have  been  without  the  clatter  of 
the  stable  hands  and  the  gossip  of  the  post-boys. 

What  this  constant  touch  with  the  world  might  mean  to 
the  more  leisured  class  of  Burford  resident  is  seen  in  the 
correspondence  between  the  ladies  who  lived  in  the  Great 
House  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  their 
brother,  '  Daddy  '  Crisp,  the  friend  of  Fanny  Burney.  The 
story  of  Mrs.  Gast  and  her  sister  has  been  told  by  Dr.  Hutton,^ 
and  all  that  need  be  said  here  is  that  it  makes  an  interesting 
addition  to  the  rather  meagre  picture  of  Burford  life  in 
general  during  this  period. 

Meanwhile  the  outward  aspect  of  the  place  underwent  the 
last  of  the  great  changes  that  made  it  as  it  is  now.  The 
enclosure  of  the  old  common  arable  lands  swept  ^way  the 
open  fields,  and  put  in  their  place  the  walled  fields  and  pastures 
of  the  modern  landscape.  This  occurred  here  at  a  rather 
early  date,  the  Upton  fields  being  enclosed  in  J773  and  the 
Burford  fields  in  I795.  Analysis  of  the  Awards  provides  us 
with  the  explanation  of  this.  In  Burford  Fields,  out  of 
some  1,100  acres  enclosed,  only  about  300  went  to  independent 
farmers.  John  Lenthall  and  the  Impropriator  of  the  Rec- 
torial tithes  received  the  rest.  We  can  perceive  only  two 
farms  which  were  not  held  on  tenancy  from  these  two  persons. 
One  was  White  Hill  farm,  held  by  Mrs.  Mary  Legg,  of  which 
the  farm-house  was  not  the  one  now  called  by  that  name, 
but  the  one  in  the  valley  by  the  Widford  road  ;  and  the  other 
was  apparently  worked  in  partnership  by  two  men  named 
Finch  and  a  Mrs.  Tebbut.  Some  ten  others  are  named  in  the 
Award,  but  only  for  insignificant  allotments  of  two  or  three 

»  Burford  Papers,  by  W.  H.  Hutton,  D.D.,  now  Peau  of  Winchester. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  227 


Map  of  the  Burford  Enclosure  Award. 
From  a  copy,  preserved  in  the  Tolsey  at  Burford,  of  the  original  M^. 


Q2 


228     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

acres.  Similarly  in  the  Upton  Award,  which  disposes  of 
803  acres,  720  acres  went  to  the  Lenthalls,  and  only  one  other 
person,  Thomas  Ansell,  who  received  41  acres,  can  be  con- 
sidered as  a  farmer. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  difficult  to  understand  why  our  en- 
closures took  place  early.  Small  farmers  working  their  own 
land  had  almost  disappeared.  The  new  sources  of  prosperity 
had  drawn  back  into  the  town  the  families  of  those  who,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  had  first  begun  the  creation  of  larger 
farms.  They  had  been  willing  to  be  rid  of  their  land,  when* 
Tanfield  and  the  Lenthalls  were  putting  together  their 
estates,  and  had  made  way  for  the  new  race  of  tenant 
farmers. 

Thus,  as  we  leave  the  eighteenth  century,  our  mental 
pictures,  not  only  of  Burford  town,  but  of  the  country-side 
round  it  as  well,  have  reached  the  last  stage,  and  afford 
us  already  in  all  outward  appearance  the  Burford  of  our 
own  time. 

The  only  topographical  point  in  which  change  was  yet  to 
come  was  the  direction  of  the  main  roads.  It  is  strange  that 
with  all  the  amelioration  of  the  coaching  service  and  all  the 
fierce  competition  in  speed,  so  obvious  an  improvement  as 
the  avoiding  of  the  descent  into  Burford,  and  the  hill  out 
again,  should  have  been  delayed  so  long  as  it  was.  A  minor 
improvement  took  place  early  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
when  Mr.  John  Lenthall  diverted  the  road  beyond  Sheep 
Street  from  its  passage  through  the  middle  of  the  Priory 
woods,  and  gave  the  coaches  a  straight  run  to  the  hill  by  the 
quarries.  This  alteration,  however,  was  due  rather  to  his 
concern  for  the  amenities  of  the  Priory  than  to  any  intention 
to  save  the  coaches  a  toilsome  detour. 

Not  until  1812  do  we  hear  of  '  the  new  road  ',  which,  by 
a  re-making  of  the  old  track  along  the  ridge,  linked  up  the 
road  between  the  turning  down  by  White  Hill  and  the  turning 
up  by  Upton  Quarries,  so  that  the  coaches  could  keep  on  the 
top  of  the  hill.  Naturally  there  was  no  little  complaint  in 
Burford.  For  while  passengers  would  still  come  to  the  town 
to  join  the  coaches,  much  casual  trade  would  undoubtedly 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  229 

be  lost.  When  a  new  inn  was  built  at  the  cross-roads  at  the 
top  of  the  town,  the  Bird-in-Hand — a  somewhat  gaunt  house 
still  surviving  as  two  private  houses — it  may  have  seemed  to 
portend  a  decline  of  the  inns  in  the  town  ;  especially  when  this 
was  followed  by  the  erection  of  another,  the  Ramping  Cat, 
at  the  top  of  White  Hill. 

But  a  far  more  serious  change  was  impending,  which 
was  to  make  anxiety  about  the  new  road  of  no  account. 
Railroads  were  soon  to  divert  the  traffic  of  the  Country  to 
wholly  different  lines  of  travel.  For  the  principle  of  the  new 
locomotion  approached  the  problems  of  natural  configuration 
in  a  way  directly  opposed  to  that  dictated  by  the  require- 
ments of  the  coaches.  Railways  needed,  not  the  dryness 
and  firmness  of  the  higher  ground,  but  the  most  moderate 
gradients  and  the  passage  most  nearly  approximating  to  the 
level.  The  rise  of  the  Cotswold  could  no  longer  be  the  best 
practical  route  to  Gloucester  and  South  Wales ;  and  on  the 
other  hand  the  valley  of  the  Windrush  lay  just  too  far  to  the 
west  to  serve  for  the  Worcester  and  Hereford  route.  Thus 
Burford  found  itself  on  none  of  the  lines  laid  down  by  the 
Great  Western  Railway  surveyors ;  and,  as  the  ,town  had 
come  to  be  very  largely  dependent  upon  chance  traffic,  not 
upon  any  well-developed  industry,  the  blow  must  have  been 
a  heavy  one. 

But  its  effect  was  by  no  means  immediate.  Burford  was 
still  a  market  town,  in  a  good  agricultural  district,  and  country 
folk  were  slow  to  avail  themselves  ^f  the  new  locomotion  in 
their  business  affairs.  The  evidence  of  the  census  figures 
throughout  the  nineteenth  century  is  interesting.  The 
figures  are  as  follows  : 

1801.       1811.       1821.       1831.       1841.       1851. 
Burford         .  .  1,516        1,342        1,409        1,620        1,644        '.593 

Upton  and  Signett  209  242  277  246         t—  — 

1861.        1871.        1881.        1891.        1901. 
Burford  .  1,434        1,403        1,312        1,346        1,146 

Upton  and  Signett  245  248  259  —  177 

The  Worcester  section  of  the  Great  Western  Railway  was 
opened  in  1852.     For  ten  years  before  that  there  was  little 


230    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

change  in  the  population.  The  ten  years  after  reduced  it  by 
about  10  per  cent. ;  and  the  next  twenty  years  brought  it 
20  per  cent,  below  the  highest  point,  which  it  had  reached  in 
1841. 

Population  is  not,  of  course,  the  only  test  of  the  effect  of 
new  conditions  upon  the  town.  There  must  undoubtedly 
have  been  less  money  in  the  place,  when  the  coaching  traffic 
ceased.  But  a  very  rapid  ruin  was  averted  by  the  inordinate 
prosperity  of  agriculture  during  the  first  sixty  or  seventy 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  There  were  enterprising 
and  skilful  farmers  around  Burford  ;  Mr.  Turner  of  Burford, 
Mr.  Tuckwell  of  Signett,  and  Mr.  Pinnal  of  Westhall  are 
constantly  cited  by  Arthur  Young,  in  his  View  of  the  Agri- 
culture of  Oxfordshire  (1809),  for  the  value, of  their  opinions 
on  farming  methods,  and  their  experience  of  cultivation  and 
cropping.  The  steadiness  of  the  figures  of  population  in 
Upton  and  Signett  are  in  their  way  an  indication  of  the 
circumstances  that  had  come  to  the  rescue  of  Burford. 
Farming  was  flourishing,  and  the  town's  trade  as  a  market 
and  shopping  centre  for  the  villages  around  was  just  enough  to 
pull  it  through  the  shock  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  road  traffic. 

Yet  the  market  was  doomed.  As  a  generation  grew  up 
accustomed  to  railways,  and  forced  at  the  same  time  by 
the  decline  of  agricultural  prices  to  seek  the  larger  markets 
with  their  more  various  openings  for  business,  places  like 
Burford  could  not  hold  their  own  against  the  wider  range  of 
Oxford.  There  are  men  still  living  who  can  remember  the 
'  market  ordinary  '  room  at  the  Bull,  full  on  a  Saturday  of 
the  farmers  at  their  dinner.  But  in  the  late  'sixties  of  the 
the  last  century  the  numbers  were  beginning  to  grow  smaller, 
and  in  the  early  'seventies  the  market  flickered  out ;  it 
never  came  to  a  formal  end,  but  about  the  year  1873  or  1874 
it  ceased  from  mere  inanition. 

One  fair  remains,  a  shadow  of  its  former  self  ;  it  is  held  on 
September  25,  and  is  the  old  Holyrood  fair,  granted  to  the- 
town  by  Henry  VII.  The  fair  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  which 
was  a  much  older  grant,  was  still  represented  in  1861  by 
a  fair  on  July  5  for  horses,  sheep,  and  cows. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  POPULATION  231 

Saved  as  it  had  been  for  the  time  by  agricultural  prosperity 
Burford  shared  to  the  full  in  the  effects  of  the  great  agri- 
cultural depression.  After  1871  the  population  fell  heavily, 
until  by  the  end  of  the  century  both  the  town  and  the  agri- 
cultural hamlets  were  left  with  no  more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  population  of  1841. 

What  was  probably  the  last  hope  of  a  vigorous  trade 
revival  was  offered  by  a  project  in  the  year  1864  for  a  branch 
line  connecting  the  Midland  Railway  with  the  south-west  of 
England,  passing  close  to  Burford  on  the  south.  But  in  the 
end  a  different  route  was  chosen,  and  there  is  now  no  likeli- 
hood of  any  conjunction  of  through  routes  which  would 
bring  the  railroad  to  the  town. 

Yet  by  a  curious  turn  of  the  wheel  of  circumstance  this 
final  reaction  upon  the  town  of  its  natural  situation  has 
not  been  wholly  disastrous.  Modern  refinements  of  taste, 
quickened  by  revolt  against  the  dreariness  of  conditions 
in  huge  modern  towns,  have  taught  a  keen  appreciation  of 
the  country-side,  keenest  of  all  for  the  spots  preserved  by 
their  remoteness  from  the  activities  that  unheedingly  spread 
ugliness  elsewhere.  Moreover,  mechanical  inventiveness, 
which  a  hundred  years  ago  was  all  in  the  direction  of  draining 
life  away  from  the  roads  to  the  railways,  is  now,  by  motor 
cars,  restoring  it  to  the  roads. 

The  tale  told  by  the  census  figures  was  for  many  years 
written  also  in  empty  houses  declining  into  ruin.  There  are 
empty  houses  still,  but  there  are  many,  like  the  Priory  itself, 
which  have  taken  on  a  new  lease  of  life.  A  new  resident 
element  in  the  population,  as  in  the  seventeenth  century,  an 
influx  of  road  travel,  as  in  the  eighteenth  century,  at  least 
prevent  this  topographical  study  of  Burford  from  ending  on 
a  note  of  irremediable  decline. 

There  are  towns  in  England,  like  Winchester,  which  have 
neveir  been  off  the  lines  of  human  movement  and  intercourse 
since  first  such  lines  are  traceable  at  all.  There  are  others, 
like  Stamford,  which  were  always  in  older  days  upon  great 
routes  of  travel,  and  were  cast  suddenly  from  their  importance 
by   the   advent   of   the   railways ;     and   others,    again,,  like 


232    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF.BURFORD 

Swindon,  which  were  as  suddenly  flung  up  into  importance 
out  of  complete  obscurity,  Burford  belongs  to  a  class  in 
some  ways  more  interesting  than  any  of  these.  Its  relation 
to  the  routes  of  traffic  has  varied  so  much  at  different  times 
that  its  topography  is  an  unusually  fascinating  theme  to 
pursue,  and  not  the  less  fascinating  because,  in  the  face  of 
modern  valuations  and  modern  appreciations,  the  final 
chapter  is  not  yet  written. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD 

The  following  are  the  full  titles  of  the  contemporary 
pamphlets  and  periodicals  of  which  use  has  been  made  in 
this  chapter : 

The  Levellers  (falsly  so  called)  Vindicated,  or  the  Case  of  the  twelve 
Troops  (which  by  Treachery  in  a  Treaty)  was  lately  surprised,  and 
defeated  at  Burford,  truly  stated  and  ofiered  to  the  Judgment  of  all 
unbyassed  and  wel-minded  People,  especially  of  the  Army,  their  fellow 
Souldiers,  under  the  conduct  of  the  Lord  Fairfax.  By  a  faithful 
remnant,  late  of  Col.  Scroops,  Commissary  General  Iretons.  and 
Col.  Harrisons  Regiments,  that  hath  not  yet  bowed  their  knee  unto 
Baal,  whose  names  (in  the  behalf  of  themselves,  and  by  the  appointment 
of  the  rest  of  their  Friends)  are  hereunto  subscribed. 

A  True  Relation  of  the  Proceedings  in  the  Businesse  of  Burford  with  other 
Discourse  of  publike  Concernment.  By  Francis  White,  Major  to  the 
Lord  Generalls  Regiment  of  Foot. 

Englands  Standard  Advanced  or  A  Declaration  from  M.  Will.  Thompson 
and  the  oppressed  People  of  this  nation,  now  under  his  conduct  in 
Oxfordshire,  dated  at  their  Randezvous,  May  6,  1649. 

The  Declaration  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  King- 
dome  of  Scotland.  .  .  .  Also  The  Declaration  and  Speeches  of  Comet 
Thompson  and  the  rest  of  the  Levellers,  which  were  executed  in  Burford 
Churchyard  in  Oxfordshire  on  Fryday  last,  being  the  18  of  this  instant 
May,  1649,  touching  the  Parliament  and  Army  And  The  Remonstrance 
and  Speech  of  Lieut.  Gen.  Cromwell  to  the  rest  of  the  prisoners  in  the 
Church. 

The  Levellers  Designe  Discovered  or  the  Anatomic  of  the  late  unhappie 
Mutinie  Proved  unto  the  Souldiery  of  the  Army  under  the  Command 
of  his  Excellency  the  Lord  Fairfax  ;  for  prevention  of  the  like  in  others. 
Written  by  Henry  Denne,  an  Actor  in  this  Tragaedy. 

Sea-Green  &  Blue  See  which  Speaks  True  or  Reason  contending  with 
Treason.  In  discussing  the  late  unhappy  difference  in  the  Army,  which 
now  men  dream  is  well  composed.  Wherein  also  is  weighed.  The  Testi- 
mony of  one  lately  risen  from  the  dead  Concerning,  the  Levellers. 

[The  above  is  a  reply  to  Denne's  pamphlet.    Sea-green  ribbon  was 
the  Levellers'  badge.] 

The  Levellers  Remonstrance  sent  in  a  Letter  to  His  Excellency  The 
Lord  Gen.  Cromwel  concerning  the  Government  of  this  Commonwealth, 
his  wearing  of  the  Crown  of  Honour,  and  preservation  of  the  Lawes, 
Liberties,  and  Priviledges  thereof. 


234    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Mercurius  Britannicus,  Number  4,  from  Tuesday  May  the  15  till  Tuesday 
May  22  1649. 

Mercurius  Elencticus,  Number  5. 

Mercurius  Pragmaticus,  Pars  2,  Numb.  5. 

The  Kingdoms  Weekly  Intelligencer,  Number  312. 

The  Moderate,  Number  45,  From  Tuesday  May  15  to  Tuesday  May  22 
1649. 

A  Perfect  Diumall,  Numbers  302,  303. 

The  Moderate  Intelligencer,  Number  217. 

Antichrist  unmasked  in  Two  Treaties,  The  First,  an  Answer  unto  two 
Paedobaptists, . .  .  The  Second,  The  man  of  Sinne  discovered  in  Doctrine  ; 
the  root  and  foundation  of  Antichrist  laid  open.  .  .  .  By  Henry  Denne. .  . . 

A  Den  of  Theeves  Discovered  Or  certaine  errours  and  false  doctrines, 
delivered  in  a  Sermon  at  a  Visitation  holden  at  Baldocke  in  the  County 
of  Hertford,  Decemb.  9.  1641.  By  Henry  Denne,  Curate  at  Pyrton  in 
Hertfordshire.  And  since  Printed  by  his  owne  appointment  Contradicted 
justly  by  many  of  the  Auditors.  And  confuted  by  Thomas  Attwood 
Rotherham  Now  Rector  of  St.  John  Zacharies,  London,  and  sometimes 
Vicar  of  Ickleford  in  Hertfordshire,  neare  Hitchin. 


The  fact  that  Burford  was  the  scene  of  the  dramatic  climax 
of  the  mutiny  among  the  Pariiamentary  troops  in  1649  "i^Y 
justify,  in  a  history  of  Burford,  a  more  particular  examination 
of  that  affair  than  histories  of  the  period  at  large  can  give. 
These  treat,  indeed,  of  the  general  aspects  of  the  mutiny, 
and  its  place  in  the  political  history  of  the  time  ;  but  they 
cannot  give  space  to  the  movements  of  troops  on  either  side, 
or  to  details  which  reveal  how  the  sudden  end  was  achieved 
— points  which  in  their  ultimate  association  with  Burford 
become  of  greal  interest.  Moreover  an  opportunity  is  thus 
afforded  of  investigating  the  complaint,  made  afterwards  by 
some  of  the  mutineers,  that  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  had  sur- 
prised them  by  deliberate  treachery,  and  had  in  fact  been 
false  to  their  own  pledged  word.  Even  if  the  investigation 
throws  no  new  light  upon  Cromwell,  nothing  that  concerns 
his  character  can  be  negligible. 

The  mutiny  of  1649  was  part  of  that  extremist  agitation 
which,  as  we  can  now  see,  grew  so  inevitably  out  of  principles 
which  the  Parliamentary  movement  developed,  yet  was  so 
alien  to  the  minds  of  the  Parliamentary  leaders.  We  are 
familiar  enough  in  our  own  day  with  democratic  activities 
to  be  well  acquainted  with  the  types  of  mind  that  they  may 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  235 

inflame — the  irreconcilable  doctrinaire,  the  unbending  asserter 
of  first  principles  against  practical  necessities,  the  man  who 
can  see  no  reason  whatever  for  stopping  short  of  the  logical 
conclusion.  These  were  the  types  that,  ^ter  the  final  defeat 
of  Charles  I,  had  no  patience  with  the  Parliament's  attempt 
to  occupy  the  place  he  had  left  vacant,  and  could  see  in  it 
only  the  substitution  of  one  tyranny  for  another.  By  them- 
selves they  might  have  been,  though  troublesome,  not  very 
dangerous ;  the  danger  came  from  the  alliance  between  this 
kind  of  opposition  to  the  Parliament  and  the  Army's  growing 
suspicion  of  the  politicians,  with  their  adherence  to  old 
constitutional  forms.  A  third,  and  the  most  powerful,'  factor 
in  the  situation,  was  that  Parliament  for  the  most  part 
represented  the  Presbyterian  tendency  towards  a  new  religious 
intolerance,  a  new  attempt  to  enforce  conformity,  against 
which  Cromwell  threw  his  whole  weight.  Those  who  believed 
the  Parliament  was  merely  substituting  itself  for  Charles 
were  reinforced  by  those  who  saw  it  also  substituting  itself 
for  Laud  ;  and  by  Cromwell's  attitude  the  Army's  mistrust  of 
the  Parliament  took  a  double  edge. 

As  early  as  1647  the  first  crisis  had  occurred,  and  the 
Army  had  asserted  its  authority  in  a  way  that  must  be 
referred  to  here,  because  it  is  constantly  prominent  in  the 
events  which  culminated  at  Burford,  The  Parliament, 
envisaging  its  perils,  and  not  unaware  of  the  real  seat  of 
danger,  had  made  an  unwise  attempt  to  disband  a  large  part 
of  the  Army.  The  counter-stroke  was  a  general  rendezvous 
of  the  Army  on  Newmarket  Heath,  on  June  5,  1647,  followed 
within  a  few  days  by  another  at  Thriplow  Heath,  near 
Royston,!  at  which  the  Army  entered  into  an  engagement  to 
tolerate  no  disbanding  or  dividing  until  they  saw  the  affairs 
of  the  country  in  a  posture  which  they  beUeved  they  had 
fought  to  secure.    '  All  wise  men  may  see  ',  they  said  in  one 

1  The  reason  for  the  two  meetings  of  the  Army  does  not  readily  appear, 
but  it  would  seem  from  the  accounts  given  by  Whitelocke.  in  particular, 
that  at  the  first  the  principal  subject  had  been  the  disbanding,  and  that 
the  second  drew  up  more  especially  the  poHtical  proposals.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  Thriplow  Heath  meeting  is  the  one  the  mutineers  usually 
mention,  though  they  frequently  mention  both. 


236     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

manifesto,  '  that  Parliament  privileges  as  well  as  Royal 
prerogative  may  be  perverted  or  abused  to  the  destruction  of 
those  greater  ends  for  whose  protection  and  preservation 
they  were  intended,  to  wit,  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
people  and  the  safety  of  the  whole  '.*  The  ideally  democratic 
settlement  of  the  country  was  set  forth  in  these  engagements  ; 
and  a  Council  of  the  Army  was  appointed,  on  which  two 
representatives  of  the  rank  and  file  of  each  regiment  were  to 
sit  as  equals  with  officers  and  the  higher  command.  Fairfax 
and  Cromwell  had  countenanced  these  proceedings  ;  Ireton 
and  Lambert  were  known  to  have  lent  their  legal  training  to 
the  drawing  up  of  the  published  Declarations.^ 

There  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  Cromwell  at  any  time 
regarded  the  political  spirit  in  the  Army  as  a  weapon  which 
he  could  use  against  the  Parliament  and  drop  at  his  con- 
venience. He  was  probably  under  no  illusions ;  yet  he  made 
three  miscalculations.  He  did  not  realize  the  strength  of 
the  belief  that  the  reign  of  pure  democracy  could  arrive  in 
a  moment ;  he  had  no  conception  of  the  Council  of  the  Army 
as  a  rival  to  Parliament  in  affairs  of  government ;  and  he, 
in  common  with  others,  entirely  missed  the  profound  danger 
of  the  '  engagement '  against  disbanding  or  dividing.  The 
fixed  idea  of  countering  the  Parliament  in  that  matter 
blinded  every  one  concerned  to  the  use  that  might  be  made 
of  this  engagement  against  the  military  commanders  them- 
selves, when  detailing  regiments  for  service.  Within  five 
months  Cromwell  was  applying  a  drastic  corrective  to 
impatience,  by  the  summary  execution  of  a  soldier  in  front 
of  a  disaffected  regiment.  That,  and  the  renewed  fighting  of 
1648,  were  effective  for  a  time  in  keeping  the  Army  in  hand. 
But  the  logical  democrats  remained  irreconcilably  hostile  ; 
pamphlets  poured  forth  in  endless  attack  upon  existing 
authority ;  Lilburne  and  three  other  leaders — Walwyn, 
Overton,  and  Prince — ^were  clapped  into  the  Tower,  from 
which  retreat  they  continued  the  most  violent  assaults  upon 

*  Army  Remonstrance  of  June  23,  1647  ;   quoted  by  Firth,  Cromwell's 
Army,  p.  354. 

*  Whitelocke's  Memorials,  ii.  162. 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  237 

the  tyrant  Cromwell.  The  name  of  '  Leveller '  becomes 
almost  as  common  in  the  varied  periodical  literature  of  those 
years  as  the  name  '  Anarchist '  or  '  Bolshevist '  in  our  own 
day ;  and  it  is  to  be  remarked  that,  like  these  later  names, 
it  was  usually  employed  as  a  term  of  abuse  and  prejudice.* 
It  was  always  repudiated  by  Lilburne  and  hi§  followers,  who 
strenuously  denied  that  they  had  any  intention  of  reducing 
all  men  to  one  level,  or  making  any  rough  and  leady  redis- 
tribution of  property.  But  a  truly  democratic  government 
they  never  wearied  of  demanding ;  and  there  can  be  no 
question  of  the  zeal  with  which  they  fomented  discontent, 
wherever  they  found  it.  In  the  Army  it  was  keen  enough, 
tl\p  failure  of  the  democratic  Council  of  the  Army,  which  had 
speedily  declined  into  a  committee  of  high  officers  only,  being 
embittered  by  the  standing  grievance  of  pay  in  arrear,  at 
a  time  when  considerable  grants  of  money  were  being  made 
to  military  leaders. 

In  April  1649  ^  spark  was  set  to  the  tinder  by  the  decision 
for  the  campaign  in  Ireland,  and  the  selection  by  lot  of  the 
regiments  to  proceed  there  on  active  service.  The  danger 
inherent  in  the  Thriplow  Heath  engagement  was  now  re- 
vealed. The  leaders  of  disaffection  could,  and  did,  take  the 
line  that  the  preparations  for  the  Irish  campaign  were  a 
disguised  attempt  to  break  up  centres  of  agitation  in  the 
Army — a  '  dividing  *,  such  as  they  had  undertaken  not  to 
tolerate.  The  inflammation  came  to  a  head  simultaneously 
at  Banbury  and  Salisbury.  At  the  former  town  the  disaffected 
men  placed  themselves  under  the  leadership  of  one  William 
Thompson,  cornet  of  a  regiment  of  horse,  held  a  demonstration 
in  force,  and  issued  a  declaration  in  the  then  common  form 
against  '  tyranny '.     With  this  centre  of  trouble  the  troops 

1  There  is  a  curious  pamphlet  called  '  Terrible  and  bloudy  Newes  from 
the  disloyall  Army  in  the  North  ',  with  a  picture  on  the  title-page  of 
soldiers  impaling  babies  on  spears  and  swinging  them  up  to  dash  out  their 
brains.  It  proceeds  to  relate  the  terror  of  the  inhabitants  of  Market 
Harborough  when  some  Levellers  arrived  in  the  town  on  a  market  day  ; 
they  ran  hither  and  thither  in  fright.  But  the  only  facts  to  be  related, 
when  the  point  comes,  are  that  the  Levellers  proclaimed  that  there  was 
nothing  to  be  afraid  of,  'staid  a  while  at  the  Crown,  and  so  departed 
peaceably  '.    Evidently  some  methods  of  modern  journalism  are  not  new. 


238    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

at  Salisbury  were  already  in  communication.  Thompson's 
manifesto  states  :  '  We  do  own  and  avow  the  late  proceedings 
in  Colonel  Scroops,  Colonel  Harrisons,  and  Major  General 
Skippon's  Regiments,  declared  in  their  Resolutions  published 
in  print ;  As  one  man  Resolving  to  live  and  dy  with  them, 
in  their  and  our  just  and  mutual  defence.'  ^  Less  under  the 
domination  of  a  single  leader,  the  movement  ?it  Salisbury 
was  evidently  in  numbers  the  more  formidable.  Near  that 
place  were  quartered  two  of  the  regiments  of  horse  upon  whom 
the  lot  had  fallen  for  Ireland — Commissary  General  Ireton's 
and  Colonel' Scroops.  The  story  may  here  use  the  words  of 
some  of  those  who  were  ultimately  taken  prisoner  at  Burford  : 

Our  old  solemn  Engagement  at  Newmarket  and  Triplo 
Heaths,  June  5,  1647,  with  the  manifold  Declarations, 
Promises,  and  Protestations  of  the  Army,  in  pursuance 
thereof,  were  all  utterly  declined  and  most  perfidiously 
broken,  and  the  whole  fabrick  of  the  Commonwealth  fain  into 
the  grossest  and  vilest  Tyranny  that  ever  English  men  groaned 
under  . . .  which,  with  the  consideration  of  the  particular,  most 
insufferable  abuses  and  dis-satisfactions  put  upon  us,  moved 
us  to  an  unanimous  refusal  to  go  .  .  .  till  full  satisfaction  and 
security  were  given  to  us,  as  Soldiers  and  Commoners,  by  a 
Councel  of  our  own  free  Election.  .  .  .  Whereupon  we  drew  up 
a  Paper  of  some  Reasons,  by  way  of  Declaration,  concerning 
our  said  refusal,  to  deliver  to  our  Colonel ;  unto  which,  we  all 
chearfully  subscribed,  with  many  of  our  Officers  (especially 
Cornet  Den,  who  then  seemingly  was  extream  forward  in 
assisting  lis  to  effect  our  desires)  which  being  delivered  a  day 
or  two  after,  immediately  our  Officers  called  a  Rendezvous 
near  unto  Salisbury,  where  they  declared.  That  the  General 
intended  not  to  force  us,  but  that  we  might  either  go  or  stay  ; 
and  so  certifying  our  intents  to  stay,  we  were  all  drawn  into 
the  Town  again,  and  the  Colonel,  with  the  rest  of  the  Officers, 
full  of  discontent,  threatened  us  the  Souldiers  ;  and  because 
we  were  all,  or  most  of  one  minde,  he  termed  our  Unity  a 
Combination,  or  Mutiny ;  yet  himself,  upon  our  request  to 
know,  told  us.  That  he  could  not  assure  us,  that  he  would  go. 
Which  forementioned  Paper,  with  a  Letter,  we  sent  to  Com- 
missary General  Iretons  Regiment,  who  took  it  so  well,  That 
they  were  immediately  upon  their  march  towards  our  quarters, 
to  joyn  with  us.^ 

*  England's  Standard  Advanced.  *  The  Levellers  Vindicated. 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  239 

It  may  be  remarked  here  that  the  permission  to  *  go  or  stay  ' 
was  not  so  simple  as  it  sounds,  since  it  meant  in  practice  to  go 
or  be  disbanded,  and  struck  upon  another  grievance ;  for 
it  is  asserted  in  this  same  pamphlet  that  men  who  took  their 
discharge,  with  months  of  pay  in  arrear,  received  nothing 
but  a  few  shilHngs  for  immediate  needs  and  a  certificate  of 
the  amount  of  pay  due,  which  certificates  they  were  forced 
by  their  poverty  to  sell  at  35.  or  45.  in  the  £ — the  Parliament, 
they  allege,  being  actually  so  mean  as  to  employ  agents  of 
their  own  to  buy  back  their  own  certificates  at  that  price. 

The  officers  took  the  obvious  steps  for  stemming  discontent 
in  the  r^nks,  but  without  avail. 

After  this  all  politike  means  . . .  were  put  in  practice  to  work 
us  off  from  our  Resolutions,  as  severing  the  Troops,  and  dealing 
with  them  apart  .  .  .  All  these  devices  working  nothing  upon 
us  (there  being  no  satisfaction  given  to  our  just  exceptions) 
our  Colonel  fell  to  violent  threats,  and  commanded  us  to  put 
our  Horses  in  a  Field  two  miles  from  our  Quarters ;  which 
though  at  first  we  did,  yet  finding  the  bitterness  of  his  spirit 
to  encrease,  and  that  upon  his  information,  That  the  General, 
and  Lieutenant  General  were  preparing  a  force  against  us  : 
what  could  we  do  less,  than  put  our  selves  into  the  best  posture 
we  could  to  preserve  our  selves,  which  we  immediately  did 
(and  in  this  no  man  was  more  forward,  and  violently  earnest, 
than  that  perfidious  Apostate,  Cornet  Den).  .  .  .  Hereupon  our 
Officers  leaving  us,  we  chose  new  ones,  and  disposed  of  our 
Colours,  and  immediately  drew  up  a  Declaration  .  .  .  This 
Declaration  was  publikely  read  at  our  Rendezvous  in  Old 
Sarum,  where  four  troops  of  Commissarie  General.  Iretons  met 
us,  and  unanimously  assented  to  by  both  Regiments  ;  where- 
upon our  conjunction  we  advanced  to  Marlborough  and  so  to 
Wantage.^ 

The  terms  of  the  declaration  we  may  see  in  a  letter  sent  the 
same  day  to  Fairfax  : 

May  it  please  your  Excellency  A  Proposition  was  made  unto 
us  for  the  service  of  Ireland,  with  a  Declaration  of  your  Excel- 
lencies pleasure,  that  it  was  lawfull  for  us  to  consent  or  deny, 
for  no  man  was  to  be  forced  ;  although  many  of  us  were  very 
willing  to  put  our  lives  in  our  hands  for  that  service,  yet  were 
we  constrained  to  answer  in  the  negative,  in  regard  we  did 
»  The  Levellers  Vindicated. 


240    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

conceive  it  a  breach  of  former  ingagements,  to  suffer  many  of 
our  fellow  Souldiers,  who  could  not  go,  to  be  disbanded  without 
a  competent  pay  in  hand  of  their  Arrears  to  carry  them  home, 
and  inable  them  to  follow  their  occupations  :  We  perceive 
such  a  representation  of  the  businesse  hath  been  laid  before 
your  Excellency,  rendring  us  so  vile.in  your  eyes,  that  the  next 
Newes  we  heard  was  of  Forces  marching  towards  us,  which 
hath  put  us  upon  an  unusuall  yet  a  necessary  way  for  our  owne 
preservation,  least  we  should  be  destroyed  before  we  could  be 
heard  to  speake,  to  relinquish  our  Officers,  and  fly  for  our 
present  safety.  And  now  we  do  earnestly  beseech  your 
Excellency  patiently  to  heare  us,  and  to  take  us  under  your 
protection  ;  all  that  we  require  is  the  performance  of  our 
ingagement  at  Triploe  Heath,  and  we  shall  promise  never  to 
depart  from  your  Excellencies  command,  in  anything  which 
shall  not  be  contrary  to  the  said  ingagement,  professing  our 
selves  very  sorry,  that  we  should  have  no  better  esteem  in 
your  Excellencies  judgement.^ 

This  was  all  very  well,  but  to  '  relinquish  '  officers,  '  dispose 
of  '  colours,  and  leave  quarters  was ,  mutiny.  We  may  see 
now  that  Scroop  and  his  officers  had  (as  will  happen  in  face 
of  the  disgrace  of  a  mutiny)  lost  their  tempers,  and  had  not, 
perhaps,  handled  the  situation  with  a  calm  discretion.  But  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  anything  could  have  controlled 
the  men  then.  Memories  of  the  prompt  execution  at  Ware 
in  1647  (and  there  had  been  another  summary  execution  in 
London  early  in  this  same  year  of  1649)  must  have  warned 
them  that,  however  they  formulated  their  grievances,  Crom- 
well would  not  tolerate  refusal  of  orders.  By  that  time  there 
was  no  course  for  them  to  take  but  the  one  they  no\y  attempted 
— to  effect  a  junction  with  other  forces  of  the  disaffected. 
Banbury  would  clearly  be  their  objective,  for  a  brother  of 
Cornet  Thompson  was  among  their  number ;  but  believing 
that  by  taking  Abingdon  on  the  way  they  could  pick  up 
some  troops  of  Harrison's  regiment  as  well,  they  "had  directed 
their  march  first  upon  Wantage. 

Their  information  that  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  were  on  the 
move  was  correct.  News  of  the  outbreak  at  Banbury  had 
reached  London  on  May  5  ;    on  May  7  it  was  known  there 

'  White's  True  Relation. 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  241 

that  Scroop's  regiment  had  refused  duty,  and  on  the  next 
day  that  Ireton's  men  were  with  them.^  On  May  11  these 
two  regiments  left  SaUsbury,  and  on  the  evening  of  that  day 
the  news  reached  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  in  camp  at  Andover ; 
it  may  have  been  brought  by  Scroop  himself,  since  he  was 
later  given  Fairfax's  reply  to  the  mutineers'  letter,  to  carry 
to  them.  The  first  step  taken  by  the  Generals  was  to  dispatch 
at  once  four  officers,  Major  White,  Captain  Scotten,  Captain 
Peverell,  and  Captain  Bayley  with  a  communication  to  the 
mutineers.  Leaving  Andover  on  the  evening  of  the  nth, 
they  rode  through  the  night  to  Marlborough,  and  finding 
that  the  troops  had  already  left  that  place  they  followed 
them  to  Wantage.  This  was  on  Saturday,  the  12th.  Dis- 
cussion was  postponed  till  the  next  morning,  when  a  meeting 
was  to  be  held  at  10  o'clock  at  Stanford-in-the-Vale.  The 
four  officers  for  some  reason  did  not  appear  there  (possibly, 
if  one  may  judge  by  some  expressions  in  Major  White's 
account,  because  Scroop  arrived  just  then),  and  had  again 
to  follow  the  Levellers,  who  were  on  their  way  to  Abingdon. 
Near  that  place  a  halt  was  called,  at  which  White  read  the 
letter  he  had  brought  from  Fairfax.  With  Scroop  the  men 
would  have  no  dealings  ;  they  listened  to  what  White  had 
to  say — mainly  an  appeal  to  them,  backed  by  Fairfax's 
letter,  to  perceive  the  perils  of  disunion  in  the  Army.  But 
the  letter,  they  said  afterwards,  '  took  but  little  effect  upon 
our  Spirits '  ;  they  were  set  upon  effecting  the  junction 
they  wished  to  make,  and  marched  on  till  they  met  the 
expected  two  troops  of  Harrison's  men,  to  whom  they  read 
their  declaration. 

The  two  Troops  being  very  willing  to  be  satisfied  in  the 
lawfulnesse  of  the  engagement,  telling  us  they  were  marching 
to  Thame,  and  the  next  morning  we  should  know  their  resolu- 
tions :  But  as  we  were  marching  back  againe,  before  we  were 
half  out  of  the  field,  we  spied  a  party  of  horse,  which  it  seemed 
was  the  Apostate  Reynolds  with  his  mercenary  damme  crew 
(such  as  in  our  hearing  most  desperately  swore.  That  if  the 
Devil  would  come  from  hell  and  give  them  a  groat  a  day  more 
than  the  State,  they  would  fight  for  him  against  the  Levellers 

1  Whitelock's  Memorials,  iii.  29. 
2304  R 


242     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

or  any  others)  well,  upon  this  we  drew  out  a  Forlorne  hope, 
and  thereupon  two  troops  of  Colonel  Harrisons  marched  with 
us  towards  them  ;  they  retreated  towards  New-bridge  and 
kept  it  by  force  against  us,  but  we  unwilling  to  shed  blood,  or 
to  be  the  original  occasion  of  a  new  war  (though  they  have 
often  branded  us  with  it  as  if  we  wholly  sought  it)  but  our 
actions  did  then  clearly  manifest  the  contrary  ;  for  we  seeing 
Souldiers  coming  in  a  Hostile  manner  against  us  as  aforesaid, 
did  meet  them,  having  forty  or  fifty  of  them  at  our  mercy,  and 
could  have  destroyed  them,  for  we  had  them  two  miles  from 
the  foresaid  bridg,  but  we  did  not  then  in  the  least  offer  them 
any  violence,  or  diminish  a  hair  of  their  heads,  but  let  them  go 
to  their  body  againe,  and  withall  marched  to  a  Ford.^ 

It  is  necessary  to  modify  this  account  in  some  respects  by 
comparing  it  with  Major  White's.     He  says  : 

Reports  came  that  the  Bridge  was  made  good  against  them 
by  Colonell  Reynolds,  with  200  Horse  and  a  party  of  Dragoons, 
and  that  my  Lord  Generall  was  coming  to  fall  upon  them  in 
the  Reer  ;  this  news  was  strange  to  me  and  begat  some  heats 
amongst  them,  and  put  some  upon  resolution  to  Force  the 
Bridge,  and  they  tied  up  their  cloaks  and  rode  a  Career  with 
resolution  to  charge  them,  as  far  as  I  could  perceive  by  their 
words  and  practice.  I  then  made  what  hast  I  could  to  get 
before  them,  and  to  interpose  between  them  to  prevent  hosti- 
lity ;  but  by  the  way  I  met  with  Major  Abbot,  who  asked  my 
opinion,  whether  it  were  best  for  them  to  keep  the  Bridge,  or 
let  them  passe  .''  I  asked  him  whither  he  had  command  from 
my  Lord  soe  to  do,  he  answered  he  had  ;  then  said  I,  you  are 
bound  so  to  do,  or  els  you  may  be  hanged  if  you  do  not  :  then 
coming  to  Colonell  Reynolds  at  the  Bridge  foot,  I  there  read  the 
Paper  which  I  had  written,  the  which  I  thought  so  reasonable, 
as  by  that  means  to  put  a  stop  to  any  furious  resolutions,  the 
parties  were  perswaded  to  decline  force,  and  marched  a  mile 
up  the  river,  and  forded  over.^ 

By  this  time  it  was  growing  late  in  the  evening  of  Sunday, 
May  13,  and  the  mutineers  began  to  think  about  quarters  for 
the  night.  They  left  the  decision  to  two  of  their  officers, 
Lieutenant  Ray  and  Cornet  Denne,  who  decided  to  march 
them  by  Bampton  to  Burford,  which  was  reached  about  nine 
o'clock  at  night.  They  disposed  themselves  about  Burford 
and  in  two  neighbouring  villages,  and  appear  to  have  settled 

*   The  Levellers  Vindicated.  *  White's  True  Relation. 


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THE  LEVFLLERS  AT  BURFORD  243 

down  without  much  apprehension.  They  were  horribly 
surprised  when,  at  midnight,  troops  poured  into  the  town 
from  two  sides,  overwhelmed  desultory  attempts  at  resistance, 
and  finally  imprisoned  about  three  hundred  and  forty  of 
them  in  the  church.  The  remainder  of  the  mutineers,  who 
had  numbered  in  all  some  nine  hundred,  had  escaped,  but 
the  arms  and  horses  of  about  eight  hundred  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Fairfax.^  He  and  Cromwell  had  moved  very 
swiftly,  having  covered  between  forty  and  fifty  miles  in  the 
day,  and  they  had  actually  been  at  Abingdon,  having  moved 
from  Andover  by  Theal,  when  the  mutineers  were  crossing 
just  above  Newbridge. ^  The  entry  into  Burford  was  made  by 
Colonel  Reynolds  with  his  horse,  Colonel  Okey  with  his 
dragoons,  and  Major  Shelborn  with  a  Buckinghamshire 
regiment  of  horse.  Fairfax  himself  brought  up  a  party  in 
reserve,  and  Colonel  Scroop  had  a  command  in  the  rear.^ 
Captain  Fisher  commanded  the  party  that  was  sent  round  to 
enter  the  town  from  the  other  side — the  Sheep  Street  ap- 
proach, no  doubt,  since  the  main  advance  of  a  force  coming 
up  from  Bampton  would  naturally  be  made  along  Witney 
Street. 

The  mutineers  afterwards  made  accusations  of  treacherous 
dealings  against  Fairfax  and  Cromwell,  asserting  that  they 
had  been  lulled  by  Major  White  into  a  false  security,  had 
been  led  to  believe  that  time  would  be  given  them  for 
negotiation,  and  that  there  was  no  intention  of  using  force 
against  them. 

Being  in  treatie  [says  their  own  account]  with  the  Com- 
missioners, and  having  intelligence,  that  the  General  and 
Lt.  General  were  upon  their  march  towards  us,  many  of  us 
severall  times,  urged  to  Major  White,  and  prest  upon  him, 
that  he  came  to  betray  us,  to  which  he  replyed,  That  the 
Generall  and  Lieutenant  Generall  had  engaged  their  Honours 
not  to  engage  against  us  in  any  Hostile  manner  till  they  had 
received  our  Answer.  .  .  .  We  gave  the  more  credit  to  the 
Major,  who  seemed  extream  forward  and  hastie  to  make  the 
Composure,  pretending  so  far  to  approve  of  our  standing  for 

'  Mercurius  Britannicus,  no.  4.  *  The  Moderate,  no.  45. 

*  The  Kingdom's  Weekly  Intelligencer,  no.  312. 

R  2 


244     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

the  things  contained  in  our  engagement  at  Triplo-Heath,  that 
himself  with  our  consents  drew  up  a  Paper  in  Answer  to  the 
Generall  for  us  .  .  .  During  the  time  of  treaty,  while  the  Com- 
missioners thus  assured  us  all  security,  one  of  them,  to  wit, 
Captain  Scotten  privately  slipt  from  us,  and  two  others,  to  wit, 
Captain  Bayley  and  Peverill  left  notes  at  every  Town  of  our 
strength  and  condition,  whilst  Major  White  held  us  in  hand, 
and  told  us,  that  if  they  fell  upon  us,  he  would  stand  between 
the  bullets  and  us  :  So  that  when  notice  had  been  sufficiently 
given,  and  we  with  all  the  meanes  that  could  be  used,  wrought 
into  a  secure  condition  at  Burford,  &  after  the  setting  of  our 
Guard,  which  was  commanded  by  Quarter-Master  More  who 
was  thereupon  appointed,  by  his  Brother  Traytor,  Cornet  Den 
(who  himself)  since  his  coming  to  London  hath  avowedly 
declared  to  Ma.  W.  W.^  to  this  effect,  that  his  beginning  and 
continuing  with  the  Burford  Troops  was  out  of  premeditated 
and  complotted  designe,  that  so  at  last  he  might  the  easier 
bring  on  their  destruction,  holding  all  the  time  he  was  with 
them,  correspondency  with  the  Generalls  creatures,  which 
said  Quarter-Master  More  after  he  had  set  the  guard  in  this 
slight  manner,  and  possest  us  with  as  much  security  as  he 
could,  and  under  the  pretence  of  going  to  refresh  himself  and 
his  horse,  did  most  villanously  and  treacherously  leave  the 
guard  without  any  Orders,  and  himself  in  person  posted  away 
to  the  Generals  forces  and  brought  them  in  upon  us,  marching 
in  the  head  of  them  with  his  sword  drawn  against  us  ;  And 
Quarter-Master  More  being  afterward  called  Traitor  by  some 
of  the  Souldiers,  Cap.  Gotherd  of  Scroops  Regiment  made 
answer  he  was  none,  for  that  he  did  nothing  but  what  he  was 
sent  to  do  ;  so  that  most  Treacherously,  that  same  night  the 
Generals  forces  came  pouring  on  both  sides  of  the  Towne  of 
Burford,  where  we  had  not  beene  above  three  houres,  swearing 
Damme  them  and  sink  them,  and  violently  fell  upon  us,  and 
so  by  a  fraudulent  and  Treacherous  surprize  defeated  us,  not 
expecting  it  during  the  Treatie,  especially  from  them  with 
whom  we  had  joyned  these  seven  yeares  for  the  defence  of 
Englands  Liberties  and  Freedoms,  and  though  divers  of  us 
had  faire  quarter  promised  us  by  Colonel  Okey,  Major  Barton 
and  the  rest  of  the  Officers  there  with  them,  as  that  not  a  hair 
of  our  heads  should  perish,  yet  did  they  suffer  their  souldiers 
to  plunder  us,  strip  us,  and  barbarously  to  use  us,  worse  then 
Cavaliers.2 

Perhaps  Lilbume's  associate,  Walwyn,    whose  Christian  name  was 
WiUiam. 

'  The  Levellers  Vindicated. 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  245 

Rumours  of  treachery  were  also  current  in  London  circles 
unfriendly  to  Cromwell. 

Oliver  [says  Mercurius  Pragmaticus]  having  had  a  Taste  of 
their  Resolution  given  him  in  Hampshire  about  Alton  (as 
Reynolds  the  Apostate  had  about  Banbury)  he  gave  them 
leisure  to  retreat  out  of  Hampshire  to  joyn  with  their  Friends 
in  the  County  of  Oxford,  concluding  his  old  engine,  money, 
was  like  to  bee  more  effectuall  than  force  .  .  .  Besides  by  the 
muttering  and  whispering  of  his  men,  he  was  not  sure,  whether 
they  would  engage  unto  Bloud  against  their  Fellow  Souldiers. 
And  therefore  having  Spies  and  Intelligencers  active  among 
them,  hee  so  ordered  the  matter,  that  their  own  Scouts  be- 
trayed them,  and  brought  him  on  to  surprise  them.* 

It  was  in  answer  to  this  accusation  that  Major  White 
wrote  his  account  of  what  had  happened.  Both  accounts 
were  published  some  months  after  the  event — that  of  the 
mutineers  being  dated  August  20,  and  Major  White's 
September  17,  Moreover  it  has  to  be  remembered  that,  if 
the  mutineers  wrote  in  the  bitterness  of  their  failure.  White 
wrote  in  his  defence,  and  therefore  the  latter  must  be  read  with 
no  less  careful  criticism  than  the  former.  On  the  whole  it  is 
not  difficult  to  see  the  truth  behind  the  two  accounts.  White 
is  certainly  frank  in  his  statements,  and  he  gives  the  text  of 
various  communications.  He  begins  by  saying  definitely  that 
when  he  received  Fairfax's  letter,  he  was  given  instructions  to 

use  what  meanes  I  thought  expedient,  according  to  my 
judgment  and  conscience,  to  produce  a  right  understanding 
and  procure  a  Union,  to  which  Lieutenant  General  Cromwell 
added,  that  I  should  let  them  know,  that  although  they  sent 
Messengers  to  them,  they  would  not  follow  with  force  at  the 
heels;   which  words  my  Lord  Generall  confirmed. 

That  is  a  perfectly  clear  assertion,  and  it  conforms  with 
White's  account  of  his  action  at  the  moment  of  the  surprise. 
He  says  : 

About  midnight,  when  the  Papers  were  a  drawing  up  by 
Cornet  Den  at  my  quarters,  newes  came  in,  that  my  Lord 
Generall  and  the  Lieutenant  Generall  were  at  the  Towns  end 
with  2000  horse  and  dragoons,  I  then  presently  went  forth  in 

'  Mercurius  Pragmaticus,  Part  II,  no.  5. 


246    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

my  slippers,  and  made  what  hast  I  could  towards  my  Lord, 
to  beg  of  his  Excellency  to  prevent  bloodshed,  but  hearing  the 
pistolls  firing  very  thick,  I  ran  as  fast  as  I  could,  till  I  was 
stayed  by  a  troop  of  horse,  who  threatened  to  pistoll  me,  but 
after  information  I  passed  them,  and  went  forward,  till  I  met 
with  a  single  Trooper  of  the  Northamptonshire  horse,  which 
would  be  satisfied  with  no  account,  but  vowed  if  I  stirred 
further  he  would  pistoll  me  :  I  was  forc'd  to  return  back,  and 
perswaded  him  to  go  with  me  to  his  Lieutenant,  to  be 
dismissed  from  being  his  prisoner,  and  then  betook  myself 
to  my  Quarters  till  the  fury  was  over. 

No  man  not  genuinely  surprised  and  distressed  would  have 
run  such  risks  in  the  dark  and  the  turmoil,  when  any  one 
rushing  out  from  the  town  would  be  taken  for  an  escaping 
Lex,eller. 

The  accounts  on  both  sides  are  quite  consistent  with  an 
explanation  that  does  not  involve  actual  treachery.  Fairfax's 
first  letter,  and  the  verbal  message  sent  by  White,  were  given 
on  the  very  first  news  of  the  action  taken  by  Scroop's  and 
Ireton's  regiments.  At  that  stage,  all  that  had  happened, 
while  serious  enough,  had  not  passed  beyond  the  possibility 
of  negotiation.  The  troops  had  left  their  quarters,  but  from 
the  fact  that  White  and  the  other  three  were  sent  to  Marl- 
borough it  is  clear  that  Fairfax  hoped  to  stop  them  there. 
This  is  put  beyond  question  by  a  letter  written  from  the 
camp  at  Andover  on  the  Saturday  :  '  They  ',  says  the  writer, 
referring  to  the  disaffected  regiments,  '  lay  last  night  at 
Marlbury,  within  14  miles  of  us  :  the  Gen.  hath  sent  to  them 
Major  White,  and  Captain  Scot,  Captain  Peverell,  with  a 
letter  requiring  their  obedience,  which  if  they  refuse,  he 
tells  them  what  they  are  to  expect,  we  much  wonder  we  hear 
nothing  of  them  again,  for  we  have  expected  an  Answer 
from  them  this  4  houres '.  The  information  given  here  as  to 
the  tenor  of  Fairfax's  letter  is  correct.  '  If  you  shall  returne 
to  your  obedience ',  he  wrote  in  the  communication  carried 
by  Major  White,  '  these  mischiefs  are  not  yet  gone  so  far, 
but  that  they  may  be  healed  by  your  submission  and 
acknowledgement ;  if  you  pretend  to  have  done  this  unlawfuU 
act  for  just  ends,  when  did  I  ever  refuse  you,  in  referring 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  247 

any  just  desire  of  the  Armies  to  the  Parliament  ?  if  you 
refuse  this  tender  to  you,  I  must  and  I  shall  through  God's 
assistance,  endeavour  to  reduce  you  by  force  to  a  just  obedi- 
ence.' ^  The  key  to  the  situation  surely  lies  in  the  mutineers' 
fixed  idea  of  joining  with  other  disaffected  forces.  That, 
with  a  certain  desperation  which  would  be  the  natural  result 
of  having  burned  their  boats,  prevented  them  from  per- 
ceiving clearly  that  to  pursue  their  immediate  object  com- 
pletely changed  the  situation  from  Fairfax's  point  of  view ; 
no  sensible  commander  could  have  intended  to  be  kept  in 
play  while  his  opponents  joined  forces.  This  was  distinctly 
perceived  by  Fairfax's  emissary  officers.    Major  White  says  : 

Then  [i.  e.  after  the  halt  for  discussion  near  Abingdon]  came 
Captain  Modee  and  Lievtenant  Pritchard  with  a  Declaration 
from  my  Lord  Generall,  directed  to  me  to  communicate  to 
them ;  but  the  Regiment  being  marched  to  joyn  with  some 
troops  of  Colonel  Harrisons,  it  could  not  at  present  be  com- 
municated to  the  whole,  but  I  read  it  to  their  Trustees  and 
Officers,  and  delivered  it  to  them  to  communicate ;  at  which 
time  they  offered  to  dismisse  us,  unlesse  we  would  grant,  that 
persons  should  go  from  them  to  my  Lord  Generals  forces  with 
him,  and  that  they  might  have  liberty  to  speak  to,  and  publish 
Papers  among  them  :  this  motion  was  like  the  former,  of 
desiring  assurance  my  Lord  should  not  fall  upon  them  ;  things 
without  our  power,  and  exalting  their  party  to  stand  in  com- 
petition with  my  Lord ;  this  much  incensed  Captain  Scoten, 
and  made  him  impatient  to  be  gone,  which  I  must  needs  say, 
I  was  unwilling  so  to  do,  before  I  had  gotten  the  bottom  of 
their  desires  and  intentions,  but  Captain  Scoten  going  away, 
I  desired  him  to  present  things  to  my  Lord  Generall  with  |an 
impartiall  account,  and  how  I  had  behaved  myself  among 
them,  and  to  let  my  Lord  Generall  know,  I  should  prove  my 
selfe  as  faithful  to  him  in  that  Businesse,  as  any  Officer  in  the 
Army,  and  that  at  what  time  he  should  send  for  me,  I  would 
come  to  him,  and  however  I  would  stay  but  a  very  little  time 
with  them,  but  did  intreat  him  to  beseech  my  Lord  Generall, 
to  call  me  away  before  any  hostility  was  exercised. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  meaning  of  this  passage  ; 
White  and  his  companions  regarded  their  mission  as  over 
when  they  saw  the  mutineers  carrying  out  their  plan,  instead 

'  White's  True  Relation. 


248    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

of  remaining  where  they  were  for  negotiations.  Scoten 
actually  went  away  ;  the  message  White  sent  back  by  him 
shows  that  he  also  thought  he  ought  to  go,  but  remained 
because  he  felt  he  could  still  be  useful  in  continuing  to  try 
to  bring  the  mutineers  to  terms.  But  he  refused  to  give 
them  any  further  assurances  concerning  Fairfax's  intentions, 
or  any  further  undertaking.  We  see  a  little  more  of  his 
mind  at  a  later  stage  ;  after  the  crossing  of  the  river,  on  the 
road  to  Burford,  he 

desired  that  they  would  not  neglect  the  use  of  their  intended 
means  of  safety  for  my  being  with  them,  and  did  likewise 
expresse  a  great  deal  of  confidence,  that  my  Lord  Generall 
would  not  fall  upon  them,  and  not  without  ground  for  it.^ 

In  other  words,  he  gave  the  mutineers  fair  warning  that  his 
continued  presence  did  not  mean  that  the  original  message 
from  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  was  to  be  considered  as  applying 
in  the  existing  circumstances.  The  confidence  he  expressed 
was  not  that  the  Generals  were  not  in  pursuit,  but  that  they 
would  not  necessarily  make  an  actual  attack  ;  he  believed 
that  the  matter  might  pass  without  bloodshed.  His  surprise 
at  the  last  moment  was  not  because  the  Generals  had  followed, 
but  because  they  had  arrived  so  soon.  Nor  have  we  any 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  Generals  did  mean  to  attack ; 
on  the  contrary  there  is  evidence  of  instructions  to  the 
troops  making  the  entry  into  Burford  that  '  mercy  should 
be  tendered  '  to  the  mutineers,  '  and  in  case  they  submitted, 
no  hurt  should  be  done  to  them  ' ;  ^  there  is  also  the  mutineers' 
own  assertion  that  Okey,  Barton,  and  others  offered  quarter. 
But  there  was  resistance.  In  part  this  was  inevitable  ;  men 
roused  suddenly  by  the  pouring  in  of  troops  would  very 
likely  be  firing  pistols  before  the  offer  of  quarter  could  be 
made  ;  and  there  would  be  confusion  in  the  darkness.  But 
there  was  at  least  one  point  of  deliberate  opposition  ;  '  some 
refusing  to  surrender  made  good  an  inn  out  of  which  they 
made  about  sixteen  shot ;  one  of  them  was  killed,  and  two 
or  three  of  them  wounded '.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  work 
of  an  individual  who  did  not  belong  to  any  of  the  revolted 

'  White's  True  Relation.  *  Perfect  Diurnall,  no.  302. 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  249 

regiments,  or  at  this  moment  to  the  Army  at  all,  but  was 
among  the  leading  extremists,  Colonel  Eyres,  one  of  Henry 
Martin's  associates.  Throughout  he  showed  an  inclination 
to  violence  which  the  rest  tried  to  avoid,  and  it  was  he 
who  instigated  the  fighting  which  White  just  averted  at 
Newbridge. 

Colonell  Eyres  [says  one  account]  is  now  brought  a  prisoner 
to  Oxford,  to  be  tried  for  his  life  ;  Hee  did  in  a  high  manner 
exasperate  the  Mutineers,  and  at  Newbridge  led  the  Forlorn 
Hope  &  would  have  charged  Col.  Reynold  and  Col.  Okey,  who 
made  good  the  passe  against  him  though  they  were  but  a 
handfuU  to  their  number ;  he  with  divers  others  was  in  that 
house  where  that  man  was  killed  of  our  party,  and  shot  divers 
of  our  souldiers  before  they  would  yield.^ 

The  whole  matter  may  perhaps  be  summed  up  in  this  way. 
We  can  feel  a  real  sympathy  for  the  mutineers,  and  that  not 
only  on  the  ground  that  they  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
perceive  clearly  how  their  own  action  affected  the  validity  of 
White's  original  message  to  them.  They  deserve  sympathy 
also  because  at  first  they  had  not  been  very  discreetly 
handled,  but  most  of  all  (and  this  is  an  effectual  criticism  of 
Cromwell)  because  a  night  surprise  of  the  kind  that  occurred 
could  not  possibly  be  a  peaceful  proceeding,  whatever  the 
Generals'  intentions  ;  Cromwell  should  certainly  have  known 
that,  if  he  wanted  the  affair  to  end  without  bloodshed,  he 
should  not  have  poured  his  men  into  Burford  at  midnight. 
He  could  have  waited,  with  his  much  superior  force,  till  the 
morning.  But  that  is  easy  to  see  at  this  distance  of  time  ; 
and  it  has  to  be  remembered  that  all  the  information  which 
had  reached  the  Generals  had  reported  the  mutineers  as 
*  high  and  peremptory  '.  In  any  case,  this  is  a  criticism  of  a 
different  nature  from  a  charge  of  underhand  dealing. 

The  captured  troops  were  imprisoned  in  the  church  from 
that  Sunday  midnight  till  the  following  Thursday  morning,  . 
and  in  that  fact,  more  than  in  the  ultimate  executions,  we 
may  see  Cromwell's  handling  of  the  disaffection.     He  could, 
as  earlier  events  had  shown,  order  executions  on  the  instant, 

'  Declaration  and  Speeches. 


250    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

when  he  chose  to  do  so.  He  now  waited  three  whole  days  and 
nights.  He  condemned  the  three  hundred  and  forty  to  an 
interval  of  chill  reflection  and  agonizing  anxiety  that  must 
have  been  very  effective  for  his  purpose  ;  and  the  relic  of 
those  three  days  on  the  font  in  Burford  Church — ^the  words 
'  Antony  Sedley  prisner  1649  '  cut  upon  the  lead  lining — is 
perhaps  grimmer  than  has  been  generally  realized.  Colonel 
Harrison,  Colonel  Okay,  and  Colonel  Scroop  appear  to  have 
been  sent  in  to  the  prisoners  with  a  general  sentence  of  death  ; 
this 

so  struck  them,  that  when  they  had  their  monies  sent  them 
to  buy  provisions,  they  all  refused  to  accept  of  it,  saying  they 
must  take  care  to  provide  for  the  Soul,  and  not  for  the  Body, 
and  many  of  them  wept  bitterly.^ 

'  The  humble  Petition  of  the  sad  and  heavy  hearted  prisoners 
remaining  in  the  Church  of  Burford  '  is  submissive  enough 
in  its  acknowledgement  of  the  offence  and  its  unconditional 
prayer  for  mercy  even  on  '  such  detestable  offenders  '.^ 
Fairfax  and  his  Council  of  War  were,  in  fact,  already  taking 
another  decision  ;  on  the  Tuesday  two  marked  men,  Denne 
and  Thompson  (the  latter,  no  doubt,  from  his  relationship 
to  the  ringleader  at  Banbury)  were  separately  condemned 
to  death  ;  ^  but  the  rest  appear  to  have  been  kept  in  suspense 
till  the  Thursday.  Of  Cromwell  himself  during  this  interval  we 
have  two  glimpses.  One  is  given  by  Major  White,  who 
relates  how,  when  he  went  to  see  Fairfax  and  report  himself, 
the  General  asked  about  the  mutineers 

and  what  they  said  of  him,  &  whether  I  thought  the  business 
might  have  been  composed  ?  to  which  I  answered,  that  they 
generally  spoke  well  of  his  Excellency,  &  that  I  thought  the 
Business  might  have  been  taken  up  without  that  breach  ;  to 
these  expressions  the  Lieutenant  Generall  discovered  much 
dissatisfaction,  and  wondered  I  was  not  ashamed  to  inform 
my  Lord  things  so  ridiculous,  as  to  talk  of  a  composure.* 

The  other,  a  still  more  personal  glimpse,  is  in  a  periodical, 
which,  after  stating  that  Lilburne  and  Thompson  (the  Banbury 

•  Declaration  and  Speeches.  *  Perfect  Diurnall,  no.  302. 

»  Declaration  and  Speeches.  *  White's  True  Relation. 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  251 

Comet  of  horse)  were  regarded  as  the  authors  of  the  discontent 
in  the  Army,  proceeds  : 

For  so  it  appears  by  the  Examinations  of  several  Prisoners, 
insomuch  that  righteous  Oliver  vow'd  (in  the  presence  of  all 
the  Officers)  at  Burford,  and  bound  it  with  a  solemn  Thump 
on  the  Table,  either  Lilburne  or  himself  should  perish  for  it.^ 

Two  others  besides  Denne  and  Thompson  were  in  the  end 
appointed  to  die,  but  we  do  not  know  how  they  were  selected  ; 
in  some  accounts  both  are  spoken  of  as  corporals,  in  others 
one  is  given  no  rank.  Of  the  final  scene  there  are  several 
reports,  agreeing,  however,  in  details  ;  the  following  is  the 
most  vivid  : 

This  day  Coronet  Thompson  was  brought  into  the  Church- 
yard (the  place  of  execution).  Death  was  a  great  terror  to 
him,  as  unto  most.  Some  say  he  had  hopes  of  a  pardon,  and 
therefore  delivered  something  reflecting  upon  the  legality  of 
his  engagement,  and  the  just  hand  of  God  upon*him  ;  But  if 
he  had  they  failed  him.  Corporal  Perkins  was  the  next,  the 
place  of  death,  and  sight  of  his  Executioners,  was  so  far  from 
altering  his  countenance  or  danting  his  spirit,  That  he  seemed 
to  smile  upon  both,  and  accompt  it  a  great  mercy,  that  he  was 
to  die  for  this  'quarrel ;  and  casting  his  eyes  up  to  his  Father 
and  afterwards  to  his  fellow-prisoners  (who  stood  upon  the 
Church-leads  to  see  the  execution)  set  his  back  against  the 
wall,  and  bad  the  Executioners  shoot ;  and  so  died  gallantly, 
as  he  had  lived  religiously.  After  him  Master  John  Church 
was  brought  to  the  stake.  He  was  as  much  supported  by 
God,  in  this  great  agony,  as  the  later  ;  for  after  he  had  pulled 
off  his  Dublet,  he  stretched  out  his  Arms,  and  bad  the  Souldiers 
do  their  duties,  looking  them  in  the  face,  till  they  gave  fire  upon 
him,  without  the  least  kind  of  fear  or  terror.^ 

Another  account  adds  some  touches  to  the  picture,  expanding 
a  little  what  Thompson  said  : 

That  it  is  just  what  did  befall  him,  that  God  did  not  own  the 
ways  he  went,  that  he  had  offended  the  Generall,  and  desired 
the  prayers  of  the  people,  and  told  the  souldiers  that  were 
appointed  to  shoot  him,  that  when  he  held  out  his  hand  they 
should  do  their  duties,  and  accordingly  he  was  immediately 
after  the  sign  given  shot  to  death. 

'  Mercurius  Elencticus,  no.  5.  ■■  The  Moderate,  no.  45. 


252     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

This  account  mentions  that  Church,  after  pulling  off  his 
doublet,  took  his  place  '  a  pretty  distance  froyi  the  wall ', 
and  confirms  his  lack  of  fear.^ 

Denne  was  reprieved  at  the  last  moment : 

After  these  3  Cornet  Den  was  brought  to  the  place  of  execution, 
he  exprest  himself  with  much  penitancy,'  and  said  that  he  was 
more  worthy  to  dy  than  live,  with  much  remorse  of  conscience 
for  being  an  occasion  to  lead  others  into  this  way  of  mutiny, 
and  disobedience.  But  immediately  before  the  act  of  Execu- 
tion, The  General  sent  him  a  pardon.^ 

The  mutineers  afterwards  were  convinced,  as  will  already  have 
been  seen  in  various  quotations,  that  Denne  had  been  a  traitor 
to  them  throughout ;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  this  is 
based  on  more  than  the  fact  of  his  sudden  reprieve,  with  the 
addition  of  their  very  natural  dislike  and  contempt  of  the 
rather  abject  completeness  with  which  he  now  went  over  to 
the  other  side.  After  the  execution  Cromwell  had  the  muti- 
neers back  into  the  Church  and  there  addressed  them,  '  and 
making ',  as  the  mutineers'  own  account  says,  '  his  old  manner 
of  dissembling  speeches,  told  us  it  was  not  they  '  (i.  e.  the 
officers  who  had  offered  quarter)  '  that  had  saved  our  lives, 
but  providence  had  so  ordered  it,  and  told  us  that  he  could 
not  deny  but  that  many  of  the  things  that  we  desired  were 
good,  and  they  intended  to  have  many  of  them  done,  but  we 
went  in  a  mutinous  way,  and  disobeyed  the  Generals  Orders  ; 
but  withal  he  told  us  that  we  should  not  be  put  off  with  dis- 
honourable terms,  because  we  should  not  become  a  reproach 
to  the  common  Enemie.'  ^  When  Cromwell  had  had  his  say 
Denne  was  made  to  preach,  and  we  are  left  in  no  doubt  of 
what  his  fellows  thought  of  him  : 

And  to  put  an  utter  inconfidence  and  jealousie  for  ever  amongst 
such  upon  all  future  engagements,  they  made  that  wretched 
Judas  Den,  to  that  end  their  pandor  and  slave  . . .  they  enjoyne 
Den  to  preach  Apostacy  to  us  in  the  pulpit  of  Burford  Church, 
to  assert  and  plead  the  unlawfulnesse  of  our  engagement,  as 
much  as  before  the  lawfulnesse  to  vindicate,  and  justifie  all 
those  wicked  and  abhominable  proceedings  of  the  Generall, 

'  Declaration  and  Speeches.  -  Jbid. 

'  The  Levellers  Vindicated. 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  253 

Lieutenant  Generall  and  their  Officers  against  us,  howling  and 
weeping  like  a  Crocadile,  and  to  make  him  a  perfect  Rogue 
and  villain  upon  everlasting  Record.^ 

His  voice  was  made  to  reach  beyond  the  walls  of  Burford 

Church,  for  he  had  also  to  publish  a  pamphlet  against  the 

mutiny — a  pamphlet  which  apparently  he  had  begun  to  write 

while  a  prisoner  in  the  Church.     It  is  much  more  likely  that 

we  are  to  see  in  these  facts  the  reason  for  his  reprieve,  than  to 

look  for  them  in  any  treachery  at  an  earlier  stage.     His 

treachery  would  have  been  of  very  little  use  to  Fairfax,  whose 

officers  had,  as  the  mutineers  found  out,  left  word  at  various 

points  to  guide  him.    Major  White  says  nothing  to  reflect  upon 

Denne  ;   and  it  seems  probable  that,  if  he  had  had  traitorous 

designs  throughout,  he  would  not  have  been  in  the  town  at  the 

end,  but  would  have  slipped  out  with  Quarter-Master  More. 

We  may  be  content  with  the  explanation  that  Cromwell  wished 

for  a  recantation  from  the  Levellers'  own  side,  as  a  useful 

weapon  (they  admit  its  effect  in  producing  '  an  utter  inconfi- 

dence  '  in  such  proceedings  for  the  future),  and  perceived  that 

Denne  was  the  man  to  produce  it.     He  had  had  some  little 

reputation  as  a  Puritan  controversialist  before  the  war  ;  tracts 

are  extant  by  him  against  infant  baptism,  and  also  tracts  by 

orthodox  clergymen  confuting  certain  '  schismatic  '  sermons 

of  his  when  curate  of  Fyrton  in  Hertfordshire.^     Whatever 

explanation  be  given  of  his  escape,  he  does  not  emerge  as  an 

heroic  figure.     Stories  were  told  of  his  having  ordered  his 

winding  sheet  and  coffin,  on  hearing  of  his  condemnation,  and 

this,  accordingly  as  it  was  told  by  those  who  believed  him  to  be 

a  traitor  or  those  who  merely  thought  him  a  coward,  appears 

as  a  disgusting  hypocrisy  or  an  ostentatious  piece  of  abjectness.^ 

Even  the  most  friendly  version  of  the  reprieve  says  :    *  But 

though  he  said  this  to  save  his  life,  yet  the  two  last  executed 

could  not  have  said  it,  though  they  were  sure  thereby  to  gain 

their  freedom.'    We  need  not,  however,  conclude  that  Denne's 

change  of  opinion  was  wholly  to  save  his  skin  ;  two  statements 

•  The  Levellers  Vindicated.  ' 

-  See  list  of  authorities  at  the  head  of  this  chapter. 
'  See,  e.g.,  Mercurius  Elencticus,   no.   5,  and   The  Kingdom's   Weekly 
Intelligencer,  no.  312. 


254     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

seem  to  reveal  him  as  the  type  of  advanced  theorist  who 
becomes  frightened  by  the  pace  at  which  any  strong  course, 
once  it  is  developed,  drives  forward  those  who  are  committed 
to  it.  '  Comet  Den  ',  we  read,  '  did  confesse  that  many  of  that 
party  that  were  thus  engaged  with  him,  their  hearts  were  so 
inraged,  and  full  of  bitternesse  against  the  Parliament  party, 
and  all  others  that  did  not  adhere  unto  them,  that  he  did  think 
in  his  conscience  there  would  have  bin  greate  cruelty  used  by 
these  men,  and  that  it  was  a  blessed  and  happy  hour  they  were 
surprized  and  prevented  ' ;  his  own  pamphlet  takes  much 
this  line  ,and  draws  its  lessons  from  the  differences  he  alleges 
between  the  ostensible  objects  of  the  mutineers  and  the  temper 
which  action  roused  in  them.  Denne  recovered  in  the  end  some 
measure  of  respect ;  he  reappears  in  1653  as  a  preacher  held 
in  esteem  at  Fenstanton,  in  Huntingdonshire,  and  later  near 
Canterbury.  But  he  remained  no  hero  ;  some  of  his  people, 
Quakers  and  a  few  Baptists  who  joined  the  Quakers  in  their 
refusal  to  take  oaths,  were  imprisoned  :  '  Mr.  Henry  Denne 
came  forward,  and  addressed  his  brethren  in  prison,  endeavour- 
ing to  show  them  that  to  take  an  oath  is  a  lawful  act,  sanctioned 
by  the  word  of  God.'  Prison  once  more  was  giving  him  a 
respect  for  authority. 

The  mutiny  ended  at  Burford.  Those  who  had  escaped  had 
warrants  issued  against  them,  and  the  magistrates  in  all 
neighbouring  counties  were  warned  ;  but  we  do  not  hear  of 
any  further  trials  or  sentences.  The  remainder  of  the  Burford 
prisoners  were  returned  for  a  while  to  quarters  near  Devizes, 
to  avoid  disbanding  them  in  poverty  ;  but  it  is  plain  from  their 
account  that  many  were  shortly  disbanded.  Colonel  Reynolds, 
who  had  been  so  useful  throughout,  was  sent  on  to  Banbury 
with  a  force  to  deal  with  Cornet  Thompson  ;  Thompson's 
following  was  easily  broken  up,  but  he  himself  was  determined 
not  to  be  taken  alive.  He  was  pursued  to  a  wood  on  the  road 
to  Wellingborough  and  there  killed  three  men  before  a  cor- 
poral, taking  a  musket  charged  with  seven  bullets,  made  an 
end  of  him,  '  and  there  is  an  end  of  the  Levellers'  uproare '. 

Our  only  local  record  is  again  to  be  found  in  the  Registers, 
where,  inserted  on  the  top  margin  of  a  page  (and  the  Vicar  may 


THE  LEVELLERS  AT  BURFORD  255 

well  have  been  too  agitated  to  make  the  entry  at  the  time  in 
the  right  place  on  the  page)  are  the  lines  :  '  three  soldiers  shot 
to  death  in  Burford  churchyard  buried  May  i;j.'  Another 
entry  :  '  A  soldier  slaine  at  y*  Crowne  buried  y  15  of  May  ' 
perhaps  identifies  for  us  the  actual  scene  of  the  resistance 
organized  by  Colonel  Eyres.  He,  we  have  seen,  made  good  an 
inn  ;  the  Crown  was  at  the  corner  of  Sheep  Street  and  the 
High  Street,  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  a  very  likely  place  for 
resistance,  and  it  is  recorded  that  a  man  was  killed  there,  and 
that  a  man  was  killed  in  that  resistance  ;  that  a  man  was 
killed  at  the  Crown  seems  to  identify  the  spot.  The  Church- 
wardens' Accounts  enter  payments  '  to  Daniell  Muncke  and 
others  for  cleansinge  the  Church  when  the  Levellers  were 
taken  '.  But  this  is  all  the  record  we  have.  We  do  not  know 
where  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  stayed,  but  in  a  place  where 
Speaker  Lenthall  had  his  house  it  may  be  taken  for  granted 
that  that  was  the  house  they  would  occupy  ;  and  it  must  have 
been  there  that  Cromwell  thumped  on  the  table. 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  X 

A  few  names  of  the  prisoners  have  come  down  to  us,  besides 
those  of  the  men  who  were  executed  and  the  name  on  the 
font.  The  copy  of  the  petition  from  the  Church,  given  in 
The  Moderate,  records  these  signatories :  Hugh  Hurst,  Matthew 
Brown,  John  Roper,  WilHam  Doegood,  John  Bishop,  WiUiam 
Panck,  William  Orpin,  John  Cantloe,  John  Wilkinson,  Thomas 
Atkins,  and  James  Steel.  Hugh  Hurst  was  also  one  of  the  six 
signatories  of  the  mutineers'  own  account  of  their  proceedings, 
the  others  being  John  Wood,  Humphry  Marston,  Robert 
Everard,  William  Hutchinson,  and  James  Carpen, 

A  note  is  necessary  as  to  the  dates  of  the  events.  White's 
copy  of  the  mutineers'  first  letter  to  Fairfax  is  dated  May  13  ; 
this  must  certainly  be  a  mistake  for  May  12,  since  Scroop 
arrived  on  the  13th  with  the  answer,  and  Fairfax  refers  to  the 
letter  as  '  of  the  12  of  this  instant '.  Again,  two,  at  least,  of 
the  contemporary  accounts  state  that  the  execution  took 
place  on  Friday,  May  18.  But  Cromwell  was  in  Oxford 
(whither  he  went,  with  Fairfax,  from  Burford)  on  the  night 
of  Thursday,  May  17.  We  may,  therefore,  rely  upon  the  date 
of  the  burial  as  given  in  the  Registers,  and  conclude  that  the 
execution  took  place  on  the  Thursday  morning. 


256     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

Tradition  points  to  the  high  wall  enclosing  the  churchyard 
at  the  west  end  as  the  actual  scene  of  the  execution,  and  with- 
out regarding  certain  hollows  in  stones  there  as  bullet-marks 
the  tradition  may  well  be  accepted.  We  know  that  the  rest 
of  the  mutineers  were  on  the  leads  of  the  church  (the  account 
in  the  Declaration  and  Speeches  says  '  in  the  Church  ',  but  there 
are  two  definite  statements  against  this),  and  so  large  a  number 
could  only  have  found  room  on  the  leads  of  the  nave  and  Lady 
Chapel.  In  that  case  this  wall  is  much  the  most  likely  place 
to  have  been  chosen  for  the  execution  ;  but  it  has  to  be 
remembered  that  the  churchyard  must  at  that  time  have  been 
much  more  enclosed  than  at  present ;  otherwise  there  would 
have  been  no  need  to  take  down  a  wall  to  carry  straw  into  the 
church  (see  p.  206).  There  may  therefore  have  been  a  suitable 
wall  farther  to  the  south,  between  the  churchyard  and  what 
are  now  the  Grammar  School  buildings. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY 

Of  the  origin  of  the  small  Hospital  of  St.  John  at  Burford, 
which  towards  the  end  of  its  existence  was  sometimes  called 
the  Priory,  no  record  has  yet  been  found.  The  history  of  it, 
so  far  as  documentary  evidence  is  concerned,  begins  with  an 
entry  in  the  Close  Roll  of  1226,  recording  a  gift  of  firewood  to 
the  Master  and  Brethren  from  the  Royal  Forest  of  Wychwood. 

This  date,  however,  taken  in  conjunction  with  certain  other 
circumstances,  opens  the  way  to  a  reasonable  conjecture, 
concerning  the  foundation  of  the  hospital.  From  an  early 
period  the  presentation  to  the  mastership  is  found  to  be  in 
the  hands  of  the  lord  of  the  manor.  Thus  in  1268,  in  the 
course  of  a  dispute  concerning  the  lands  of  the  hospital  in 
Fifield,  the  Vicar  of  Burford  states  that  John  Giffard  (who  was 
then  holding  the  manor)  was  '  the  patron  of  the  hospital  '.^ 
Again  in  1327  Robert  le  Glasiere  was  presented  to  the  master- 
ship by  the  King  '  by  reason  of  the  lands  of  Hugh  le  Despenser 
being  in  the  King's  hands  '.^  In  1389  the  King  presented  one 
of  his  clerks,  William  Donne  ;  *  and  that  presentation  took 
place  during  the  minority  of  Thomas  le  Despenser.  Now  the 
most  probable  cause  of  the  patronage  being  vested  in  the  lord 
of  the  manor  would  be  the  foundation  of  tha  hospital  by  a  lord 
of  the  manor ;  and  it  must  moreover  have  been  one  who  held 
the  manor  at  some  time  previous  to  1226.  With  that  limita- 
tion, by  far  the  most  likely  founder  is  to  be  discovered  in 
William,  Earl  of  Gloucester.  He  was  a  great  benefactor  to  the 
Church  and  to  religious  foundations ;  and  there  is  good 
reason  for  connecting  his  possessions  at  Burford  with  his 
benefactions.  He  founded  Keynsham  Abbey ;  and  the 
rectory  and  advowson  of  Burford  formed  part  of  his  original 
endowment   of  it.     He   may  therefore   be  reasonably  con- 

>  P.  R.  O.  Assize  Roll  702,  52  Hen.  III. 

-  Part  III,  p.  573.  »  Part  III,  p.  577. 

2304  S 


258    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

jectured  to  have  been  also  the  benefactor  to  whom  the  Hospi- 
tal of  St.  John  owed  its  origin.  The  history  of  the  manor 
after  his  death  and  before  1226  offers  us  no  other  probability 
as  strong. 

This  is,  however,  but  conjecture.  All  that  can  be  definitely 
asserted  of  the  beginnings  of  the  hospital  is  that  it  was  an 
independent  foundation.  It  did  not,  as  has  sometimes  been 
stated,  belong  to  the  Abbey  of  Keynsham.  No  evidence  has 
ever  been  produced  in  support  of  that  statement ;  and  evi- 
dence against  it  is  strong.  There  is,  firstly,  the  fact  that  the 
Abbey  did  not  present  to  the  mastership  ;  secondly,  the  fact 
that  the  stipend  of  the  master  is  never  entered  on  the  Clerical 
Subsidies,  as  the  Vicar  of  Burford's  stipend  was,  among  the 
benefices  of  Keynsham  ;  thirdly,  the  fact  that  in  Rentals, 
Surveys,  and  Particulars  for  Grants  after  the  Dissolution  of 
the  Monasteries,  tlje  hospital  appears  quite  independently 
and  not  as  parcel  of  the  possessions  of  Keynsham. 

The  hospital  must  h'ave  been  small.  At  no  time  in  its 
history  did  its  revenue  exceed  £16  a  year,  which,  when  all 
allowance  has  been  made  for  the  different  value  of  money, 
gives  it  but  an  insignificant  place  even  in  the  class  of  pious 
foundations  to  which  it  belongs. 

These  were  foundations  essentially  different  from  the  great 
monastic  and  conventual  houses  ;  and  by  the  very  principle 
of  their  existence  less  likely  to  become  powerful  and  wealthy. 
The  monasteries,  designed  to  maintain  the  service  of  God  and 
the  expression  of  worship  and  devotion,  commanded  the  gifts 
of  the  faithful ;  and,  being  at  the  same  time  the  only  seats  of 
learning  and  intellectual  interest,  were  bound,  in  their  com- 
munal life,  to  exert  an  enormous  influence  and  attain  a  wide 
power.  The  hospitals,  whose  sole  object  was  that  relief  of  the 
poor  and  the  sick  which  to  the  great  monasteries  was,  so  to 
speak,  a  matter  of  the  crumbs  from  their  table,  had  neither 
the  conspicuousness  of  the  monastic  ideal  nor  the  force  of  a 
large  common  life  to.  assist  them  :  their  work,  in  times  which 
had  not  embraced  humanitarianism,  was  not  greatly  regarded 
for  its  own  sake,  and  was  on  a  small  and  rather  perfunctory 
scale.    '  Besides  the  poor  and  impotent ',  says  Tanner,  '  there 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        259 

generally  were  in  the  Hospitals  two  or  three  Religious,  one 
to  be  Master  or  Prior,  and  one  or  two  to  be  Chaplains  or 
Confessors.' 

Of  such  was  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  at  Burford,  Augusti- 
nian  in  its  rule,  according  to  Dugdale's  MonasHcon,  as  the 
great  majority  of  hospitals  were.  The  reference  to  the 
master  and  brethren  in  the  Close  Roll  of  1226,  and  a  few  other 
references  to  the  brethren  in  similar  entries  during  the  next 
•few  years,  together  with  the  statement  in  1327,  regarding  the 
appointment  in  that  year  to  the  mastership — that  it  was  made 
on  the  representation  of  the  brethren — must  not  be  taken  to 
indicate  any  larger  community  than  Tanner  thus  describes. 

This  would,  in  any  case,  be  obvious  from  the  exiguous 
character  of  the  revenues.  Of  the  original  endowment  of  the 
hospital  we  know  as  little  as  we  do  of  its  founding.  Apparently 
its  most  prosperous  period  was  from  the  middle  of  the  thir- 
teenth to  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  from  the 
group  of  references  in  the  Close  Rolls  of  1226,  1231,  1232,  1233, 
and  1235,  which  all  record  gifts  of  firewood,  we  may  perhaps 
conclude  that  at  that  time  the  hospital  had  very  little  landed 
property  from  which  it  could  cut  its  own  wood.  After  1235  no 
more  gifts  of  this  kind  are  entered  ;  and  it  is  to  be  ^remarked 
that  within  a  very  few  years  the  hospital  appears  in  possession 
of  a  fair  amount  of  land.  This  may  not  be  more  than  an 
accidental  coincidence.  In  1260-1  there  is  record  of  a  gift  of 
a  messuage  and  a  virgate  of  land  in  Fifield  ;  ^  and  in  1279  the 
Prior  is  found  in  free  tenancy  in  the  same  place  of  two  holdings 
of  36  acres  and  9  acres  respectively,  and  also  of  ten  virgates, 
of  which  he  had  five  and  a  quarter  in  demesne.^  In  1291  the 
hospital  also  possessed  land  at  Rissington,  which  seems  from 
later  particulars  to  have  been  one  virgate  with  certain  meadow 
and  pasture  lands.^  In  1320  Joan,  widow  of  Richard  de  Corn- 
wall, gave  to  the  hospital  five  messuages,  four  crofts,  two 
virgates  of  land,  and  10^.  of  annual  rent  in  Asthall  and 
Asthally.* 

Unfortunately  we  have  no  information  as  to  the  property 

•  Part  III.  p.  568.  '  Part  III,  p.  569. 

=>  Part  III,  p.  571.  *  Part  III.  p.  587. 

S2 


26o    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

of  the  hospital  in  Burford  at  this  time.  The  absence  of  any 
Burford  return  in  the  Hundred  Rolls  is  chiefly  responsible  for 
this  lack,  but  it  is  due  also  to  the  fact  that,  as  an  institution 
for  the  poor  and  the  sick,  the  hospital  was  not  assessed  in  the 
TaxcUio  Ecdesiastica  of  1291.  It  is  true  we  owe  to  that 
Subsidy  the  knowledge  of  the  lands  at  Rissington,  but  a  note 
appended  to  the  entry  explains  this  accidental  circumstance.^ 
No  other  reference  to  the  hospital  is  to  be  found  there.  At 
the  same  time,  we  have  clear  proof  that  it  did  possess  property 
in  Burford  in  the  entry  of  the  Master  of  the  Hospital  on  the 
Subsidy  Lists  of  1316  and  1326-7.^  He  would  only  be  assessed 
on  those  lists  for  his  temporal  benefices  ;  and  he  appears  as 
paying  in  1316  very  little  less,  and  in  1326-7  rather  more,  than 
Isabella  de  Clare,  who  held  at  this  date  that  portion  of  the 
manor  which  lay  in  Upton.  From  this  fact  we  can  make 
certain  deductions.  At  the  time  of  the  Dissolution  the 
hospital's  property  in  Burford  and  Upton  was  valued  at 
£5  OS.  4d.  In  1326-7/  on  an  assessment  of  one-twentieth  on 
land  and  movable  goods,  the  Master  paid  8s.  Now  even  if  we 
allow  a  considerable  proportion  of  this  for  the  tax  on  movables, 
it  is  obvious  that  at  that  time  the  hospital  must  already  have 
been  in  possession  of  most  of  the  land  it  held  in  Burford  at  the 
Dissolution. 

This  consisted  of  the  hospital  building  with  a  close  and  a  barn 
thereon  ;  a  tenement  called  Ivy  House  with  one  acre  of  land  ; 
another  tenement  in  the  town  ;  three  virgates  of  land  in 
Burford  Fields,  and  twenty-two  acres  of  land  in  Upton  Fields  ; 
a  close,  two  gardens,  and  a  little  piece  of  land  in  Burford,  and 
two  closes  in  Upton.  It  may  very  well  be  that  some  small 
portions  of  this  property  were  given  by  townspeople  ;  but 
it  has  to  be  noted  that  the  hospital  seems  to  have  appealed 
very  little  to  Burford  men  as  an  object  for  considerable 
benefactions.  Of  all  the  mediaeval  wills  which  we  have, 
each  of  them  containing  large  gifts  to  the  Church  and  Gild, 
only  one  makes  a  gift  to  the  hospital,  and  that  is  of  135.  4^. 
1n  money,  not  a  gift  of  property.  Consequently  it  appears  to 
be  more  probable  that  the  greater  part  of  such  lands  and  tene- 
'  Part  III,  p.  571.  2  Part  III,  pp.  594,  595. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        261 

ments  as  the  hospital  held  in  Burford  were  of  its  original 
endowment.  That,  however,  like  the  identification  of  the 
founder,  is  but  conjectural.  All  that  can  be  said  with  cer- 
tainty is  that  it  must  have  acquired  these  lands  and  tenements 
by  the. early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

If  we  take  the  rental  of  the  Burford  and  Upton  property  at 
that  time  to  have  been  about  £4,  and  add  to  it  525.  6d.,  the 
annual  value  in  1279  of  the  Fifield  lands,  and  325,  id.,  the 
annual  value  in  1320  of  the  lands  at  Asthall  and  Asthally, 
allowing  55.  also  for  the  annual  value  of  the  virgate  at  Rissing- 
ton,  the  total  income  of  the  hospital  in  the  thirteenth  century 
would  amount  to  £9  gs.  yd.  This  might  just  suffice  for  the 
Master  and  the  two  or  three  brethren,  but  could  hardly  have 
supported  a  number  of  poor  and  sick  people.  Presumably 
they  depended  upon  casual  alms.  The  fact  that  a  King's  clerk 
was  appointed  Master  in  1389,  with  the  obvious  implication 
that  the  office  had  at  least  some  value,  would  make  it  clear 
that  of  so  small  an  income  none  can  have  been  expended  upon 
the  charitable  work  of  the  hospital. 

At  some  time  after  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  more 
property  was  acquired,  the  most  valuable  item  being  the 
whole  manor  of  Fifield,  possibly  given  by  that  John  de  Fifield 
of  whom  the  hospital  held  the  land  there  entered  in  the 
Hundred  Rolls.^  The  other  lands  were  28  acres  of  arable 
and  some  meadow  at  Widford,  and  a  tenement  with  land  at 
Little  Barrington.2 

In  1435-6  the  Master  of  the  hospital  was  joint  tenant  with 
Henry  Spyser  of  the  freestone  quarry  in  Burford,  at  an  annual 
rent  of  $s.^  This  may  possibly  indicate  that  at  that  date  new 
building  was  in  progress  at  the  hospital.  Such  remains  of 
ancient  building  as  have  been  found  are  of  a  style  which  would 
attribute  them  to  the  early  fifteenth  century ;  and  they  may 
therefore  be  made  to  add  their  testimony  to  that  of  the  quarry 
tenancy,  and  help  to  justify  the  belief  that  at  that  period  a 
building  was  being  erected  which  was  probably  the  hospital 
as  it  stood  at  the  time  of  the  Dissolution. 

Three  fine  pointed  arches,  now  erected  across  the  hall  of  the 

»  Part  III,  p.  569.  ■'  Part  III,  p.  623.  »  Part  III,  p.  609. 


262     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

existing  house,  were  found  to  have  been  incorporated  in  one 
of  the  walls  of  the  mansion  which  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield  built 
on  the  hospital  site.  Another  arch,  in  what  is  now  a  back 
passage,  indicates  that  there  was  also  an  old  wall  running 
north  and  south  along  the  western  end  of  the  building  iij  which 
the  three  arches  stood.  The  walls  of  a  ruined  wing  at  the  back 
of  the  house  show  clearly  ancient  work,  refaced  with  new  stone, 
apparently  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

It  would  be  an  impossible  task  to  reconstruct,  from  such 
slight  material,  the  hospital  building.  At  any  rate,  the  com- 
parative poverty  of  the  foundation  forbids  us  to  suppose  that 
its  buildings  can  have  been  extensive.  The  three  arches  first 
mentioned,  appearing  as  they  do  to  have  belonged  to  a  building 
lying  east  and  west,  may  be  remains  of  the  chapel ;  and  the 
wall  running  north  and  south  might  mark  the  site  of  the  great 
Hall  or  refectory,  carrying  perhaps  as  an  upper  structure  a 
solar  for  the  Master's  use,  a  dormitory  for  the  two  or  three 
brethren,  and  an  infirmary  for  the  sick.  If  we  imagine  the 
ruined  back  wing  to  have  contained  kitchens,  brew-house, 
store-houses,  &c.,  we  shall  have  provided  all  that  seems  to  be 
required  for  a  picture  of  the  Burford  Priory  of  the  Middle  Ages, 

Around  it  was  an  area  of  enclosed  land,  consisting  of 
meadows,  pasture,  orchards,  and  garden  plots,  the  whole 
occupying  very  much  the  same  space  as  the  modern  gardens 
.and  woods.  The  house  called  Ivy  House  was  somewhere  on 
this  ground — possibly,  if  we  may  judge  by  indications  so  late 
as  the  map  of  1797,  at  the  upper  corner  of  the  grounds  on  the 
opposite  side  of  Priory  Lane  from  the  Lamb  Inn — and  also 
a  large  barn,  which,  again  judging  by  that  map,  may  have 
stood  at  the  far  end  of  the  grounds  towards  Upton. 

It  is  probable  that  during  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the 
increasing  wealth  of  the  townsfolk  led  to  the  establishment  of 
more  obits  and  commemorative  Masses,  the  brethren  of  the 
hospital  began  to  gain  their  living  rather  from  emoluments 
as  chantry  priests  than  from  the  hospital  revenues.  We  have, 
mdeed,  no  definite  evidence  of  this.  The  description  '  capel- 
lanus  '  appended  to  the  name  of  a  priest,  in  the  Clerical  Sub- 
sidies, for  instance,  would  be  applied  equally  to  a  clerical 


O 
I— ( 

O 


CO 

u 


u 


> 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        263 

brother  of  the  hospital,  to  a  chantry  priest,  and  to  a  man  who 
was  both  one  and  the  other.  Even  the  Master  of  the  hospital 
is,  in  the  one  Burford  will  which  includes  a  bequest  to  him, 
described  also  as  '  capellanus  '.  But  though  there  is  no  direct 
evidence,  there  is,  at  any  rate,  a  strong  possibility.  In  a  place 
of  the  moderate  size  of  mediaeval  Burford  there  would  hardly 
be  a  sufficient  number  of  obits  to  attract  unattached  priests 
from  elsewhere  ;  and  the  insufficient  revenues  of  the  hospital 
would  induce  the  brethren  to  be  on  the  look-out  for  the  money 
accruing  from  such  obits  as  there  were.  In  these  circumstances 
one  or  two  of  the  Clerical  Subsidy  lists  of  the  fifteenth  century 
become  significant..^  Those  of  1420  and  1435-6  contain 
respectively  three  and  two  names  of  '  capellani '  ;  that  of 
1448-9  contains  the  names  of  the  Master  of  the  hospital  and 
four  '  stipendarii  in  ecclesia  '.  The  first  of  these  Subsidies  was 
levied  on  all  *  capellani '  having  benefices  of  seven  marks  and 
over ;  the  second  on  parish  priests,  stipendiaries  and  other 
priests  receiving  less  than  ten  marks  a  year;  and  the  third  was 
a  Subsidy  on  all  '  capellani ',  secular  friars  and  other  Religious 
serving  parish  churches,  receiving  stipends  or  annual  payments 
or  holding  chantries  not  otherwise  taxed.  Now  the  second 
and  third  of  these  must  certainly  have  included  the  brethren 
of  the  hospital  and  the  chantry  priests.  Obviously,  therefore, 
the  numbers  being  so  few,  the  two  must  have  been  the  same  ; 
there  are  not  enough  names  to  give  us  two  or  three  brethren 
and  a  number  of  chantry  priests  as  well. 

Thus  we  can  understand  a  little  better  the  curious  passing 
of  the  patronage  of  the  hospital  from  the  lord  of  the  manor 
to  the  Corporation  of  Burford,  which  has  already  been  noted 
in  connexion  with  the  Earl  of  Warwick's  letter — undated,  but 
written  in  some  year  between  1461  and  1471 — to  the  Baihffs 
and  Burgesses,  asking  for  leave  to  present  to  the  mastership 
one  of  his  chaplains. ^  If  that  loosening  of  the  manorial  control, 
which  so  remarkably  increased  the  general  importance  of  the 
Corporation,  had  allowed  the  nomination  to  the  mastership 
to  slip  by  default  into  the  Corporation's  hands,  the  assumption 
of  a  complete  patronage  would  be  much  helped  forward  by 
'  Part  III,  pp.  594-6.  *  Part  III,  p.  360. 


264    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

dependence  of  the  brethren  upon  obits  founded  by  the  towns- 
people. The  combination  of  these  two  tendencies  would 
rapidly  make  of  the  hospital  something  which  it  certainly  had 
not  been  originally — namely,  an  appanage  of  the  town. 

This  it  became  with  singular  completeness  in  the  remaining 
fifty  years  of  its  existence.  The  last  records  we  have  of  it  as 
a  religious  foundation  are  a  remarkable  revelation  of  the 
extent  to  which  the  interference  of  the  Corporation  had  grown. 
One  of  these  documents,  a  petition  from  the  dispossessed 
Abbot  of  Rewley  to  Thomas  Cromwell,  asking  for  support  in 
his  application  to  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford  for 
'  a  grant  of  a  service  called  the  Priory  in  that  town  of  £11  a 
year '  as  a  supplement  to  his  pension,  is,  of  course,  much  like 
the  Earl  of  Warwick's  letter.^  But  other  documents  shQw 
that,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  leases  of  the  hospital  property 
were  actually  made  by  the  Alderman,  Steward,  and  Burgesses 
in  conjunction  with  the  Master,  and  were  sealed  with  the 
Town  seal  as  well  as  the  Priory  seal.^  The  dependence 
of  the  hospital  upon  the  town  could  not  have  been  more 
complete. 

The  hospital  did  not  come  under  the  operation  of  the  first 
of  the  Acts  by  which  the  Dissolution  of  the  Monasteries  was 
carried  into  effect — the  Act  of  1536.  It  remained  in  existence, 
indeed,  so  late  as  September  1538,  one  of  the  joint  leases  by 
the  Master  and  the  Corporation  bearing  idate  in  that  month.^ 
When  the  end  came  it  was  unheroic.  The  property  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  Royal  Commissioners  by  the  Master,  who 
received  a  life  pension  of  £3  65.  8d.  a  year — about  a  quarter 
of  the  revenues."* 

It  appears  from  an  Account  of  later  date  that  the  two  bells 
which  the  hospital  possessed  became  part  of  the  depreda- 
tions   of  the  notorious   Dr.   London.^     The   same   Account 

*  Part  III,  p.  655. 

*  Incidentally  it  may  be  remarked  that  this  condition  of  the  hospital 
property  is  a  final  proof,  if  any  more  were  needed,  that  the  foundation 
never  belonged  to  Keynsham  Abbey.  No  monastic  body  would  have 
permitted  such  intrusion  upon  the  patronage  of  one  of  its  possessions. 

*  Part  III,  p.  640.  *  Part  III,  p.  612. 

'  Part  III,  p.  639..  I  owe  this  reference  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Michael  W. 
Hughes. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        265 

records  that  there  was  no  lead  on  the  building ;  the  roofs 
would  have  been  of  stone  slates,  as  would  be  natural  in  this 
district. 

The  last  Master  of  the  hospital,  Thomas  Cade,  had  held  the 
mastership  in  conjunction  with  the  vicarage.  It  is  possible 
that  this  had  happened  before,  since  Thomas  Mayowe,  who 
was  certainly  Vicar  in  1465,  was  Master  of  the  hospital  in 
1448-9,^  and  may  have  continued  his  tenure  after  being  pre- 
sented to  the  vicarage.  Cade  was  an  old  man  at  the  time  of 
the  Dissolution,  and  had  brought  the  hospital  property  into 
some  confusion.  In  1538  he  granted  a  lease  of  the  property 
as  a  whole  to  one  John  Barker,  at  an  inclusive  annual  rent  of 
£10.  This  farming  of  the  hospital's  revenue  must  have  been 
a  practice  for  some  time  before  this,  since  there  is  no  assess- 
ment of  the  hospital  or  the  Master  for  temporal  possessions  on 
the  Lay  Subsidy  lists  of  the  town  for  1524-5-6.  But  the  lease 
to  Barker  was  made  apparently  without  regard  to  leases  of 
separate  portions  of  the  property  to  other  persons  ;  and  was 
actually  followed  in  a  few  months  by  another  lease  of  a  separate 
portion.  The  tenants  under  these  leases,  which  they  had  taken 
the  precaution  to  have  confirmed  by  the  Court  of  Augmenta- 
tions, obtained  an  injunction  against  Barker,  upon  his  attempt- 
ing to  secure  himself  in  1541  by  inducing  the  Court  to  grant 
him  a  new  lease  on  the  plea  that  he  had  been  instrumental  in 
securing  the  surrender  of  the  hospital.^  Barker  contested  the 
injunction,  but,  although  the  records  of  the  Court  of  Augmen- 
tation do  not  state  the  result,  it  is  clear  from  the  tenant-rolls 
of  the  next  stage  in  the  history  of  the  Priory  that  he  lost  his 
case.^ 

In  1543  the  first  step  was  taken  towards  converting  the 
hospital  into  private  property,  though  it  was  not  yet  sold 
outright.  It  was  granted  in  that  year  to  Edmund  Harman, 
one  of  the  King's  barber-surgeons,  for  his' life  and  his  wife's ; 
he  paid  for  the  grant  £109  195,  2d.,  ten  years'  purchase  of  the 
net  revenues.*  What  Harman's  first  association  with  Burford 
had  been  we  do  not  know  ;    he  had  no  family  connexion 

'  Part  III.  p.  598.  *  Part  III.  p.  641. 

="  Part  III.  p.  641.  *  Part  III,  p.  642. 


266    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

with  it;  or  even  with  this  part  of  England,  his  immediate 
forbears  being  of  Ipswich.^  But  he  evidently  had  something 
to  do  with  Burford  before  he  obtained  the  Priory  ;  for  his 
wife  Agnes,  mentioned  in  the  grant,  was  a  Sylvester  of 
Burford.2 

Admitted  to  the  freedom  of  the  Barbers'  Company  in  1530, 
Harman  must  have  been  bom  about  1509,  By  1535  he  was 
one  of  the  King's  barbers  ;  and  he  also  took  rank  as  one  of  the 
Grooms  of  the  Privy  Chamber,^  He  is  mentioned  once  as 
Keeper  of  the  Wardrobe  ;  ^  and  he  obtained  several  of  those 
offices  of  profit,  and  small  grants,  which  were  then  the  normal 
way  of  finding  remuneration  for  the  members  of  the  King's 
Household — stewardships  of  manors,  minor  appointments  in 
the  Customs,  and  so  on.  His  career  was  endangered  in  1542, 
when  he  was  one  of  the  persons  of  the  Privy  Chamber  who 
were  informed  upon  as  heretically  inclined,  and  in  association 
with  Anthony  Pearson,  the  cleric  whose  preaching  at  Windsor 
was  made  the  chief  occasion  of  the  scerlting  out  of  Lutherans 
there  and  about  the  Court.^  But  after  the  burning  of  Pearson 
and  two  others  with  him,  the  persecutors  lost  the  King's  ear, 
and  some  of  them  had  to  do  penance  as  perjurers.  Harman 
and  other  servants  of  the  Household  had  not  fallen  victims  to 
the  informers,  and  he  obtained  the  security  of  a  pardon  on  all 
heresy  charges  in  1543.^ 

After  this  crisis  he  prospered  ;  for,  instead  of  gathering 
miscellaneous  small  sources  of  profit,  he  begins  to  be  seen 
putting  together  a  kind  of  modest  estate.  Within  a  few  years 
of  obtaining  for  a  term  the  dispossessed  hospital  at  Burford 
he  acquired  other  property  here.  In  1545  he  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  rectory  and*  advowson,  with  the  chapelry  of 
Fulbrook,  which  he  leased  forthwith  to  Thomas  Smyth ;  ^ 
and  in  the  same  year  he  bought  from  the  Crown  the  various 
mills  in  Burford  and  Upton,  together  with  a  meadow  and 
a  piece  of  land.*  In  1546  he  sold  his  interest  in  some  of  the 
hospital  property — the  lands  at  Asthall  and  Great  Rissington 

*  Part  III,  p.  641. 

*  Visitations  of  Oxfordshire  (Haxl.  Soc.  Pub.,  vol.  v),  p.  157. 
"  Part  III,  p.  657.  .  *  Part  III.  p.  657. 
'  Part  III.  p.  643.  «  Part  III.  p.  657. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        267 

— to  Edmund  Silvester,  to  whom  he  also  sold  one  of  the 
mills  in  Burford.*  In  or  about  1547  ^^  ^-^so  took  a  lease 
from  the  Crown  of  the  agricultural  land  of  the  manor  of 
Burford.2 

To  what  extent  Harman  ever  lived  in  Burford  or  occupied 
the  Priory  is  doubtful.  He  was,  until  the  death  of  Henry  VIII, 
discharging  his  office  at  Court ;  he  is  entered  in  1545  among 
members  of  the  Royal  Household  having  their  diets  at  Court, 
and  he  was  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  King's  will  at  West- 
minster in  December  1546.  He  was  still  with  the  Court  in 
1547.  Therefore  he  can  only  have  been  in  Burford,  at  the 
most,  occasionally,  until  1547.  After  that,  in  so  far  as  we 
have  any  indications,  it  is  likely  that  he  lived  elsewhere. 
He  had  added  in  1546  to  the  various  grants  he  had  obtained, 
one  of  the  lordship  and  manor  of  Taynton,"  with  the  rectory 
and  the  advowson  of  the  vicarage  there.  Now  this  was 
more  likely  to  dictate  his  place  of  residence  than  a  tenancy 
for  life  of  the  hospital  at  Burford,  which  cannot  have  afforded 
him  any  considerable  house  to  live  in,  and  carried  with  it  no 
manorial  position.  Moreover,  it  is  clear  that  he  was  living 
at  Taynton  in  1559,  ^^^  ^^  that  year  the  entry  of  the  marriage 
of  one  of  his  daughters  appears  in  the  Taynton  registers.  It 
is  hardly  likely  that,  if  he  had  ever  settled  in  Burford,  or  had 
(as  has  been  sometimes  said)  built  himself  a  house  there, 
replacing  the  hospital  building,  he  would  so  soon  have  moved 
away  to  a  manor  which  was  in  his  possession  within  a  year 
or  two  after  he  obtained  the  hospital.  It  is  more  natural 
to  conclude  that  he  never  took  up  his  residence  in  Burford, 
or  had  much  to  do  with  the  place,  beyond  receiving  the  rents 
of  the  properties  he  held  there  for  his  life,  and  the  other 
properties  he  had  bought.  He  caused  to  be  placed  in  Burford 
Church  in  1569  a  monument  which  has  the  appearance  of 
a  sepulchral  monument,  especially  in  the  tablets  which 
represent,  kneeling  in  tightly  packed  rows,  his  nine  sons  and 
seven  daughters ;  but  the  inscription  gives  no  indication 
that  he  so  intended  it,  merely  recording  that  it  was  erected 
to  commemorate  the  goodness  of  God  to  him  throughout 

'  Part  III.  p.  657.  *  Part  III,  p.  629. 


268     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

his  life,  especially  in  the  children  with  whom  he  and  his  wife 
had  been  blessed. 

One  of  these  children  and  a  grandchild  maintained  for 
some  time  a  connexion  with  Burford.  His  daughter  Mary 
married  William  Johnson  or  Johnston  of  Leighton  Buzzard  ;  ^ 
and  he  for  a  few  years  held  the  Burford  manor  lands  jointly 
with  Harman.  In  1584  Mary  and  William  Johnston  and 
their  son  Harman  Johnston  obtained  a  grant  of  the  Rectory 
of  Burford  and  Chapel  of  Fulbrook  (the  original  grant  to 
Harman  being  about  to  expire)  for  three  lives  successively  ;  ^ 
and  in  1596,  as  appears  by  two  assessments  in  one  of  the 
fragments  of  the  Record  Book  of  the  Borough  Court, 
*  Mr.  Harman  Jhonson '  was  living  in  Burford,^  possibly 
occupying  the  Rectory  house. 

But  meanwhile,  Harman's  death  being  followed  within 
a  few  days  by  the  death  of  his  wife,  the  hospital,  which 
was  only  granted  for  the  term  of  their  two  lives,  had,  like 
the  manor  lands,  reverted  to  the  Crown.  When  next  there 
is  record  of  it,  it  is  already  in  the  hands  of  Sir  Lawrence 
Tanfield,  who  had  acquired  it  before  he  became  lord  of  the 
manor  and  town  of  Burford.  For  in  the  deed  of  the  sale  of 
these  lordships  by  the  heirs  of  Sir  John  Fortescue  to  Tanfield, 
he  is  described  as  '  of  the  Pryorye  nere  Burford  '. 

Tanfield's  association  with  Burford  must  have  begun 
when  he  was  quite  a  small  child,  if  indeed  he  was  not  born 
here.  His  father,  Robert  Tanfield,  was  a  younger  son  of 
a  Northamptonshire  family,  which  had  acquired  by  purchase 
late  in  the  fifteenth  century  the  manor  of  Gayton,  in  that 
county ;  *  and  he  retained  to  the  end  of  his  life  some  con- 
nexion with  Northamptonshire,  for  he  is  found  presenting  to 
the  living  of  Harrowden  Magna  in  January  1557.  In  that 
year  or  early  in  the  following  year  he  died,  for  the  next 
presentation,  in  March  1558,  is  in  the  name  of  his  widow, 
Wilgeford  Tanfield.^ 

Robert  Tanfield  is  usually  described,  in  the  accounts  of 

'  Visitaiions  of  Oxfordshire,  p.  3. 

'  Part  III.  p.  653.  »  Part  III,  p.  543. 

*  Baker's  History  of  Northamptonshire  (1820,  1830),  vol.  ii,  p.  275. 

'  Bridges's  History  of  Northamptonshire  (1791),  vol.  ii,  p.  165. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        269 

his  more  famous  son,  as  '  of  Burford '.  This  appears  to  rest 
upon  a  single  reference  to  him  in  the  Herald's  Visitation  of 
"Northamptonshire  in  1564,  wherein,  under  the  family  of 
Fermor  of  Easton  Neston,  it  is  recorded  that  a  son  of  that 
family,  Richard,  married  '  Dyonisia  daughter  of  Robert 
Tanfield  of  Burford,  Co.  Oxon.'  ^  No  Tanfield  pedigree 
appears  in  that  Visitation.  In  the  pedigree  recorded  by  the 
Visitation  of  1618-19  Robert's  name  is  entered  without  any 
reference  to  Burford,  though  his  son  is  duly  described  as  of 
Burford.^  Nor  does  the  father's  name  appear  anywhere  in 
the  Burford  Records,  nor  on  any  of  the  extant  Burford 
Subsidy  lists  of  the  time,  nor  among  the  tenants  in  the 
Edwardian  Survey  of  the  manor  and  town. 

Still  against  the  clear  statement  in  the  Visitation  of  1564 
negative  considerations  cannot  easily  prevail,  and  we  must 
conclude  that  Robert  Tanfield  did  live  in  Burford.^  We  may 
the  more  readily  do  so,  since  we  know  that  he  was  not  by 
any  means  a  rich  man,  and  must  have  lived  here  in  unassum- 
ing conditions.  There  is  just  a  glimpse  of  him  in  the  curious 
Life  of  Lady  Falkland,  daughter  of  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield, 
which  opens,  somewhat  abruptly,  thus  : 

She  was  born  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1585  or  1586  in 
Oxfordshire,  at  the  priory  of  Burford,  her  father's  house.  He 
was  a  lawyer,  afterwards  a  judge  and  Lord  Chief  Baron ;  his 
name  was  Laurence  Tanfield.  His  father  was  a  younger 
brother,  who,  dying,  left  him  a  child,  giving  him  all  he  had, 
which  was  not  much  ;  but  what  it  was,  his  mother  parted 
among  his  sisters  and  herself,  breeding  him  well ;  and  as  soon 
as  his  age  would  permit,  sent  him  to  Lincoln's  Inn  to  study 
law,  where,  as  soon  as  he  was  capable  of  practice,  she  left  him 
to"shift  for  himself.  ...  He  was  called  to  the  bar  at  eighteen 
years  old. 

*  The  Visitations  of  Northamptonshire  (London,  1887),  edited  by 
W.  C.  Metcalfe,  p.  20. 

*  Visitations  of  Northamptonshire,  p.  140.  Bridges  (vol.  ii,  p.  263) 
reproduces  the  pedigree  of  the  1618-19  Visitation.  Baker  (vol.  ii,  p.  275) 
has  incorporated,  in  his  version  of  the  pedigree,  the  statement  found  in 
the  Visitation  of  1564. 

»  As  a  young  man  he  appears  to  have  lived  in  London.  His  marriage 
licence,  dated  May  22,  1544,  was  obtained  from  the  Faculty  Office  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  London,  and  he  is  described  as  of  the 
diocese  of  Westminster  (Harl.  Soc.  Publications,  vol.  xxiv  [1886],  p.  2). 


270    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

These  statements,  which  may  certainly  be  taken  as  authori- 
tative,*, give  us  a  view  of  Robert  Tanfield's  circumstances 
which  may  well  account  for  his  not  appearing  on  any  of  our 
Records. 

Lawrence  Tanfield  must  have  been  a  very  small  child  when 
his  father  died,  for  he  was  not  entered  at  the  Inner  Temple  ^ 
till  1569.  As  he  was  called  to  the  Bar  at  eighteen  years  old, 
he  cannot  have  been  much  more  than  fifteen  when  he  was 
entered,  and  must  therefore  have  been  about  three  years 
old  at  his  father's  death.  The  latter  must  presumably  have 
lived  some  time  at  Burford,  to  be  described  in  1564  as  '  of  ' 
that  place  ;  and  hence  it  becomes  quite  likely  that  Lawrence 
was  born  there.  This  may  perhaps  have  added  to  the  bitter- 
ness of  the  feeling  against  him  later  on,  wh^n  the  townsfolk 
laid  at  his  door  the  loss  of  their  alleged  privileges.^  Where 
he  had  the  education  which  his  mother  secured  for  him  we 
do  not  know ;  the  Burford  Grammar  School  was  not  then 
in  existence.  But  he  must  have  been  diligent ;  and  could 
very  well  be  left  '  to  shift  for  himself  '.  His  first  case,  the 
Life  of  Lady  Falkland  tells  us,  was  against  the  Crown.  A  rela- 
tion had  given  him  his  brief,  not  so  much,  we  are  frankly 
told,  from  belief  in  his  powers  as  from  the  feeling  that  it 
would  riot  matter  much  if  an  obscure  lawyer  lost  the  case. 
However,  Tanfield  won,  and  the  Crown's  counsel  prophesied 
a  great  career  for  him.* 

In  1584  he  had  advanced  so  far  as  to  be  sitting  in  Parlia- 
ment for  the  Borough  of  New  Woodstock  ;  and  about  this 
time  he  was  already  in  possession  of  the  Priory,  since,  as 

•  This  Life  of  Lady  Falkland  is  from  a^  manuscript  in  the  Archive»of 
Lille.  It  was  formerly  in  the  possession  of  the  English  Benedictine  nuns  at 
Cambrai,  the  house  at  which  her  four  daughters  were  received  into  Holy 
Religion.  The  manuscript;  which  was  removed  to  Lille  with  the  remains 
of  the  nuns'  famous  library  after  the  troubles  of  1793,  appears  to  have 
been  written  by  one  of  the  daughters,  and  corrected  in  some  details  by 
a  son — perhaps  the  youngest,  Patrick  Gary.  The  edition  of  the  Life 
edited  by  '  R.  S. '  (interpreted  as  Richard  Simpson  in  the  Catalogue  of  the 
Bodleian  Library)  was  published  in  1861. 

*  Foss,  Lives  of  the  Judges,  vol.  vi,  p.  365.  The  reference  to  '  Lincoln's 
Inn '  in  the  Life  of  Lady  Falkland  is  clearly  a  mistake,  and  the  word 
'  Temple  '  has  been  written  in  the  margin  of  the  manuscript. 

»  See  Part  I,  p.  53.  «  Life  of  Lady  Falkland,  p.  2. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        271 

we  have  seen,  his  daughter  was  born  there  in  1585  or  1586. 
That  he  had  also  other  property  in  the  town  is  shown  by 
a  document  concerning  some  Grammar  School  property  in 
1599,  containing  reference  to  '  a  barn  of  Laurence  Tanfield 
Esq.  '  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street,* 

The  words  '  her  father's  house  ',  in  the  opening  sentence  of 
the  Life  of  Lady  Falkland,  may  imply  that  he  had  erected 
his  fine  mansion  on  the  hospital  site  before  1585.  Certainly 
there  must  have  been  a  big  house  here  when  in  1603  King 
James  I  paid  a  visit  to  Tanfield,  arriving  on  September  9  and 
staying  till  September  ii.^  Nothing  could  show  better  than 
this  royal  visit  how  successfully  Tanfield  had  established 
himself  and  the  Priory  in  the  world.  He  was  still  plain 
Mr.  Tanfield,  Sergeant-at-Law  since  Easter  of  that  year. 
Yet  he  had  contrived  to  have  Burford  Priory  included  in  the 
arrangements  for  King  James's  first  great  progress  in  his 
new  kingdom,  although  there  were  many  more  notable 
family  seats  at  which  the  King  and  Court  might  have  stayed 
in  this  neighbourhood.  Tanfield  had  good  reason  to  com- 
memorate the  occasion  by  the  erection  of  the  large  royal 
coat  of  arms  still  extant  on  the  Priory  wall. 

Thus  we  come  at  last  to  that  point  in  the  history  of  the 
Priory  which  is  common  to  the  history  of  nearly  all  the 
religious  foundations  of  England,  the  point  at  which  they 
were  converted,  in  varying  degrees  of  size  and  importance, 
into  the  mansions  of  private  estates.  For  some  years,  indeed, 
Burford  Priory  in  its  new  conditions  was  much  more  of 
mansion  than  of  estate.  The  old  hospital  brought  to  its 
lay  owners  none  of  those  considerable  territories  which  went 
with  the  majority  of  the  monastic  houses.  Some  parts  even 
of  the  small  property  it  had  once  possessed  must  have  been 
disposed  of  before  the  Dissolution.  The  Asthall  property, 
which  at  the  time  of  Joan  de  Cornwall's  grant  in  1320  had 

'  Burford  Records,  S  28. 

*  The  Progresses  of  James  I,  by  John  Nichols  (London,  1828),  vol.  i, 
p.  257.  The  royal  coat  of  arms,  now  on  the  south  wall  of  the  house,  and 
formerly  (though  not,  it  would  appear,  originally)  over  the  upper  door 
into  the  Chapel,  may  have  been  put  up  to  commemorate  this  visit.  The 
arms  are  certainly  of  this  period. 


272     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

consisted  of  five  messuages  and  various  lands,  valued 
altogether  at  525.  id.  a  year,  was  only  represented  at  the 
time  of  the  Dissolution  by  a  single  messuage  and  some  land, 
valued  altogether  at  335.  4^.,  a  greater  decline  than  appears, 
since  the  value  of  money  had  decreased.  Again,  Harman 
had  alienated  what  remained  of  the  Asthall  lands,  and  also 
the  Rissington  lands.  Finally,  the  Fifield  manor  must  also 
have  become  separated  from  the  hospital  property  before 
Tanfield  acquired  it,  since  that  manor  never  appears  as  part 
of  his  possessions.  Thus  the  Priory  estate,  as  such,  can  have 
been  nothing  more  than  the  eight  acres  of  grounds,  a  house 
or  two  upon  these  and  in  Burford,  and  a  little  arable  in 
Burford  and  Upton  Fields. 

The  Priory  mansion,  on  the  other  hand,  must  have  been 
a  quite  spacious  and  imposing  edifice.^  If  we  compare  the 
deed  of  Lenthall's  purchase  from  Tanfield's  heir  with  that 
of  Tanfield's  own  original  purchase,  we  observe  that  the 
price  recorded  in  the  former  is  £7,000,  and  in  the  latter 
£1,900.  Yet  the  only  item  in  the  former  which  is  not  in  the 
latter  is  '  the  capital  messuage  or  mansion  called  the  Priory 
House '.  That  must  therefore  account  for  the  £5,000  of 
difference,  a  sum  which,  multiplied,  as  it  has  to  be,  by  five 
or  six  to  give  its  equivalent  in  modern  money,  can  hardly 
represent  anything  less  than  the  great  house  of  the  old 
prints. 

But  in  due  time  Tanfield  was  able  to  correct  this  dispro- 
portion between  his  mansion  and  his  estate  at  Burford.  The 
death  of  Sir  John  Fortescue,  who  had  bought  the  lordship 
of  the  manor  and  town  from  the  Crown,  gave  him  his  chance. 
In  1617  he  bought  the  lordship  from  Fortescue's  heirs  ;  and 
by  a  later  purchase  extinguished  separate  leases  of  the  Bury 
Barns  house  and  farm  land.  With  the  lordship  went  several 
houses  in  the  town  which  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Crown  by  confiscation,  and  had  not  been  re-sold. 

Thus  was  built  up,  in  more  senses  than  one,  the  Burford 
Priory  which  was  to  take  its  place  among  the  family  seats  of 

•  The  probable  character  of  Tanfield's  mansion,  before  it  was  altered 
and  added  to,  is  discussed  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        273 

Oxfordshire.  Tanfield  had  put  together,  with  a  skill  that 
approaches  art,  the  requisite  elements  of  a  good  country 
estate.  In  the  hospital  property  he  had  the  associations  of 
an  ancient  tradition;  and  the  Master  had  in  the  old  days 
been  described  often  enough  as  Prior  to  cause  the  hospital 
to  be  referred  to  occasionally  as  '  the  Priory ',  so  that  even 
in  the  matter  of  the  name  of  the  estate  Tanfield  had  secured 
an  admirable  measure  of  dignity.  The  purchase  from 
Fortescue's  heirs  introduce^  both,  a  position  of  authority  and 
a  respectable  rent-roll.  He  also  obtained  for  himself  the 
additional  position  of  patron  of  the  living,  by  taking  a  lease 
of  the  Rectory  ;  though  this  last  he  did  not  add  to  the  estate 
by  outright  purchase. 

How  this  opening  of  a  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
Priory  involved  also  the  opening  of  a  new  chapter,  in  a  rather 
unfortunate  sense,  for  the  people  of  Burford  has  been  told 
in  the  History  of  the  Corporation.  The  result  was  that 
from  the  first  the  relations  between  Burford  and  the  fine  new 
estate  were  unpleasant.  Such  impressions  of  life  in  the  Priory 
itself  as  it  is  possible  to  obtain  are  not  pleasant  either.  Lady 
Tanfield  was  a  daughter  of  Giles  Symonds  of  Claye,  Norfolk, 
and  a  niece  of  the  famous  Sir  Harry  Lee,  of  Ditchley,  where 
a  portrait  of  her,  recognizably  like  her  efiigy  on  the  Tanfield 
monument  in  Burford  Church,  is  preserved.  She  was  a  woman 
as  overbearing  as  her  husband  ;  and  a  note  in  the  Church- 
wardens' Accounts,  stating  that  her  appropriation  of  space 
in  the  Church  for  the  monument  was  without  the  leave  of 
the  Churchwardens,  shows  that  she  shared  her  husband's 
unpopularity  in  the  town.  Her  daughter  had  no  very  happy 
childhood,  being  even  reduced  to  bribing  the  servants  in 
order  to  obtain  candles  for  reading  at  night — a  real  hardship, 
for  she  was  a  studious  child,  and  grew  up  a  learned  woman  ; 
and  in  later  years,  when  Lady  Falkland  had  forfeited  her 
position  and  lost  friends  by  joining  the  Roman  Church,  and 
was  in  real  poverty.  Lady  Tanfield  refused  to  receive  her  at 
the  Priory,  or  to  give  her  any  assistance. 

Tanfield  himself  did  not  live  long  after  he  had  to  the  full 
asserted  himself  and  his  rights  in  the  place.     He  died  in 

3304  T 


274     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

April  1625.  His  wife  survived  him  in  possession  of  the 
Priory  for  three  years.  On  her  death  in  1628  it  passed,  not 
to  the  next  generation,  the  daughter  who  had  married  the 
first  Lord  Falkland,  but  to  the  Tanfields'  grandson,  Lucius 
Cary,  the  second  and  more  famous  Falkland.  This  was  by 
the  direction  of  Tanfield's  will.  His  daughter's  marriage  had 
not  pleased  him.  She  had  allowed  her  dowry  to  be  swallowed 
up  in  a  constant  vain  effort  to  keep  abreast  of  her  husband's 
extravagant  expenditure ;  and  Tanfield  was  evidently 
determined  that  the  remainder  of  his  property  should  not 
go  the  same  way.^ 

Lucius  Cary  was  bom  at  the  Priory  in  1610.  His  mother 
had  been  married  to  Lord  Falkland  in  1600,  and  their  first 
two  children  had  been  daughters.  Tanfield  appears  to  have 
decided  at  once  that  the  son  now  born  should  be  his  heir, 
for  he  kept  the  boy  to  live  with  him  at  the  Priory.^  At 
eighteen  years  old  he  succeeded  to  the  Priory, 'and  at  the 
same  time  to  the  estates  at  Great  Tew.  Three  years  later, 
in  1631,  he  married  Lettice  Morison  ;  and  he  seems,  after 
his  marriage,  to  have  made  Great  Tew  his  principal  resi- 
dence. But  he  must  still  have  continued  to  reside  at  the' 
Priory  occasionally,  for  his  second  son,  Henry,  was  born 
here  on  November  6,  1634,  and  baptized  on  November  21. 
It  is,  therefore,  possible  that  Burford  Priory  has  some  share 
in  those  gatherings  of  notable  men  which  have  given  Falkland 
a  place  peculiarly  his  own  among  the  intellects  of  his  time. 
Great  Tew  is,  in  the  main,  the  scene  of  the  philosophic 
symposia  to  which  Ben  Jonson  and  Suckling,  Cowley,  Waller, 
Edward  Hyde  and  Chillingworth  brought  their  wit,  their 
taste,  and  their  learning.  But  the  Priory  may  have  had 
glimpses  of  them  too. 

Still,  it  is  clear  that  it  had  not  the  first  place  in  Falkland's 
affections  ;  for  when  his  circumstances  compelled  him  to 
dispose  of  one  of  the  estates,  it  was  Burford  Priory  that  he 

'  Tanfield  was  dead  before  Lady  Falkland's  conversion  to  Rome,  so 
that  event  had  nothing  to  do  with  her  exclusion  from  the  estates.  It 
appears  to  have  taken  place  in  1626.      * 

*  Life  of  Lady  Falkland,  p.  11. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        275 

gave  up.  He  sold  it  in  1637  to  William  Lenthall,  afterwards 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons.^ 

Coming  of  a  family  early  settled  in  Herefordshire,  one  of 
whom  by  marriage  acquired  the  manor  of  Lachford,  and 
so  founded  at  Haseley  a  branch  of  Oxfordshire  Lenthalls, 
William  Lenthall  was  born  at  Henley  in  1591.  The  entry  of 
the  baptism  records  him  as  William  Lenthall,  son  of  John 
Lenthall ;  his  father's  name  was  William,  and  the  name 
John  was  entered  in  error.^  After  being  educated  at  Thame 
Grammar  School  and  St.  Alban  Hall,  Oxford,  he  took  to 
the  law,  having  an  elder  brother  to  succeed  to  the  estates. 
He  must  have  met  with  no  little  success,  for  when  he  purchased 
Burford  Priory  he  was  already  owner  by  purchase  of  another 
estate,  the  manor  of  Besselsleigh.  His  connexion  with 
Burford,  however,  began  before  he  became  owner  of  the 
Priory.^  He  must  have  been  living  here  in  1626,  for  William, 
his  second  son,  was  baptized  in  Burford  Church  on  January  8, 
1626/7.  Ill  1628,  when  the  Royal  Commission  appointed 
a  new  body  of  Feoffees  to  hold  the  Charity  Properties,  one 
of  the  body  was  '  William  Lenthall  Enquire,  of  Burford  '. 
In  1631  he  acted  as  counsel  for  the  town  in  the  proceedings 
in  the  Court  of  Exchequer  with  regard  to  lands  alleged  to 
have  been  concealed  from  the  Crown  under  the  Act  dissolving 
the  Chantries. 

In  1640,  being  by  that  time  settled  at  the  Priory,  Lenthall 
was  elected  Member  for  Woodstock,  the  seat  which  Tanfield 
had  once  held,  in  that  Parliament  which  was  to  change  so 
violently  the  course  of  English  history ;  and  at  the  very 
outset  of  its  career  Lenthall  was  thrown  into  prominence 
by  being  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  fiat 

'  Anthony  Wood  says  that  the  date  was  *  about  1634  ' ;  but  the  date  in 
the  deed  of  purchase  is  25  November,  13  Charles  I. 

*  See  some  letters  written  by  Mr.  F.  Kyffin  Lenthall  in  1868  to  the 
Rev.  W.  H.  Turner,  of  Oxford,  who  edited  the  Oxfordshire  Visitations  for 
the  Harleian  Society.  Mr.  Lenthall  provides  good  reason  for  holding  that 
Speaker  Lenthall  was  born  at  Henley.    Bodl.  MSS.  Add.  A.  289. 

*  His  father,  it  may  be  noted,  had  owned  property  at  Hailey,  Witney, 
and  Wilcote,  at  which  last-named  place  he  was  buried.  See  the  letters 
quoted  in  the  previous  note.  Speaker  Lenthall's  purchase  of  Burford 
Priory  thus  grows  out  of  previous  associations  with  the  district. 

T  2 


276    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

opposition  to  the  known  wish  of  the  King  for  the  appointment 
of  Gardiner,  Recorder  of  London.  Speaker  Lenthall  has  an 
uneasy  place  in  history.  His  own  death-bed  protestation 
that  he  not  only  did  not  consent  to  the  execution  of  Charles  I, 
but  actually  did  not  know  that  the  idea  of  it  was  seriously 
intended,  his  continuance  in  high  place  and  offices  of  profit 
under  the  Commonwealth,  his  official  welcoming  of  General 
Monk  as  the  forerunner  of  the  Restoration,  and  his  immediate 
contribution  of  £3,000  to  the  Exchequer  of  the  restored 
King — all  these  facts  lend  themselves  but  too  easily  to  the 
view  that  he  was  at  the  best  of  indecisive  character, 'at  the 
worst,  in  Anthony  Wood's  slap-dash  description,  *  a  knave  '. 
The  truth  seems  to  be  that  he  is  a  very  good  example  of  that 
curious  and  not  uninteresting  type,  the  instinctive  House  of 
Commons  man.  Such  men  are  to  be  found  at  many  periods 
since  Lenthall's  day,  and  not  least  in  our  own  time.  With 
a  natural  understanding  and  quick,  almost  unconscious,  grasp 
of  the  subtleties  of  the  relation  between  a  nominal  monarchy 
and  an  actually  democratic  governing  principle,  the  House 
of  Commons  man  is  always  constitutionally  right ;  but  very 
often  politically  ineffective,  tactically  unerring  but  strategic- 
ally inconsistent.  He  is  more  aware  of  that  subtle  relation 
between  forces,  and  the  power  which  maintains  the  relation, 
than  of  the  forces  themselves. 

In  this  light  we  can  better  understand  Lenthall's  career. 
It  was  real  capacity,  and  not  a  more  or  less  accidental  choice, 
which  had  raised  him  to  the  Speakership,  but  capacity  of 
precisely  this  narrow  Parliamentary  kind.  We  hear  the  very 
voice  of  it  in  his  famous  saying,  which  has  become  a  maxim 
of  the  Speaker's  Chair — his  answer  to  Charles  I  when  the 
King  demanded  to  know  if  the  five  Members  he  meant  to 
arrest  were  in  the  House  :  '  I  have.  Sir,  neither  eyes  to  see, 
nor  tongue  to  speak,  in  this  place  but  as  the  House  is  pleased 
to  direct  me,  whose  servant  I  am.'  It  is  an  almost  incredibly 
perfect  Parliamentary  reply.  At  the  same  time  it  illuminates 
Lenthall's  character,  for  on  the  one  hand  it  is  evidence  of 
his  singular  fitness  for  the  office  he  filled,  and  on- the  other 
hand  it  could  only  have  been  uttered  by  a  man  so  penetrated 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        1277 

with  the  spirit  of  the  House  of  Commons  as  to  be  in  process 
of  surrendering  any  spirit  of  his  own.  It  is  significant  that 
Lenthall  withstood  in  precisely  the  same  official  way  the 
determination  of  Cromwell  to  dissolve  the  Long  Parliament ; 
he  would  not  leave  the  Chair  without  technical  force  being 
used.  He  was  not  a  mere  time-server.  He  had  sunk  his 
own  individuality  too  much  for  even  that  kind  of  self- 
expression  to  remain. 

His  acquisition  of  one  office  of  profit  after  another — he 
was  Master  of  the  Rolls,  a  Commissioner  of  the  Great  Seal, 
and  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  as  well  as  Speaker — 
is  not  to  be  judged  by  modern  standards.  Public  opinion  as 
to  all  kinds  of  pluralities  was  looser  than  it  is  to-day.  Nor 
was  he  alone  in  virtually  purchasing  his  pardon  after  the 
Restoration.  It  is  not  difficult,  once  we  have  discovered  the 
mainspring  of  his  character,  to  see  him  as  guided  at  first 
by  the  belief,  natural  to  so  good  a  House  of  Commons  man, 
that  Parliament  would  be  able  to  control  the,  forces  it  had 
aroused,  yet  acquiescing  honestly  enough  in  the  Restoration 
when  he  had  found  he  had  been  mistaken. 

After  the  Restoration  he  retired  permanently  to  Burford 
Priory.  He  must  have  lived  here  much  throughout  the 
Commonwealth  time,  for  he  was  on  the  Commission  of  the 
Peace  for  the  town  appointed  by  the  Commonwealth ;  and 
he  had  brought  to  the  Priory,  not  to  his  other  estate  of 
Besselsleigh,  those  famous  pictures  which  he  had  purchased 
from  Charles  I's  collection  at  Windsor,  including  the  Holbein 
group  of  Sir  Thomas  More's  family,  the  Van  Dyck  of  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria,  and  two  Correggios, 

Yet  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  think  of  Lenthall  as  con- 
sciously retiring  to  Burford  under  a  cloud.  In  1660  he 
presented  himself  as  candidate  for  election  to  Parliament  as 
one  of  the  burgesses  for  Oxford.  General  Monk  supported 
his  candidature,  and  dispatched  to  Oxford  '  one  of  his 
captaines  of  horse,  a  gentleman  of  an  estate  (named  Edmund 
Warcuppe)  nephew  to  the  said  W.  Lenthall  '.*  This  man  we 
can  identify  as  a  Burford  resident ;  he  lived  in  the  house 
»  Wood.  Life  and  Times  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.),  vol.  i,  p.  311. 


278     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY^OF  BURFORD 

adjoining  to  the  almshouse  on  the  south  side  by  Gildenford. 
John  Lenthall,  William's  son,  also  busied  himself  on  his 
father's  behalf,  giving  dinners  of  beef  and  ale  to  the  voters.* 
This  candidature,  unsuccessful  though  it  was,  could  hardly 
have  been  undertaken  at  all,  in  Oxford  of  all  places,  if  we 
^re  to  imagine  Lenthall  as  the  discredited,  double-faced 
person  some  of  his  critics  have  presented  to  us.  It  is,  on  the 
contrary,  good  support  for  the  view  that  his  apparent  incon- 
sistencies arose  from  a  consistent  faith  in  the-  House  of 
Commons.  That  House  failed  in  the  great  task  it  attempted 
after  1649  ;  but  this  was  no  reason  why  Lenthall  should  cease 
to  believe  in  it,  or  believe  in  his  own  fitness  for  membership 
of  it,  when  it  returned  to  its  ancient  position  in  the  State. 

He  was  not,  however,  to  sit  again  in  that  Chamber  which 
had  seen  so  much  of  his  life ;  and  he  settled  down  at  the 
Priory.  He  had,  since  he  first  bought  the  place,  made  several 
alterations  .and  enlarged  the  house.  Unfortunately  little 
that  is  good  can  be  said  for  his  work.  Of  its  taste  we  have 
an  instance  in  the  clumsy  ill-proportioned  chimney-piece 
in  the  great  drawing-room,  as  poor  in  execution  as  it  is  in 
design.  Of  its  character  as  building  we  have  an  equally 
revealing  instance  in  the  flatness  and  poverty  of  the  south 
wall  of  the  south  wing,  and  in  the  weak  construction  of  the 
chapel,  where  a  heavy  vaulted  ceiling  was  placed  upon  walls 
which  had  no  foundations.  This  chapel  was  the  work  of  his 
last  years,  perhaps  after  he  had  finally  retired  to  the  Priory. 
It  is  dated  by  a  letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  to  the 
Bishop  of  London,  written  on  June  26,-  1662,2  asking  for 
a  copy  of  the  '  uniform  book  of  articles  ',  and  adding  :  '  If 
with  the  book  of  articles  an  uniform  order  of  consecrating 
Churches  and  Chapels  come  along  with  it,  it  would  add  to 
the  general  satisfaction  and  please  me  much,  who  am  called 
upon  to  consecrate  a  Chapel  at  Burford,  a  most  elegant  piece.' 
Much  as  the  Chapel  suffered  in  the  long  neglect  of  the  Priory 
during  the  nineteenth  century,  enough  remains  to  show  that 
the  most  that  can  be  said  for  it  is  that  it  was  a  good  specimen 
of  just  what  the  taste  of  that  age  would  call  '  an  elegant 

»  Wood.  Life  and  Times  (Oxf.  Hist  Soc).  vol.  i,  p.  312. 
■  Bodl.  MSS.  Tanner,  48  (14). 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        279 

piece  '.  It  displays  both  the  weakness  and  the  floridness  of 
design  which  vitiated  Renaissance  Gothic  building  of  any 
but  the  first  rank.  The  window  tracery  is  uninteresting  ; 
and  the  fragments  of  the  carved  decoration  of  the  interior 
show  that  it  was  feeble  work,  when  it  was  not,  as  in  the  two 
statues  flanking  the  doorway,  grotesquely  awkward.^  Seen 
from  a  little  distance  in  a  merely  picturesque  relation  to  the 
main  building,  the  Chapel,  especially  with  the  arcaded  gallery 
leading  to  it,  is  certainly  an  effective  addition  to  the  general 
view  of  the  Priory.  But  as  a  place  of  devotion  the  Chapel 
has  no  dignity  or  beauty  ;  and  there  is  nothing  in  what  sur- 
vives of  it  to  arouse  regret  for  what  decay  has  removed. 

Speaker  Lenthall  can  have  had  but  brief  pleasure  in  his 
chapel.  He  died  on  September  i,  1662,  leaving  a  bequest  of 
money  to  the  town  charities,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  Priory 
estate  by  his  eldest  son,  John  Lenthall,  whom  Anthony  Wood 
describes  in  his  bitterest  style  as  '  the  great  Braggadochio 
and  Lyar  of  the  age  he  lived  in  ',  and,  more  abruptly,  as 
'  a  beast '.  He  would  certainly  have  exposed  himself  even 
more  than  his  father  to  Wood's  Royalist  prejudices ;  for  he 
was  a  more  out-and-out  Parliamentarian.  Elected  Member 
for  Gloucester  in  1645,  he  received  a  Commonwealth 
'  baronetcy '  in  1658,  and  for  a  few  months  in  1660,  before 
the  Restoration,  he  was  Governor  of  Windsor.  The  best  of  his 
reputation  is  due  to  Colonel  Hutchinson,  who  in  his  account 
of  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1660,  concerning 
the  execution  of  Charles  I,  records  that  John  Lenthall, 
refusing  the  quibbles  of  which  some  members  availed  them- 
selves, spoke  boldly  and  firmly  of  the  policy  and  the  course 
of  events  which  had  led  to  the  condemnation  of  the  King.^ 

In  face  of  that  evidence,  Anthony  Wood's  characterization 
of  the  man  can  hardly  satisfy  us.    John  Lenthall  evidently 

*  Gotch  (Architecture  of  the  Renaissance  in  England,  Part  I,  p.  22) 
remarks  on  the  '  combination  of  quasi-Gothic  tracery  vrith  fully  developed 
classical  architrave  and  cornice  '  in  the  windows  of  this  chapel,  which 
are,  he  says,  '  genuine  attempts  to  give  to  traceried  windows  a  classic 
appearance,  or  at  any  rate  an  appearance  other  than  Gothic'  Whatever 
the  attempt,  the  effect  is  weak. 

*  Hutchinson's  Memoirs,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Julius  Hutchinson,  revised 
by  C.  H.  Firth  (1885),  ii.  246. 


28o     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

had  courage,  and — perhaps  because  he  had  entered  on  the 
troublous  times  as  a  younger  man — a  more  vigorous  con- 
viction of  the  rightness  of  the  Parliamentary  cause  than  his 
father  held.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  he  weakened  in  it, 
and  so  far  stultified  himself  as  to  receive  knighthood  from 
Charles  II  in  1677.  He  served  as  High  Sheriff  of  Oxfordshire 
in  1672.  Perhaps  we  may  take  it  that  Wood's  view  of  him 
is  an  exaggerated  representation  of  a  phase  of  his  life  in 
which,  having  surrendered  for  the  sake  of  safety  and  comfort 
the  principles  he  had  once  maintained,  he  had  lost  respect. 

The  Burford  Records  show  us  very  little  of  him,  beyond 
his  merely  formal  position  in  the  town.  Indeed,  he  may 
have  been  but  little  here  ;  and  at  one  time  during  his  tenure 
of  the  estate  there  was  a  possibility  that  Burford  might  have 
had  a  far  more  distinguished  squire,  the  great  Duke  of 
Ormonde,  who  took  a  short  tenancy  of  the  Priory  in  1672, 
and  was  living  here  from  November  in  that  year  to  February 
1673.  The  Duchess  of  Ormonde  writes  under  date  Novem- 
ber 16,  1672,  to  Captain  Mathew,  a  business  agent  of  the 
Duke's  :  '  We  shall  go  within  a  few  days  to  a  place  called 
Burford  in  Oxfordshire,  where  I  may  try  whether  we  can 
live  cheaper  than  at  London ' ;  ^  and  again,  under  date 
December  21,  1672,  from  Burford  :  '  I  am  settled  here  for 
a  while  until  my  lord's  going  up  into  the  Parliament,  which 
will  be  the  beginning  of  February  next,  at  which  time 
I  purpose  to  go  too  ;  whereby  to  avoid  the  excuse  of  keeping 
two  houses.  I  was,  I  confess,  desirous  to  try  whether  living 
in  the  country  for  a  considerable  part  of  the  year  would 
abate  the  charge  we  are  at  in  London,  and  I  find  it  will  very 
considerably.'  ^  That  it  was  at  the  Priory  at  which  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  were  staying  is  clear  from  a  letter  of  some  years 
later  in  which  Colonel  Edward  Cooke,  writing  to  the  Duke 
about  Charles  IPs  visit  in  March  1680/1  to  the  Burford 
races,  speaks  of  Lenthall  as  '  your  Grace's  quondam  land- 
lord '.^    Evidently,  from  the  phrases  the  Duchess  uses,  the 

'  Ormonde  Papers,  New  Series  (Hist.  MSS.  Com.),  vol.  iii,  p.  451. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  523. 

'  Ibid.,  vol.  vii,  p.  618. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        281 

tenancy  might  have  become  more  or  less  permanent ;  but 
presumably  the  Ormondes  did  not  much  care  for  the  place, 
or  at  any  rate  on  trying  Combury  preferred  that  house,  for 
in  later  years  this  economical  villegiatura  took  place  there.^ 

It  appears  that  John  Lenthall  was  not  living  at  the  Priory 
when  the  visit  of  Charles  II  took  place.  Colonel  Cooke  says 
that  the  King,  as  he  came  into  Burford,  '  was  met  by  the 
reverend  magistrates,  welcomed  with  a  hearty  speech  and 
a  rich  saddle,  and  so  eat  his  dinner  at  your  Grace's  old 
quarters '.  Anthony  Wood  says  that  the  Burford  Corporation 
'  accompanied  him  to  Sir  John  Lenthall's  house  '.^  But 
there  is  no  mention  of  Lenthall  himself ;  and  if  he  had  been 
here  at  the  time  he  would  hardly  have  been  absent  or  have 
left  to  others  the  conducting  of  the  King  to  the  Priory.  He 
may  already  have  been  lying  at  Besselsleigh  in  his  last  illness, 
for  he  died  at  that  place  in  November  of  this  same  year,  1681.^ 

His  only  son,  William  Lenthall,  succeeding  to  the  estates, 
made  no  attempt  to  carry  on  the  baronetcy  and  title  which 
John  Lenthall  had  received  under  the  Commonwealth.  His 
tenure  was  a  brief  one,  for  he  died  in  September  1686.  But 
he  seems  to  have  lived  at  the  Priory.  He  also  comes  under 
Anthony  Wood's  lash  ;  in  recording  young  Lenthall's  death, 
Wood  ends  his  note  :  '  The  grandfather,  a  knave ;  the  son, 
a  beast ;  the  grandson,  a  fool.'  Wood  adds  some  scandal 
about  young  William  Lenthall's  wife.  She  had  been  Catherine 
Hamilton,  and  Wood  records  with  uncompromising  frankness 

'  In  1686,  when,  owing  to  the  expectation  that  Lord  Clarendon  would 
be  recal]^  from  Ireland,  the  Duke  of  Onnonde  foresaw  that  Combury 
might  be  no  longer  at  his  disposal,  he  again  thought  of  taking  Burford 
Priory.  He  writes  from  Cornbury,  October  29,  1686 :  '  I  have  been  to 
see  Sir  Ralph  Button's  house  at  Sherborti,  and  was  never  more  taken 
with  the  outside  of  a  house,  nor  more  deceived  when  I  came  in.  Two 
parts  of  the  three  being  either  not  finished  or  so  fallen  to  decay,  that 
there  is  not  room  to  receive  my  family  much  less  my  friends  .  .  .  but  that 
I  may  get  as  near  as  I  can  I  am  like  to  treat  the  new  widow  Lenthall  for 
the  house  belonging  to  that  family  in  Burford,  where  the  want  of  rooms 
in  the  house  will  be  supplied  by  very  good  ones  in  the  town '  (Ormonde 
Papers,  Hist.  MSS.  Com.,  vol.  ii,  p.  306).  The  'new  widow  Lenthall', 
however,  had  intentions  of  her  own  which  did  not  leave  her  long  a  widow, 
and  the  Djike  had  to  change  his  plans. 

*  Wood,  Life  and  Times  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc),  vol.  ii,  p.  529. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  ii,  p.  559. 


282     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

the  reputation  she  bore  before  her  marriage  in  the  dissolute 
Court  of  that  time,  insinuating  that  it  was  not  improved  by 
her  behaviour  at  Burford.^  After  Lenthall's  death  she 
married  her  cousin,  the  Earl  of  Abercorn  ;  and  a  document 
bearing  her  signature  after  this  marriage  is  among  the  Burford 
Records.^ 

The  honours  of  the  next  royal  visit  to  Burford  fell  to  Lord 
and  Lady  Abercorn.  On  November  3,  1695,  William  III 
came  to  the  town,  receiving  the  customary  Burford  gift  of 
a  fine  saddle,  and  spent  the  night  at  the  Priory.* 

The  townspeople's  attitude  towards  the  Priory  was  not 
improving.  In  1686  they  took  upon  themselves  to  call  Lady 
Abercorn,  as  lady  of  the  manor,  to  account  for  remissness 
in  the  holding  of  the  annual  court  at  which  the  Bailiffs  were 
appointed.  The  Burgesses  seem  to  have  had  some  intention 
of  applying  for  a  Mandamus.  Lady  Abercorn  on  her  side 
retaliated  by  questioning  the  right  of  the  Burgesses  to  present 
four  persons  at  the  Manorial  Court  for  the  selection  of  two 
of  them  to  be  Bailiffs  ;  her  case  was  that  this  custom  had  only 
arisen  in  days  when  the  Steward  of  the  Manor  was  not 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  town  to  make  his  own  choice, 
and  that  she  was  not  bound  to  pay  any  attention  to  the 
Burgesses'  presentations.  The  matter  collapsed  without 
attaining  to  any  importance  ;  but  it  is  significant  as  a  sign 
of  the  continued  ill-feehng.* 

We  need  hardly  be  surprised,  therefore,  that  there  was 
plenty  of  malicious  gossip  when,  on  April  3,  1697,  John  Pryor, 
one  of  the  trustees  under  William  Lenthall's  will  for  his  two 
young  sons,  was  found  murdered  in  the  Priory  grounds. 
Tradition  says  that  the  body  was  discovered  in  a  summer 
house  in  the  upper  part  of  the  garden.  As  Lord  Abercorn 
was  accused  of  the  murder,  and  as  newspapers  were  beginning 
by  that  time  to  be  spread  abroad,  there  was  plenty  of  excite- 

'  Wood,  Life  and  Times  (Ox/.  Hist.  Soc.),  vol.  iii,  p.  195. 

»  Part  III,  p.  475. 

»  A  letter  of  William  III  to  an  Alderman  of  Flushing,  dated  at  Burford 
17th  November  1695,  is  preserved  in  the  town  museum  of  Flushing. 
See  also  Wood,  Life  and  Times,  vol.  iii,  p.  493. 

*  See  Part  III,  pp.  389-90. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        283 

ment  about  the  case.  Both  the  newspapers  and  the  diarists 
of  the  time -were  ready  enough  with  accounts  of 'how  the 
murder  had  been  committed,  and  with  explanations  of  the 
reason  for  it.  The  theory  most  favoured  was  that  Pryor, 
dutifully  protecting  the  interests  of  the  Lenthall  boys,  had 
refused  to  lend  himself  to  schemes  of  Lord  Abercom's.  The 
Earl  was  tried  at  the  Oxford  Assizes,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
and  the  Earl  of  Arran  coming  down  to  use  their  influence  on 
his  behalf  ;  and  he  was  acquitted.^  No  one  was  ever  convicted 
of  the  murder. 

The  younger  of  William  Lenthall's  sons,  who  were  both 
lads  at  this  time,  appears  to  have  taken  to  the  Bar  as  a  pro- 
fession, and  to  literature  as  an  amusement.  We  have 
a  glimpse  of  him  in  Hearne's  Diary.  Heame  notes  under 
date  December  3rd,  1705,  that  William  Lenthall  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  gentleman,  had  had  to  insert  an  apology  in  the  London 
Gazette  for  a  libel  on  Mr.  Manley  and  Mr.  Walker  in  a  poem 
which  Lenthall  had  '  writ  and  published  ',  called  '  A  Trip  to 
Leverpool  '.^ 

The  elder  son,  John,  who  succeeded  to  the  estates,  was 
to  hold  them  for  a  very  long  time  ;  he  did  not  die  till  1763. 
He  figures  considerably  in  Burford  history,  for  he  was  the 
Lenthall  whose  concern  for  the  disposition  of  the  Speaker's 
bequest  to  the  town  charities,  about  which  his  two  prede- 
cessors had  not  troubled  themselves,  led  to  the  Royal 
Commission  of  1738  and  the  Chancery  suit  of  1742,  when  the 
Corporation  contested  the  Commission's  authority.  The 
fact  that  he  was  determined  to  inquire  into  the  existing 
conditions  of  the  bequest,  and  pursued  his  resolve  so  firmly, 
is  enough  to  show  that  he  was  of  a  different  cahbre  from  his 
father  and  grandfather.  A  copy  of  the  Commission's  report, 
plentifully  annotated  by  Lenthall  himself,  is  preserved  at 
the  Tolsey ;  and  the  comments  on  it  reveal  the  man.  They 
are  eloquent  of  clear-headedness  in  singling  out  and  sticking 
to  an  essential  point,  not  unworthy  of  a  professional  lawyer. 

'  Heame  says  that  the  jury  were  drunk,  as  well  as  bribed,  and  that 
'  the  Murther  was  clear '.  Hearne's  Collections  (Oxf .  Hist.  Soc),  vol.  ix, 
p.  221. 

'  Hearne's  Collections,  vol.  i,  p.  115. 


284    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

The  obvious  contempt  for  the  pettiness  of  the  town's  affairs 
is  th^t  of  a  man  of  the  world  ;  and  he  is  extremely  impatient 
of  anything  he  deems  dishonourable.  One  has  to  remember 
that  when  he  wrote  these  notes,  the  Corporation,  discredited 
as  they  were  by  the  report,  had  made  up  their  minds  to 
fight  on  a  technical  legal  point,  which  could  not  clear  their 
honour,  but  might  save  their  self-importance  ;  the  annota- 
tions are  plainly  intended  for  use  in  connexion  with  the 
Chancery  suit.  Therefore  a  certain  amount  of  irritation 
may  be  excused  in  them.  But  even  making  that  allowance, 
we  cannot  but  see  that  Lenthall  was  rather  intolerant  and 
overbearing ;  not  at  all  the  kind  of  man  to  be  popular  in  the 
town. 

So  his  long  and  steady  tenure  of  the  estate,  while  it  no 
doubt  restored  the  respectability  of  the  Priory,  somewhat 
tarnished  by  the  Speaker's  immediate  successors,  did  not 
help  on  to  any  better  footing  the  relations  between  the  Priory 
and  the  townsfolk.  .The  Speaker,  we  may  well  imagine,  had 
not  been  the  kind  of  man  to  conciHate  the  resentment  aroused 
by  Tanfield's  assertion  of  his  rights  and  extinction  of  the 
town's  privileges.  Moreover,  even  if  he  had  taken  the  trouble 
to  be  conciliatory,  the  town,  in  its  flush  of  excitement  with 
the  races  and  the  fine  comings  and  goings  of  the  Restoration, 
probably  felt  a  new  kind  of  resentment  when  it  reflected 
that  the  Priory  stood  for  the  dull  and  now  defeated  Par- 
liamentarians. Burford's  opinion  of  John  and  William 
Lenthall  would  be,  we  may  be  sure,  the  summary  one  that 
Anthony  Wood  expresses.  Following  upon  all  this,  the  attack 
of  the  later  John  Lenthall  upon  the  one  public  responsibility 
which  remained  to  give  the  Corporation  any  importance 
banished  finally  any  chance  of  more  genial  relations  between 
the  Priory  and  the  town.  To  the  end  one  cannot  fmd  that 
any  Lenthall  was  affectionately,  or  even  loyally,  regarded 
by  Burford  people. 

Of  the  mansion  and  grounds  during  John  Lenthall's  life 
we  have  one  glimpse,  and  the  account  of  them  accords 
precisely  with  the  character  we  have  seen  revealed  in  other 
ways.     One  John  Borlase,  a  Gloucester  engraver,  who  kept 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        285 

up  a  voluminous  correspondence  with  one  of  his  patrons, 
Lyttelton,  at  that  time  Dean  of  Exeter,  and  wrote  to  him 
especially  about  possible  subjects  for  engravings,  made 
a  journey  to  Oxford  in  1753  by  way  of  Burford.  After 
a  brief  description  of  the  Church  Borlase  says  : 

The  Priory,  now  the  house  of  Mr.  Lenthall,  seems  to  be  a 
mighty  good  old  house  in  perfect  repair — the  Chapel  adjoyning 
has  much  Gothick  ornament  and  some  rich  carvings  over  the 
Door.  The  whole  would  make  a  good  Print,  if  Justice  be 
done  to  it — but  'tis  so  neat  that  I  can  hardly  think  it  prior  to 
y*  Reformation ;  and  the  Plantations  round  it  are  too  close 
and  crowded  for  such  a  low  situation.^ 

This  last  sentence  shows  that  by  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  the  general  aspect  of  the  Priory  must 
have  been  almost  exactly  what  it  is  now.  The  old  fields  and 
pastures  of  the  hospital  had  given  place,  in  the  century  and 
a  half  since  Tanfield  had  made  a  country  seat  of  it,  to  wooded 
grounds  covering  the  eight  acres  of  the  enclosure.  The  only 
real  difference  from  the  conditions  of  the  present  day  was 
made  by  the  course  of  the  Cirencester  road,  which  instead  of 
passing  out  from  the  town  in  a  more  or  less  straight  line  from 
Sheep  Street,  turned  down  to  the  right  towards  the  river, 
cutting  through  the  woods 'at  an  angle.  The  remark  that 
the  Priory  house  was  '  in  perfect  repair  '  is  exactly  'what  we 
should  expect  from  what  we  have  seen  elsewhere  of  John 
Lenthall.  Precise,  upright  and  rather  exacting,  he  would  be 
just  the  man  to  hand  over  the  estate  in  good  order  to  his 
successor.  There  are  one  or  two  documents  among  the 
Miscellanea  of  the  Burford  Records  which  suggest  that  he 
had  the  idea  of  improving  the  property  by  exchanging 
detached  and  outlying  portions  for  lands  in  other  ownerships 
adjoining  to  Priory  lands,  thus  beginning  that  consolidation 
of  the  estate  which  his  successors  were  to  have  a  better 
opportunity  of  carrying  out. 

The  first  real  step  in  this  direction  is  the  chief  contribution 
of  the  next  owner  of  the  estate  to  the  history  of^the  Priory. 
John  Lenthall  died  in  1763,  and  his  son  William  succeeded 

»  Part  III,  p.  668. 


286    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

him.  The  fact  that  within  ten  years  he  carried  through  the 
enclosure  of  the  common  arable  land  at  Upton  sKows  that 
he  was  no  unworthy  successor  to  his  father  in  marfagement  of 
the  estate.  For  although  he  had  practically  no  interests  but 
his  own  to  consider — the  Lenthall  allotment  at  Upton  being 
720  acres  out  of  803  acres  enclosed — ^yet  his  having  decided, 
at  so  early  a  date,  to  conform  to  the  still  new  and  contested 
theories  of  agricultural  betterment  is  proof  of  an  intelligent 
view  of  his  opportunities  as  a  landlord.  There  were  many 
landowners  of  that  time  who  were  not  to  be  convinced  that 
enclosure  was  an  improvement,  and.  maintained  their  estates 
on  the  old  strip  system.  William  Lenthall  perceived  the 
advantage  of  compact  distinct  farms. 

The  other  mark  he  has  left  upon  the  history  of  the  Priory 
was  to  prove  less  fortunate  in  its  results.  He  was  unhiarried, 
and,  perhaps  for  that  reason,  he  was  the  first  of  the  Lenthalls 
to  make  an  entailed  settlement  of  the  Priory,  instead  of 
passing  it  on,  as  his  predecessors  had  done,  by  simple  testa- 
mentary disposition  to  the  next  heir.  He  settled  it  to  pass  to 
his  brother  and  his  brother's  heirs.  The  estate,  which  had 
never  been  more  than  a  pleasantly  comfortable  property, 
not  a  really  wealthy  property,  was  within  a  very  short  time 
to  prove  unequal  to  the  strain  of  a  settlement  which  made 
mortgage  the  only  means  of  meeting  any  large  unusual 
expenses.  Nor  were  the  difficulties,  when  they  came,  lightened 
by  the  fact  that  William  Lenthall  had  charged  the  estate 
with  a  considerable  annual  allowance  to  his  sister  Mary,^  not 
merely  for  her  life,  but  subject  to  her  own  disposal  at  her  death. 

He  died  on  October  22,  1781.  The  brother,  John  Lenthall, 
died  soon  after,  in  1783.  His  son,  another  John,  was  no 
unworthy  successor  to  the  estates,  in  the  matt'er  of  energetic 
concern  for  improvements.  But  he  certainly  allowed  his 
energy  to  outrun  his  discretion.  In  so  far  as  we  can  trace  the 
cause  of  the  embarrassments  under  which  the  property  began 
to  labour  while  he  held  it,  the  first  of  them  was  due  to  the  very 
natural  sequel  to  his  brother's  enclosure  of  the  Upton  arable, 

•  The  '  Molly  Lenthall '  of  Mrs.  Cast's  lettecs  in  Archdeacon  Hptton's 
Burford  Papers. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        287 

namely  the  enclosure  of  the  Burford  and  Signett  arable,  which 
took  place  in  1795.  Although  other  interests  had  to  be  con- 
sulted to  a  rather  larger  extent  on  this  occasion,  still  there  were 
only  two  persons  seriously  concerned  in  the  matter,  John 
Lenthall  and  the  lay  impropriator  of  the  rectorial  tithe. 
Between  them  these  two  received  about  820  out  of  the  1,100 
acres  enclosed.  This,  while  no  doubt  in  one  respect  con- 
venient, had  the  concurrent  drawback  of  placing  practically 
all  the  expense,  whether  of  the  making  of  the  Award  or  the 
subsequent  construction  of  walls,  hedges,  and  the  private 
roads,  on  only  two  men's  shoulders.  Now  it  is  pretty  clear 
that  this  came  on  top  of  a  large  amount  of  the  expense  of  the 
Upton  enclosure  still  outstanding.  The  road  from  Upton  to 
Little  Barrington  which  was  being  made  as  late  as  1814,  when 
the  stone  coffin  was  found,  was  one  of  the  roads  ordered  to  be 
made  by  the  Award  of  1773.  The  addition  to  these  overdue 
burdens  of  fresh  burdens  in  connexion  with  the  Burford  Award 
led  to  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  mortgages,  placed  upon  the 
estate  within  the  next  twenty-five  years. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  recognized  that,  as  a  mere  estate 
improvement,  the  step  was  a  good  one.  For,  apart  from  the 
convenience  and  better  cultivation  of  enclosed  fields,  Lenthall 
was  able,  by  arrangements  made  at  the  time  of  the  Award,  and 
even  in  some  measure  guiding  the  decisions  of  the  Award,  to 
secure  exchanges  of  the  land  allotted  by  the  Commissioners, 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  gather  the  whole  landed  property  of  the 
Priory  neatly  around  Bury  Barns  and  the  Priory  itself,  making 
the  estate  in  the  latter  respect  practically  unbroken  from 
the  western  side  of  Byrford  through  Upton  to  the  Barrington 
boundary.  This  satisfactory  consolidation  of  the  property 
might  well  seem  worth  the  rather  heavy  expenses  involved. 

Equally  an  improvement,  in  a  different  way,  was  the  diver- 
sion of  the  westward  road  out  of  Burford,  whereby  John 
Lenthall  secured  the  privacy  of  the  Priory  woods  and  grounds. 
The  improvement  to  the  road  itself  was  quite  as  great.  The 
dip  down  to  the  river  ^nd  up  again,  with  the  awkward  slants 
in  direction,  was  abolished,  and  a  straight  course  provided 
more  or  less  in  a  line  with  Sheep  Street.    But  it  may  be  doubted 


288     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

whether  this,  which  was  after  all  only  an  improvement  in  the 
amenities  of  the  place,  not  in  the  practical  working  .of  the 
estate,  could  also  be  considered  worth  the  expenses  involved. 
It  was  this  costly  scheme  which,  according  to  tradition,  really 
brought  the  family  into  financial  straits.  The  strain  had, 
however,  undoubtedly  begun  earlier,  with  the  serious  expenses 
of  all  the  enclosing  that  had  to  be  done  in  pursuance  of  the 
Awards  of  1773  and  1795. 

To  the  effects  of  this  strain,  and  the  narrowed  prospects 
that  were  being  forced  upon  him  by  various  mortgages,  we 
may  safely  attribute  another  manifestation  of  John  Lenthall's 
energy,  a  lamentable  one  for  the  Priory.  He  reduced  to  its 
present  dimensions  the  large  mansion  built  by  Tanfield  and 
Speaker  Lenthall.  A  detailed  account  of  what  he  did  is  given 
later  in  this  chapter.  Possibly  his  reconstruction  may  have 
been  partly  suggested  by  the  building  having  begun  to  fall 
out  of  repair.  The  alterations  were  begun  in  1808;^  and 
in  the  fifty  years  that  had  elapsed  since  John  Borlase  saw  it 
in  1753,  a  time  during  which  the  estate  had  been  held  by  men 
whose  interest  in  the  property  had  been  so  much  taken  up  in 
other  directions,  the  house  may  have  fallen  into  a  less  happy 
condition.  John  Lenthall,  confronted  with  the  necessity  of 
spending  money  on  the  structure,  may  well  have  decided,  in 
view  of  the  already  crippled  condition  of  the  estate,  to  spend 
it  in  reducing  the  mansion  to  a  size  better  adapted  to  the 
family's  existing  means,  rather  than  in  repairing  a  house 
which  would  always  be  a  burden.  That  was,  at  any  rate,  the 
practical  result  of  his  work. 

The  last  years  of  John  Lenthall's  life  must  have  been  very 
largely  occupied  with  raising  and  readjusting  the  numerous 
mortgages  which  his  activities  had  imposed  on  the  property.^ 
In  addition  to  the  cost  of  his  improvements  he  had  to  find 
money  to  convert  Mary  Lenthall's  charge  upon  the  estate  into 
an  equivalent  value  in   Consols  ;    and  also   at  intervals   to 

*  The  date  is  fixed  by  an  advertisement  in  Jackson's  Oxford  Journal, 
April  30,  1808.     I  owe  this  reference  to  my  wife. 

*  Abstracts  of  title  to  parts  of  the  estate  which  were  sold  soon  after  ' 
his  death  contain  interminable  recitals  of -a  quite  confusing  number  of 
mortgages  secured  on  the  property. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        289 

maintain  his  son,  William  John,  in  the  Guards ;  though  it 
must  in  fairness  be  said  that  the  young  man  made  no  excessive 
demands.  The  mortgages  were  consolidated  ultimately  into 
a  single  loan,  and  to  meet  the  situation  this  loan  had  to  be  of 
no  less  a  sum  than  £19,000. 

Upon  John  Lenthall's  death  in  November  1820  his  son  suc- 
ceeded to  a  property  encumbered  even  beyond  that  sum.  He 
made  little  attempt  to  deal  with  conditions  that  must  have 
been  hopeless.  One  or  two  parts  of  the  estate  he  soon  sold. 
A  considerable  part  of  the  Upton  property  was  bought. by  the 
Kempster  family  ;  and  the  Bury  Barns  property  was  bought 
by  the  Faulkners,  who  had  for  some  time  been  farming  it  as 
tenants.  Part  of  the  house  property  in  the  town  was  sold 
by  public  auction.  Finally  the  Lenthall  connexion  with  the 
Priory  was  severed  outright  in  1828,  when  the  mansion  and 
the  remainder  of  the  estate,  with  the  lordship  of  the  manor 
and  town  of  Burford,  were  sold  to  Charles  Greenaway,  of 
Barrington  Grove.  He  came  of  a  family  which  had  made  a 
fortune  in  business  in  the  city  of  Gloucester,  and  his  father, 
Giles  Greenaway,  had  bought  Barrington  Grove  with  the  lordship 
of  that  manor  a  little  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Under  its  new  owner  the  Priory  entered  upon  the  dismal 
period  of  neglect  and  decay  which  finally  reduced  it  to  a  ruin 
all  but  beyond  hope  of  repair.  The  commonly  accepted  story 
was  that,  knowing  his  property  would  descend  to  a  niece  whom 
he  disliked.  Miss  Youde,  Mr.  Greenaway  deliberately  allowed 
it  to  deteriorate.  Another  account  was  that  the  extravagance 
of  this  niece's  father  prevented  any  proper  care  being  taken  of 
the  Priory.^  Mr.  Greenaway  died  on  November  25,  1859  J 
and  the  Priory  estate  was  for  some  years  in  Chancery. 

By  the  time  it  came  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Hurst  of  Horsham 
Park,  Sussex,  a  nephew  of  Mr.  Greenaway's  wife,  in  the  year 
1892  on  the  death  of  Miss  Youde,  the  house  was  already 
ruinous.  In  that  condition  it  long  remained.  During  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  with  the  increasing  taste 

'  This  was  the  reason  given  by  the  Rev.  John  Fisher,  curate  of  Burford 
at  the  time  of  Mr.  Charles  Greenaway's  death,  in  his  History  of  Burford, 
published  in  1861. 

2304  U 


290    STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

for  touring  about  the  country  and  observing  picturesque  places, 
Burford  Priory  became  one  of  the  favourite  objects  for  expedi- 
tions from  Oxford.  The  house  and  grounds  were  open  to  all 
comers,  and  were  a  favourite  resort  of  Burford  people.  By 
a  curious  freak  of  destiny  the  place  thus  revived  in  its  days  of 
decay  the  fame  which  it  had  lost ;  and  just  because  it  was 
open  to  any  chance  visitor  it  became  far  better  known  to  the 
world  at  large  than  many  finer  houses  of  the  county,  such 
as  Chastleton  House  or  Shipton  Court. 

In  course  of  time  the  Priory  reached  such  an  advanced  state 
of  ruin  that  nothing  but  sheer  dissolution  appeared  to  await  it. 
However,  Colonel  La  Terriere,  buying  it  in  1908,  set  to  work 
upon  it,  and  in  a  very  short  space  of  time  had  made  it  again 
a  human  habitation.  He  introduced  some  structural  altera- 
tions. The  front  door  of  the  house  as  it  stood  led  into  a  com- 
paratively narrow  hall,  from  which  a  dining-room  opened  on 
the  right  and  a  reception-room  on  the  left.  He  took  down  the 
right-hand  wall,  thus  throwing  the  dining-room  into  the  hall 
and  making  the  latter  very  spacious  and  pleasant.  The  left- 
hand  wall  of  the  hall  was  the  one  in  which  the  three  mediaeval 
arches  were  found  ;  these  he  removed,  as  they  could  not  be 
displayed  in  that  position,  and  re-erected  them  across  his  new 
hall,  more  or  less  on  the  line  of  the  dining-room  wall  which 
he  had  taken  down.  By  diminishing  the  size  of  the  reception- 
room,  and  so  enlarging  an  old  parlour  behind  it,  he  was  able 
to  make  a  dining-room  of  the  latter.  The  old  kitchen  was  a 
very  high  room,  some  seventeen  feet  from  floor  to  ceiling.  By 
lowering  this  ceiling  and  other  slight  alterations,  an  extra  bed- 
room was  contrived,  looking  towards  the  river.  The  chapel, 
the  roof  of  which  had  already  been  repaired  to  some  extent  by 
Mr.  Hurst,  Colonel  La  Terriere  made  sound  and  weatherproof, 
but  did  not  attempt  to  restore  internally. 

In  1912  the  Priory  was  bought  by  its  present  owner, 
Mr.  Emslie  John  Horniman. 

The  difference  between  the  Priory  of  to-day  and  the  building 
engraved  in  Skelton's  Antiquities  of  Oxfordshire  calls  for  some 
explanation. 


O 


O 


> 
X 

a 
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THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        291 

The  first  mansion  built  upon  the  site  of  the  mediaeval 
hospital  was  evidently  a  large  E-shaped  house,  facing  east- 
wards. To  north  and  south  were  wings  rising  to  a  single  gable, 
each  of  the  same  frontage-width  as  the  present  wings,  but 
rather  higher  and  much  farther  apart ;  between  the  wings  was 
a  long  central  bay,  and  in  the  middle  of  it,  set  back  from  the 
line  of  the  wings,  was  the  existing  porch,  also  higher  than  it  is 
now.  The  windows  of  this  facade  would  have  been  plain 
square-headed  mullioned  windows,  in  the  same  style  as  the 
two  still  surviving  in  the  peak  of  the  gables,  though  of  course 
those  on  the  lower  levels  would  have  been  more  ample  in  size. 
The  two  ornate  bays  now  on  this  frontage  were  originally  on 
the  south  frontage,  facing  the  garden — a  more  natural  position 
for  windows  of  this  open  and  elaborate  kind. 

That  would  appear  to  have  been  Tanfield's  house,  a  simpler 
and  more  harmonious  structure  than  that  shown  in  Skelton's 
engraving.  The  house  he  drew  was  the  result  of  later  altera- 
tions. Who  carried  them  out  we  cannot  know  for  certain,  but 
we  may  safely  assume  from  the  apparent  date  of  the  work,  as 
well  as  from  what  we  know  of  his  successors,  that  it  was 
Speaker  Lenthall.  First  he  removed  the  two  bay  windows 
from  their  original  position,  and  re-erected  them  on  the  eastern 
faces  of  the  two  wings.  The  traces  of  this  change  are  quite 
obvious,  not  only  in  the  rather  blank  and  patched-up  appear- 
ance of  the  wall  from  which  they  were  taken, ^  but  in  the  facts 
that  they  are  not  bonded  into  the  walls  against  which  they 
stand,  and  that  these  walls  have  a  distinct  batter,  while  the 
bays  are  plumb  upright.  The  most  probable  reason  which  has 
been  advanced  for  this  moving  of  the  bays  is  that  Speaker 
Lenthall  wanted  more  wall-space  in  the  south  room  for  hanging 
the  pictures  he  had  acquired  from  Charles  I's  collection. 
This  was  certainly  the  room  in  which  they  hung,  for  the  walls 
showed,  within  living  memory,  the  marks  of  the  places  once 
covered  by  the  pictures.  Next  he  doubled  the  frontage-width 
of  the  north  and  south  wings,  and  did  not  do  it  symmetrically. 
The  south  wing  was  extended  on  the  side  nearest  the  porch, 

*  There  is  stone  from  four  different  quarries  in  this  wall  as  it  stands — 
plain  proof  of  patching. 

U2 


292     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD 

and  the  north  wing  on  the  side  nearest  the  river,  with  the 
result  that  the  porch  was  no  longer  in  the  centre  of  the  facade. 
Moreover,  the  bay  windows,  instead  of  being  both  on  the  outer 
half  of  the  wings  or  both  on  the  inner  half,  as  symmetry  would 
have  ordained,  stood  on  the  outer  half  of  the  south  wing  and 
the  inner  half  of  the  north  wing.  The  proof  of  this  later 
doubling  of  the  width  of  the  wings  is  that  in  the  southern 
wing  an  outside  chimney  stack  was  discovered  in  what  was 
then  the  middle  wall  of  the  wing,  showing  that  the  wings 
Tanfield  built  had  later  on  been  added  to. 

Thus  we  have  at  last,  with  the  addition  of  Speaker  Lenthall's 
chapel  and  arcaded  gallery,  the  house  which  Skelton  drew.  It 
was  also  the  house  John  Lenthall  reduced  in  size  about  the 
year  1808  or  1809.  Speaker  Lenthall's  building  was  all  bad 
work.  The  one  considerable  piece  of  it  which  is  left,  the  chapel; 
has  actually  no  foundations.  It  is  therefore  likely  that  his 
additions  to  the  north  and  south  wings  were  in  bad  condition, 
for  they  were  not  incorporated  in  the  reconstruction.^  John 
Lenthall  destroyed  them,  and  also  cut  out  completely  the 
long  bay  of  building  between  the  wings.  He  was  thus  left  with 
the  two  wings  and  the  porch  of  the  original  EHzabethan  house  ; 
and  proceeded  to  readjust  them  to  make  his  new  house.  The 
south  wing  he  was,  of  course,  obliged  to  leave  where  it  stood, 
partly  because  he  could  not  move  it  without  isolating  the 
chapel,  and  partly  because  the  long  gallery  with  its  elaborate 
plaster  ceiling  could  never  have  beer>  re-erected.  So  he 
brought  the  porch  close  up  against  this  wing,  and  then  brought 
Tanfidd's  north  wing  across  to  adjoin  the  porch  on  the  other 
side.  Besides  thus  telescoping  the  frontage  to  less  than  half 
its  original  length,  John  Lenthall  also  reduced  the  height  of 
the  gables  and  the  porch.  The  whole  roof,  with  the  exception 
of  the  part  above  the  kitchen,  was  lowered,  and  the  topmost 
storey  of  the  house  practically  destroyed. 

From  his  own  point  of  view  John  Lenthall,  no  doubt,  did 

*  Knowledge  of  the  character  of  Speaker  Lenthall's  work  gives  support 
incidentally  to  one  of  the  reasons  which  have  been  offered  for  the  rebuilding, 
for  it  becomes  far  more  likely,  in  face  of  this  knowledge,  that  the  house 
had  by  that  time  fallen  into  a  condition  demanding  some  fundamental 
treatment. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BURFORD  PRIORY        293 

the  sensible  thing.  He  had  on  his  hands  a  large  place  which, 
though  it  must  have  contained,  to  judge  by  the  gallery  or 
great  drawing-room,  some  fine  and  noble  apartments,  was  so 
enfeebled  by  bad  building  that  to  maintain  it  would  have 
involved  heavy  and  continuous  expense.  He  contrived  out 
of  it  a  house  for  himself  which  was  comfortable,  in  an  early 
nineteenth-century  fashion,  and  yet  presented,  with  the  re- 
arranging of  the  facade,  some  reminiscence  of  its  p^st.  Still, 
the  effect  of  such  drastic  rebuilding  could  not  but  be  disastrous 
to  the  general  character  and  dignity  of  the  house.  While  the 
front  retains  some  picturesqueness,  there  is  no  side  or  back 
view  which  has  any  consistent  outhne  or  appearance  of  con- 
sidered design.  Every  aspect  save  that  of  the  facade  produces 
a  somewhat  confused  impression.  Yet  the  house  is  not  the 
less  interesting  for  the  marks  it  bears  of  the  phases  through 
which  it  has  passed,  once  the  signs  of  them  have  been  made, 
so  to  speak,  legible  in  its  walls  to-day. 


MACES    AND     SEALS    OF    THE    CORPORATION 


PART  III 
CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

SECTION  I 

THE  CHARTERS  OF  BURFORD 

The  originals  of  the  earliest  charters  of  Burford  are  not  now  in 
existence.  Copies  of  them,  however,  are  preserved  on  the  Certificate 
made  by  the  Burford  Gild  Merchant  in  response  to  the  proclamation 
of  Richard  II,  ordering  all  the  Gilds  to  furnish  returns  to  the  Chancery 
setting  forth  their  liberties  and  privileges,  their  rules  and  customs, 
and  their  possessions.  The  Burford  Certificate  is  unfortunately 
damaged  at  the  top,  and  the  regnal  year  is  missing  from  the  date  ; 
but  as  the  first  part  of  the  date — xxviii  die  lanuarii — is  decipherable, 
and  the  proclamation  was  of  the  year  1388,  the  Certificate  may  be 
assumed  to  be  of  the  year  1389. 

It  contains  copies  of  eight  documents,  four  emanating  from  lords 
of  the  manor  and  four  from  the  Crown.  They  are  not  entered  upon 
the  Certificate  in  their  true  chronological  order,  but  in  two  groups, 
the  four  from  lords  of  the  manor  being  placed  before  those  from  the 
Crown  ;  moreover,  the  first  four,  being  undated,  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  proper  succession  having  doubtless  been  lost,  appear  in  the 
order  of  their  length  and  explicitness.  Consequently  rearrangement 
is  necessary  in  order  to  present  the  chronological  sequence  of  the 
documents. 

The  first  charter  is  in  its  right  place.  It  is  the  grant  of  liberties 
by  Robert  FitzHamon,  which  has  already  been  discussed  at  some 
length.^ 

The  second  document  on  the  Certificate  is  the  charter  of  William 
Earl  of  Gloucester.  But  it  refers  to  two  previous  grants — made  by 
'  Robertus  filius  hamonis  avus  meus  et  Robertus  Comes  G.  .  .  .' — and 
its  place  should  therefore  be  third,  if  a  document  can  be  shown  which 
should  precede  it.  This  is  clearly  the  case  with  the  fourth  on  the 
Certificate.    That  one  opens  with  the  words '  R  regis  filius  Gloucestrie 

*  See  Part  I,  pp.  5,  10.. 


296  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

consul ',  the  style  commonly  used  by  Robert,  the  natural  son  of 
Henry  I,  who  took  so  great  a  part  in  Matilda's  struggles  against 
Stephen.  He  married  Mabel,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Robert  Fitz- 
Hamon,  and  obtained  with  her  the  Honour  of  Gloucester.  But  he 
never  seems  to  have  used  the  ordinary  style  of  Comes  Gloucestriae. 
His  charters,  as  may  be  seen  by  several  examples  in  the  Cartulary  of 
the  Abbey  of  Gloucester,^  open  with  a  style  identical  with  that  employed 
in  this  Burford  charter.  Therefore  that  document  must  be  placed 
second  in  chronological  order,  and  is  to  be  dated  between  1107,  the 
year  of  FitzHamon's  death,  and  1147,  the  year  of  Robert's  death. 

The  charter  of  William  Earl  of  Gloucester,  Robert's  son,  may  be 
placed  third,  since  the  two  charters  of  Henry  II  are  in  the  nature  of 
confirmations  of  liberties  granted  by  William.  It  may  thus  be  dated 
between  1147  and  1155,  the  probable  date  of  the  first  charter  of 
Henry  II.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  why  the  members  of  the  Burford 
Gild  who  drew  up  the  Certificate  placed  this  document  second.  It 
recites  in  full  and  confirms  the  charter  of  FitzHamon,  and  the  two 
might  naturally  be  copied  in  succession.  The  recital  is  fortunate, 
since  we  are  thus  enabled  to  reconstruct  those  portions  of  FitzHamon's 
charter  which  have  perished  by  the  damaging  of  the  Certificate. 

The  charters  of  Henry  II,  fifth  and  sixth  on  the  Certificate,  should- 
stand  fourth  and  fifth.  Both  can  be  dated  with  some  accuracy- 
One  was  given  at  Northampton,  and  the  witnesses  are  Reginald  Earl 
of  Cornwall,  Humfrey  de  Bohun  Dapifer,  and  Warin  FitzGerold 
Chamberlain.  Now  Eyton  gives  no  instance  of  Humfrey  de  Bohun 
signing  as  Dapifer  after  11 58,  and  nona  of  Warin  FitzGerold  as 
Chamberlain  later  than  that  same  year.  But  before  that  year  he  only 
records  two  visits  of  Henry  II  to  Northampton,  one  in  January  1155, 
and  the  other  in  July  1157.  Consequently  the  Burford  charter  must 
belong  to  one  of  those  two  years,  and  ^s  other  charters  tested  by 
Reginald  Earl  of  Cornwall  and  Warin  FitzGerold  as  Chamberlain 
at  Northampton  are  attributed  by  Eyton  to  the  earlier  year ,2  and  as 
also  Humfrey  be  Bohun  signs  as  Dapifer  in  the  same  year,^  there  is 
sufficient  ground  for  dating  this  Burford  charter  in  1155. 

The  case  of  the  other  charter  is  even  more  clear.  The  rather  curious 
form  of  the  dating  clause,  apud  Chinonem  in  excercitu  regis,  is  found 
in  two  charters  quoted  by  Eyton,  which  he  attributes  to  the  year  of 

•  Historia  et  Cartularium  Monasterii  Sancti  Petri  Gloucestriae,  edited 
by  W.  H.  Hart  (Rolls  Series.  London,  1865).  ii.  10,  48,  135. 

•  Eyton's  Itinerary  of  Henry  II,  pp.  3,  27.  *  Ibid.,  p.  7. 


THE  CHARTERS  OF  BURFORD  297 

the  King's  siege  of  Chinon  in  the  war  with  his  brother  Geoffrey — 1156.* 
It  does  not  occur  in  the  cases  of  any  other  charters  given  at  Chinon 
in  later  years.  Its  occurrence  here,  therefore,  would  make  the  date  of 
the  second  Burford  charter  of  Henry  II  11 56. 

This  fact  adds  probability  to  the  dating  of  the  first  charter  in  1155 
rather  than  1157.  In  view  of  the  chronological  mistakes  in  the  order 
observed  on  the  Certificate  there  would,  indeed,  be  no  reason  to  speak 
of  these  charters  in  this  way  as  first  and  second.  It  is,  however, 
more  significant  that  the  Chancery  of  Edward  III  so  arranged 
them  in  the  Confirmation  of  that  reign  ;  and  the  coincidence  of  this 
arrangement  with  the  apparent  probabilities  of  dating  is  not  quite 
negligible. 

Next  in  point  of  time  comes  the  charter  of  Richard  de  Clare,  fourth 
on  the  Certificate,  but  properly  to  be  placed  sixth.  His  father,  Gilbert 
de  Clare,  had  succeeded  to  the  Honour  of  Gloucester,  circa  121 7  in 
right  of  his  mother  Amice,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Earl  William,  after 
the  death  of  Isabella,  the  daughter  who  had  brought  the  Honour  by 
marriage  first  to  John,  King  of  England,  and  after  her  divorce  from 
him  to  Geoffrey  de  Mandeville.  Richard  de  Clare,  succeeding  his 
father  in  1230,  held  the  manor  of  Burford  till  his  death  in  1262,  and 
his  charter  is  therefore  to  be  dated  between  those  years. 

The  last  two  documents  entered  on  the  Certificate  are  also  the  first 
two  of  the  series  of  original  charters  preserved  among  the  town 
Records — the  Confirmations  granted  by  Edward  III  and  Richard  II. 

Of  the  reason  why  the  series  of  extant  originals  opens  with  these 
two — of  the  circumstances^  that  is  to  say,  of  the  disappearance  of 
the  earlier  charters — no  account  can  be  given.  Dr.  Plot  makes  a  state- 
ment which  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  they  must  have  been  in 
existence  in  his  day  ;  he  states  that  he  saw  a  charter  of  Henry  II 
granting  liberties  to  the  town  of  Burford.  Against  that  must  be  placed 
the  fact  that,  in  the  Quo  Warranto  case  of  1620-1,  no  earlier  charter 
than  that  of  Edward  III  was  produced  on  behalf  of  the  Burgesses 
in  defence  of  the  privileges  they  had  been  exercising.  It  is  hardly 
to  be  thought  that,  in  a  case  in  which  the  defence  relied  largely  upon 
the  plea  of  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  from  time  out  of  mind,  the 
most  ancient  charters  extant  would  not  be  produced.  In  other  words, 
the  course  of  that  case  leaves  us  no  conclusion  except  that  the  earliest 
charters  had  already  been  lost.  Plot,  not  concerned  with  extreme 
accuracy  in  such  a  matter,  might  in  one  sense  say  that  he  had  seen 
*  Eyton,  op.  cit.,  pp.  17,  18. 


298  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

the  charter  of  Henry  II,  after  reading  the  transcription  of  it  in  the 
charter  of  Edward  III. 

Two  originals  of  later  dates  have  also  been  lost.  The  Confirmation 
obtained  from  Henry  VI  refers  to  a  Confirmation  by  Henry  V,  but 
the  latter  is  not  in  existence.  As  having  some  possible  bearing  upon 
this  loss  it  may  be  remarked  that  among  the  charters  is  preserved 
a  copy  of  Henry  VI's  Confirmation,  with  a  note  to  the  effect  that  this 
copy  was  sealed  with  the  Common  Seal  of  the  town  '  pro  maiore 
securitate  '.  Unfortunately  the  copy  is  not  dated  ;  but  certain  cir- 
cumstances give  a  clue  as  to  the  time  at  which  it  was  probably  made. 
The  Confirmation  by  Edward  IV,  issued  in  1475,  recites  only  the 
charter  of  Edward  III,  omitting  all  the  intermediate  reigns.  Henry  VII, 
in  his  turn,  confirmed  only  the  Confirmation  of  Edward  IV.  There 
would  thus  be  a  very  good  reason  why  the  Burgesses  should  attach 
peculiar  importance  to  the  Confirmation  by  Henry  VI,  since  it  included 
all  the  reigns  thus  omitted.  But  they  would  not  have  been  likely 
to  go  to  the  length  of  making  a  copy,  unless  they  had  had  a  warning 
given  by  the  loss  of  one  of  their  documents.  Thus  it  may  be  offered 
as  probable  that  the  Confirmation  by  Henry  V  was  lost  at  some  time 
during  the  reigns  of  Edward  IV  and  Henry  VII.  The  Confirmation 
obtained  from  Henry  VIII  included  both  the  Confirmation  of  Henry  VII 
and  also  that  of  Henry  VI,  establishing  the  whole  series  up  to  that 
date  ;  so  that  the  copy  would  have  been  less  likely  to  have  been  made 
after  Henry  VIII's  accession. 

The  other  lost  document  of  the  series  is  the  Confirmation  by  Queen 
Elizabeth.  It  is  recited  in  that  obtained  from  James  I ;  and  the 
charges  paid  for  it  are  entered  in  one  of  the  Corporation  Books.* 

The  instruments  thus  grouped  under  the  general  title  of  Charters 
of  Burford  are,  technically  speaking,  of  various  characters,  and  hardly 
any  of  them  can  take  rank  as  charters  in  the  strictest  sense.  The 
earliest  of  them,  in  the  absence  of  the  originals,  have  to  be  classified 
by  the  form  of  their  contents,  without  the  guidance  that  might  have 
been  given  by  the  shape  of  the  parchments  or  the  manner  of  attachment 
of  the  seals. 

The  first  three,  belonging  to  the  rather  obscure  body  of  Anglo- 
Norman  private  diplomata,  may  perhaps  be  classified  as  charters. 
The  Address  in  each  case,  though  brief,  is  in  general  terms  ;  and  the 
grant  is  conveyed  in  Concessive  rather  than  Injunctive  form.  What 
remains  of  the  Charter  of  FitzHamon  is  enough  to  show  that  it  can  be 
*  See  infra,  p.  411. 


THE  CHARTERS  OF  BURFORD  299 

regarded  as  a  good  specimen  of  the  diplomata  of  the  time,  free  from 
unnecessary  verbiage,  and  only  introducing  a  clause  subsidiary  to 
the  main  grant,  with  the  phrase  *  Et  adhuc  concede ',  for  the  very 
definite  and  essential  purpose  of  giving  practical  validity  to  the 
Gild  Merchant  grant. 

The  charter  of  Robert  of  Gloucester  is,  even  for  its  period,  a 
singularly  curt  confirmation  of  liberties.  But  it  is  on  that  account 
characteristic  of  so  great  a  fighting  man  ;  and  it  bears,  in  such  details 
as  the  use  of  the  present  tense  '  concedere ',  instead  of  the  past 
tense  *  concessisse ',  and  the  single  witness,  sound  evidence  of  its 
genuineness. 

The  two  charters  of  Henry  II  are  quite  distinct  in  character,  and 
the  differences  appear  to  give  us  a  reason  for  the  procuring  of  two  from 
that  King.  The  first  is  not  a  true  charter,  but  a  writ.  It  has  the 
particular  Address  to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  and  the  officers  of  the 
County  of  Oxford,  and  its  formula  is  purely  Injunctive.  The  second, 
with  a  general,  though  rather  abbreviated  Address,  contains  an 
Injunctive  clause  concerning  the  rights  and  liberties  at  large  of 
WilUam  Earl  of  Gloucester,  and  goes  on  to  a  Concessive  clause  con- 
cerning the  free  customs  and  the  Gild  Merchant  of  Burford  in  particular. 
It  may  therefore  be  classified  as  a  Writ-Charter.  The  confined  Address 
of  the  former  document  suggests  that  it  was  proqired  for  a  special 
purpose.  Taking  into  account  the  fact  that  Burford,  while  in 
the  County  of  Oxford  and  the  Diocese  of  Lincoln,  was  part  of  the 
possessions  of  a  great  lord  whose  main  possessions  were  in  another 
county  and  diocese,  and  was  attached  to  an  Honour  in  another 
county  and  diocese,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  trouble  may  have 
arisen  between  the  authorities  of  the  two  counties  and  dioceses. 
The  geographical  situation  of  Burford  may  have  led  to  some  invasion 
of  its  feudal  situation  ;  and  the  Writ  of  Henry  II  looks  as  if  it  were 
designed  to  correct  some  infringement  of  liberties. 

From  a  constitutional  point  of  view  the  second  document  of  this 
reign,  the  Chinon  Charter,  is  curious.  It  includes,  in  a  confirmative 
writ  to  the  lord  of  the  manor,  a  direct  grant  of  liberties  from  the 
Crown  to  men  of  the  manor.  At  this  period,  when  the  niceties  of 
diplomatic  formula  are  still  lacking  in  development,  the  phrases  of 
a  charter  cannot  be  pressed  too  far ;  but  there  is  at  least  enough 
appearance  of  a  direct  Royal  grant  in  this  charter  to  show  how  it 
came  about  that  the  Burgesses  imagined  themselves  to  be  above  the 
level  of  the  purely  manorial  boroughs  at  a  later  date. 


300 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


The  charter  of  Richard  de  Clare  is  an  interesting  specimen  of  the 
period  when,  with  public  diplomata  becoming  more  formal  and 
regular  in  outline,  private  diplomata,  owing  to  their  decreasing 
importance,  were  losing  in  formality,  and  becoming,  in  so  far  as  they 
were  still  formal,  perfunctory.  The  epistolary  inversion  of  the  formula 
of  Address,  the  absence  of  any  recital  of  the  nature  of  the  grants 
confirmed,  the  addition  of  *  et  multis  aliis '  to  the  list  of  witnesses, 
and  the  lack  of  any  mention  of  a  place  in  the  dating  clause,  make 
it  a  poor  specimen  of  a  charter. 

When,  after  a  long  interval,  the  Burgesses  of  Burford  next  bestirred 
themselves  in  the  matter  of  their  liberties,  they  found  that  the  Royal 
Chancery  had  evolved  a  simple  and  comparatively  inexpensive  pro- 
cedure for  those  who  were  not  seeking  new  franchises — the  system  of 
Inspeximus  by  Letters  Patent.  As  long  as  the  borough  lasted  this 
system  from  henceforth  sufficed  for  the  Burford  authorities,  and  with 
one  exception  the  remainder  of  the  *  Charters '  is  composed  of  a  series 
of  these  Letters  Patent,  which  call  for  no  comment.  The  exception 
is  the  grant  to  the  town  of  a  second  annual  fair  by  Henry  VII.  This, 
though  in  the  form  of  Letters  Patent,  is  a  true  charter,  with  an  Exposi- 
tory clause  and  a  complete  Dispositive  clause  ;  moreover,  the  Great 
Seal  is  procured  not  by  payment  of  a  fine  in  the  Chancery,  but  by  the 
process  of  a  writ  of  Privy  Seal. 

In  conclusion,  the  source,  the  sequence,  and  the  character  of  the 
Burford  Charters  may  be  summarized  as  follows  : 


I. 

Gild  Certif. 
I 

I 088-1 107 

Robert  Fitz- 
Hamon 

Charter 

II. 

Gild  Certif. 
4 

1107-47 

Robert  of 
Gloucester 

Charter 

III. 

Gild  Certif. 

1147-64 

Earl  William 

Charter 

IV. 

2 

Gild  Certif. 

"55 

Henry  II 

Writ  ' 

V. 

Gild  Certif. 

6 
Gild  Certif. 

1156 

Henry  II 

Writ-Charter 

VI. 

1230-62 

Richard  de 

Charter 

3 

Clare 

VII. 

Burf.  Rec. 
Bdle.  AA 

1350 

Edward  III 

Letters  Patent  of  In- 
speximus 

/III. 

Ibid. 

1379 

Richard  II 

ditto 

IX. 

Ibid. 

1399 

Henry  IV 

ditto 

X. 

Ibid. 

M37 

Henry  VI 

ditto 

XI. 

Ibid. 

1475 

Edward  IV 

Letters  Patent  of  In- 
speximus, but  omit- 
ting all  reigns  since 
Edward  III 

XII. 

Ibid. 

i486 

Henry  VII 

ditto 

THE  CHARTERS  OF  BURFORD  301 


XIII. 

Ibid. 

1497 

Henry  VII 

Charter  of  Fair 

XIV. 

Ibid. 

1510 

Henry  VIII 

Letters  Patent  of  In- 
speximus,    restoring 
those  of  Henry  VI 

XV. 

Ibid. 

1 547 

Edward  VI 

ditto 

XVI. 

Ibid. 

ISS4 

Mary 

dittp 

XVII. 

Ibid. 

1605 

James  I 

ditto 

Public   Record   OrncE.     Chancery   Miscellanea.     Certificates   of 

Gilds.    Bundle  45  :  Number  388  a  &  b. 

Note. — The  document  is  damaged  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  end. 
The  latter  parts  of  the  lines  are  missing  throughout  the  first  charter  and 
the  middle  of  the  first  two  lines  of  the  second  charter.  The  middle  of  the 
last  few  lines  of  the  certificate  is  also  missing. 

Certificatio  lohannis  Wynrissh  Thome  Spicer  lohannis  St    .    .    . 

facta  xxviii  die  lanuarii  anno  regni  regis 

nunc 

Robertus  Hamoni  filius  omnibus  suis  hominibus  et  amicis  salutem 

Yolo de  Oxenford  videlicet  rstas  ut 

unusquisque  domum  suam  et uxore 

vel  de  quolibet  alio  absque  ipsius  domini  requisicione  heredem    .    . 

Gilda  mercatorum    Et  adhuc  concedo  ut  quicun- 

que  ad  mercatum lanam  et  corea 

nisi  homines  istius  ville     . 

Willelmus  comes  Gloec  dapifero  suo  et  omnibus  Baronibus  suis 

ffrancie    et    Anglie me    concessisse 

omnibus  meis  hominibus  de  Burford  omnes  illas  consuetudines  quas 
Robertus  filius  hamonis  avus  meus  et  Robertus  Comes  G  .  .  .  unt 
sicut  carte  illius  testantur  videlicet  istas  ut  unusquisque  domum  et 
terram  et  omnem  pecuniam  suam  possit  vendere  et  in  vadimonio 
ponere  et  de  filio  et  filia  vel  uxore  et  de  quolibet  alio  absque  ipsius 
domini  requisicione  heredem  faciat  et  gildam  et  consuetudines  quas 
habent  Burgenses  de  Oxenford  in  Gildam  mercatorum  et  quicunque 
ad  mercatum  venire  volunt  veniant  et  in  ipso  mercato  habeant  licen- 
ciam  emendi  quecunque  volunt  praeter  lanam  et  corea  nisi  homines 
ipsius  ville  Testibus  Willelmo  filio  lohannis  Hamone  filio  Venfridi 
constabulario  Ruelano  de  Valomis  Roberto  de  Almeri  dapifero 
Ricardo  de  Sancto  Quintino  fulco  filio  Guar  Gilberto  de  Umframvilla 
Rogero  dapifero  apud  Oxenford 

Omnibus  Christi  fidelibus  hoc  presens  scriptum  visuris  vel  audituris 
Ricardus  de  Clara  comes  Gloucestrie  et  hertfordie  salutem  in  domino 
Noveritis  nos  concessisse  et  hac  presenti  carta  nostra  confirmasse 
omnibus  Burgensibus  nostris  de  Burford  eas  libertates  et  liberas 


302  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

consuetudines  quas  habent  a  predecessoribus  nostris  comitibus 
Gloucestrie  quibus  hucusque  usi  sunt  In  cuius  rei  testimonium  huic 
scripto  sigillum  nostrum  apponi  fecimus  hiis  testibus  domino  Willelmo 
de  Clare  Waltero  de  Escoveny  Willelmo  de  Sancta  Elena  tunc  senescallo 
Gloucestrie  Thoma  de  Bayuse  Willelmo  de  la  Mare  Rogero  de  Wantone 
Willelmo  de  Langeleya  Johanne  Belew  Willelmo  de  Cranleya  Alano 
de  Cranleya  et  multis  aliis 

R  Regis  filius  Gloucestrie  Consul  omnibus  suis  amicis  salutem 
sciatis  me  concedere  meis  burgensibus  de  Bureford  omnes  illas  iustas 
consuetudines  et  lagas  quas  Robertus  filius  hamonis  eis  concessit 
Teste  Roberto  Soro 

H  Rex  Anglie  et  Dux  Normannie  et  Aquitanie  et  Comes  Andegavie 
Episcopo  Lincolniensi  et  iusticiario  et  vicecomiti  et  omnibus  ballivis 
suis  de  Oxenfordscira  salutem  Mando  vobis  et  firmiter  precipio  quod 
homines  Willelmi  comitis  Gloecestrie  de  Boreford  et  de  Mora  sint 
ita  bene  et  in  pace  et  quieti  de  omnibus  querelis  et  ita  teneant  omnes 
terras  suas  et  omnia  tenementa  sua  cum  sac  et  soc  et  tol  et  theam  et 
infanghenethef  et  cum  omnibus  aliis  libertatibus  et  liberis  consue- 
tudinibus  suis  sicut  melius  et  liberius  tenuerunt  tempore  Regis  H 
avi  mei  Teste  Reginaldo  comite  comubie  et  Umfredo  de  Bohun 
dapifero  et  Warenno  filio  Geroldi  comite  apud  Norhampton 

H  Rex  Anglie  et  Dux  Normannie  et  Aquitanie  et  Comes  Andegavie 
omnibus  iusticiariis  et  vicecomitibus  et  ministris  suis  tocius  Anglie 
salutem  Precipio  quod  Willelmus  comes  Glouecestrie  cognatus  meus 
teneat  omnes  terras  suas  ita  bene  et  in  pace  et  libere  et  quiete  et 
honorifice  sicut  comes  Robertus  pater  eius  eas  tenuit  tempore  henrici 
Regis  avi  mei  Et  habeat  in  pace  et  integre  et  plenarie  in  omnibus 
locis  et  in  onmibus  rebus  omnes  illas  libertates  et  quietancias  et 
liberas  consuetudines  quas  habuerunt  tempore  comitis  Roberti  Et 
sciatis  me  concessisse  liberis  Burgensibus  ville  comitis  Willelmi  de 
Bureford  omnes  liberas  consuetudines  illas  quas  habere  solebant 
tempore  comitis  Roberti  et  tempore  willelmi  comitis  sicut  carte 
illorum  testantur  et  gildam  et  consuetudines  quas  habent  liberi 
Burgenses  de  Oxenford  in  gilda  mercatorum  Quia  volo  ut  ita  sit 
Teste  Ricardo  de  Humet  constabulario  et  warenno  filio  Geroldi  apud 
Chinonem  in  excercitu  Regis 

Edwardus  dei  gratia  Rex  Anglie  et  ffrancie  et  Dominus  Hibemie 
omnibus  ad  quos  presentes  litere  pervenerint  salutem  Inspeximus 
quandam  cartam  quam  Dominus  h  quondam  Rex  Anglie  progenitor 
noster  fecit  in  hec  verba  h  Rex  Anglie — [etc] — apud  Norhamptonam 


THE  CHARTERS  OF  BURFORD  303 

Inspeximus  etiam  quandam  aliam  cartam  quam  idem  progenitor 
noster  fecit  in  hec  verba  h  Rex  Anglie — [etc] — excercitu  Regis  Nos 
autem  libertates  et  consuetudines  predictas  ratas  habentes  et  gratas 
eas  pro  nobis  et  heredibus  nostris  quantum  in  nobis  est  concedimus 
et  confirmamus  sicut  carte  predicte  rationabiliter  testantur  In 
cuius  rei  testimonium  has  literas  nostras  fieri  fecimus  patentes  Teste 
me  ipso  apud  Westmonasterium  tertio  die  lulii  anno  regni  nostri 
Anglie  vicesimo  quarto  regni  vero  nostri  ffrancie  undecimo 

Ricardus  dei  gratia  Rex  Anglie  et  ffrancie  et  dominus  Hibemie 
[etc]  Inspeximus  literas  patentes  Domini  E  nuper  Regis  Anglie  avi 
nostri  in  hec  verba — [etc] — Nos  autem  literas  predictas  et  omnia 
in  eis  contenta  rata  habentes  et  grata  ea  pro  nobis  et  heredibus 
nostris  quantum  in  nobis  est  acceptamus  approbamus  et  ratificamus 
et  ea  prefatis  hominibus  et  burgensibus  de  Bureford  tenore  presentium 
concedimus  et  confirmamus  prout  carte  et  litere  predicte  rationabiliter 
testantur  et  prout  iidem  homines  et  burgenses  libertatibus  et  consue- 
tudinibus  predictis  hactenus  rationabiliter  uti  et  gaudere  consue- 

verunt    In  cuius  rei  testimonium  has  literas  nostras 

Teste   me   ipso   apud   Westmonasterium  decimo  die 

marcii  anno  regni  nostri  secundo 

Qui  quidem  burgenses  et  homines  predicti 

.     .     .    consuetudines  et  libertates  prescriptas  habuerunt  et  eis  uti 

et   gaudere    consue seu   catalla  ad 

predictam  gildam  spectant 


BURFORD  RECORDS 

Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  AA 

1350.     Letters  Patent  of  Edward  III. 
(Transcribed  on  the  Gild  Certificate  above.) 
Portion  of  the  Great  Seal  in  green  wax. 
Fine  paid  for  the  grant,  205. 

1379.    Letters  Patent  of  Richard  II. 

(Transcribed  on  the  Gild  Certificate  above.) 

Good  specimen,  almost  complete,  of  the  Great  Seal  in  green  wax. 

Fine  paid,  2  marks. 

1399.    Letters  Patent  of  Henry  IV. 

Reciting  the  Letters  Patent  of  Richard  II  ;  the  liberties  are  con- 
firmed to  *  hominibus  et  Burgensibus  de  Bureford  et  heredibus  et 


304  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

successoribus  suis  .  .  . '  to  be  enjoyed  '  prout  iidem  homines  et  Bur- 
genses  de  Bureford  et  antecessores  sui '  have  enjoyed  them.  Dated 
at  Westminster  8  October  anno  primo. 

Seal  lost. 

Fine,  not  mentioned.^ 

1437.    Letters  Patent  of  Henry  VL 

Reciting  Letters  Patent  (not  now  extant)  of  Henry  V,  dated  at 
Westminster  3  Henry  V  i  February  (1416),  which  recited  the  Letters 
Patent  of  Henry  IV.  Issued  '  per  ipsum  Regem  et  consilium  suum 
in  parliamento  '.    24  November,  anno  sexto  decimo. 

Good  specimen,  almost  complete,  of  the  Great  Seal  in  green  wax. 

Fine,  not  mentioned. 

A  copy  of  Letters  Patent  of  Henry  VI,  dated  at  Westminster 
8  November  i  Henry  VI  (1422),  reciting  Letters  Patent  (date  not 
copied)  of  Henry  V.  The  copy  makes  Henry  V,  in  reciting  the  Letters 
Patent  of  Henry  IV,  refer  to  him  as  '  avi  mei '.  This  copy  was  sealed 
with  the  Common  Seal  of  Burford  '  pro  maiore  securitate  ' ;  this  seal 
has  been  lost.   The  copy  is  not  dated. 

1475.    Letters  Patent  of  Edward  IV. 

Reciting  the  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  III  with  no  reference  to 
later  grants.   Dated  at  Westminster  8  November  anno  quinto  decimo. 
Portion  of  Great  Seal  in  green  wax. 
Fine  paid,  26s.  Sd. 

i486.    Letters  Patent  of  Henry  VII. 

Reciting  the  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  IV.    Dated  at  Westminster 
20  November  anno  secundo. 
Small  portion  of  Great  Seal  in  green  wax. 
Fine,  not  mentioned. 

1497.  Letters  Patent  of  Henry  VII  granting  a  fair  to  the  town  of 
Burford. 

Henricus  Dei  gratia  Rex  Anglie  et  Francie  et  Dominus  Hibemie 
Omnibus  ad  quos  presentes  litere  pervenerint  salutem  Sciatis  quod 
nos  de  gracia  nostra  speciali  concessimus  et  licenciam  dedimus  pro 
nobis  et  heredibus  nostris  quantum  in  nobis  est  Dilectis  ligeis  nostris 
Ballivis  Burgensibus  et  inhabitantibus  ville  nostre  de  Bourford  in 
comitatu  nostro  Oxon  quod  ipsi  et  successores  sui  annuatim  in  per- 
petuum  habeant  et  teneant  ac  habere  et  tenere  possint  infra  villam 
nostram  predictam  unam  feriam  videlicet  in  festo  Exaltacionis  sancte 
*  The  Fine  Roll,  i  Henry  IV,  gives  the  fine ;  33s.  <^d. 


THE  CHARTERS  OF  BURFORD  305 

Crucis  et  per  tres  dies  immediate  precedentes  idem  festum  et  per  alios 
tres  dies  immediate  sequentes  illud  festum  annuatim  unam  curiam 
pedis  pulverizati  ibidem  tenendam  durante  eadem  feria  unacum 
omnibus  exitibus  proficuis  et  amerciamentis  eidem  ferie  pertinentibus 
sive  provenientibus  ac  cum  omnibus  proficuis  et  emolimentis  ad 
eandem  feriam  pertinentibus  sive  spectantibus  ullo  modo-  Ita  tamen 
quod  feria  ilia  non  sit  ad  nocumentum  vicinanim  feriarum  Quare 
volumus  et  per  presentes  concedimus  pro  nobis  et  heredibus  nostris 
quod  predicti  Ballivi  Burgenses  et  inhabitantes  Ville  nostre  predicte 
et  successores  sui  annuatim  habeant  et  teneant  ac  habere  et  tenere 
possint  imperpetuum  predictam  feriam  in  diebtis  et  festo  predictis 
cum  dicta  curia  unacum  omnibus  exitibus  proficuis  et  amerciamentis 
de  eisdem  feria  et  curia  provenientibus  ac  cum  omnibus  proficuis 
et  emolimentis  ad  eandem  feriam  pertinentibus  sive  spectantibus 
ullo  modo  absque  perturbacione  impedimento  molestacione  seu 
gravamine  nostri  heredum  seu  ministrorum  nostrorum  quorumcunque 
Ita  tamen  quod  feria  ilia  predicta  non  sit  ad  nocumentum  vicinanim 
feriarum  sicut  predictum  est  In  cuius  rei  testimonium  has  litteras 
nostras  fieri  fecimus  patentes  Teste  me  ipso  apud  Westmonasterium 
decimo  nono  die  lanuarii  anno  regni  nostri  duodecimo 

per  breve  de  privato  sigillo  et  de  data 

predicta  auctoritate  parliamenti 
Fragments  of  the  Great  Seal  in  white  wax. 

'  1510.    Letters  Patent  of  Henry  VIII. 

Reciting  separately  the  Letters  Patent  of  Henry  VI  as  well  as  those 
of  Henry  VH  (thus  including  all  the  Royal  grants).  Dated  at  West- 
minster 12  March  anno  primo. 

Portion  of  Great  Seal  in  green  wax. 

Fine,  not  mentioned. 

1547.    Letters  Patent  of  Edward  VI. 

Reciting  the  Letters  Patent  of  Henry  VIII.    Dajed  at  Westminster 
I  December  anno  primo. 
The  Great  Seal,  perfect,  in  brown  wax. 
Fine,  not  mentioned. 

1554.    Letters  Patent  of  Queen  Mary. 

Reciting  the  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  VI.    Dated  at  Westminster 
13  June  anno  primo. 
The  Great  Seal,  broken,  in  red  leather  cover. 
Fine  paid,  £3. 
3304  X 


3o6  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

1605.    Letters  Patent  of  James  I. 

Reciting  Letters  Patent  of  Queen  Elizabeth  (not  now  extant), 
dated  at  Westminster  10  November  anno  primo  (1559),  which  recited 
the  Letters  Patent  of  Queen  Mary.  Dated  at  Westminster  14  June 
anno  tertio. 

The  Great  Seal,  broken,  in  red  leather  cover. 

Fine  paid,  £8. 

Included  in  the  same  Bundle : 

Two  Commissions  issued  by  the  Keepers  of  the  Liberty  of  England. 
20  December,  1649.  To  William  Lenthal,  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons  and  Master  of  the  Rolls  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  the 
Bailiffs  of  the  Town  of  Burford,  and  the  two  ancientest  Burgesses, 
and  the  Seneschal,  appointing  them  Justices  of  the  Peace.    In  Latin. 

The  Great  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth,  almost  perfect,  in  red  wax. 

26  May,  1659.  To  William  Lenthal,  John  Lenthal,  the  Bailiffs, 
Seneschal,  and  two  ancientest  Burgesses,  appointing  them  Justices 
of  the  Peace.    In  English. 

Fragment  of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth  in  red  wax. 


SECTION  II 

CALENDAR  OF  REC0r6s  PRESERVED  IN  THE  TOWN 

The  muniments  of  the  ancient  Corporation  of  the  Bailiffs,  Alderman, 
and  Burgesses  of  Burford,  which  are  still  preserved  in  the  town,  are 
now  in  three  ownerships.  One  portion,  together  with  the  maces  and 
seals  of  the  Corporation,  is  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Cheatle,  the 
late  Mr.  T.  H.  Cheatle  having  been  the  last  surviving  Burgess,  and  his 
father  the  last  Alderman,  of  the  Corporation.  A  second  portion  is  in 
the  possession  of  the  Charity  Trustees,  who  replaced  the  Corporation, 
and  is  kept  at  the  Tolsey.  The  third  portion,  a  small  one,  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Governors  of  the  Grammar  School,  Mrs.  Cheatle 
having  handed  over  to  them  the  foundation  deeds  of  the  School  and 
a  few  of  the  leases  of  School  property. 

The  main  division  of  these  muniments  took  place  after  the  extinction 

4 

of  thB  Corporation  in  1861.  Before  that  event  they  were  all  kept  in 
two  ancient  chests  and  a  chest  of  drawers  in  one  of  the  rooms  above 
the  Church  porch.  Thence  they  passed  entire,  when  the  Corporation 
had  ceased  to  exist,  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Cheatle.^  By  the  Common 
Law,  upon  the  extinction  of  a  Corporation  its  property,  in  the  absence 
of  special  provision  to  the  contrary  by  the  Act  causing  the  extinction, 
becomes  the  property  of  the  last  surviving  member.  In  the  scheme 
of  the  Charity  Commissioners,  which  abolished  the  Corporation, 
the  provision  concerning  its  property  was  worded  thus  :  '  All  lands, 
hereditaments,  and  other  real  estate  and  property  whatsoever,  hereto- 
fore vested  in  or  held  by  the  said  Corporation,  or  by  the  Trustees  or 
Feoffees  of  the  above-mentioned  Charities,  or  any  of  them,  for  the 
purposes  thereof  respectively,  shalt  from  and  after  the  establishment 
of  this  scheme  be  vested  in  and  held  by  the  Official  Trustee  of  Charity 
Lands  and  his  successors  in  trust  for  the  "  Burford  Charity  Trustees  ".* 
This  clause  contains  no  direction  concerning  the  muniments.    They 

•  I  owe  my  information  on  this  point  to  Mr.  Charles  East  of  Burford, 
who  himself  as  a  boy  conveyed  the  whole  of  the  documents  from  the  room 
above  the  Church  porch  to  Mr.  Cheatle's  house.  One  of  the  ancient  chests 
and  the  chest  of  drawers  are  now  in  the  Tolsey. 

X  2 


3o8      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

were  quite  unnecessary  for  the  purposes  of  the  Trusts,  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  charitable  property  and  the  objects  which  it  was  to 
serve  having  been  established  by  two  Royal  Commissions  and  re- 
established by  several  Reports  of  the  Charity  Commissioners  in  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Consequently  the  documents, 
following  the  course  of  the  Common  Law,  became  Mr.  Cheatle's 
property. 

A  few  years  later,  however,  he  made  a  division  of  them,  handing 
over  about  half  to  the  Charity  Trustees  in  order  to  give  them  a  share 
of  the  interest  in  these  old  records.  Roughly  speaking,  the  division 
appears  to  have  been  made  on  the  principle  of  handing  over  to  the 
Charity  Trustees  the  greater  bulk  of  the  documents  dealing  with  gifts 
to  the  Church  and  retaining  those  concerning  property  which  had  been 
■more  or  less  exclusively  under  the  control  of  the  Corporation.  The 
numerous  documents  concerning  the  Royal  Commission  of  1738  and 
the  Chancery  proceedings  of  1742  were  divided  into  two  parts,  which 
in  some  cases  duplicate  and  in  other  cases  supplement  each  other. 

The  Burford  Records  were  examined  some  years  ago  by  the 
Rev.  W.  D.  Macray,  on  behalf  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commis- 
sion. But,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  only  a  very  small  portion 
of  the  Records  can  be  regarded  as  true  municipal  records^  and 
Mr.  Macray,  therefore,  did  not  find  it  worth  while  to  calendar  many  of 
them.  The  volume  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission,  Various 
Collections,  no.  i,  published  in  1902,  contains  his  account  of  the 
Records,  with  a  calendar  of  the  Charters,  a  transcript  of  the  Roll  of 
the  Burgess  Rules,  and  notes  on  a  few  of  the  more  ancient  grants  of 
land  and  on  later  documents  possessing  a  special  interest,  such  as  the 
one  which  bears  the  signature  of  the  King-maker. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission  it  was 
not  necessary  to  do  more.  But.  for  the  purposes  of  a  history  of  the 
Corporation  of  Burford  it  was  necessary  to  examine  all  the  Records  ; 
.and  it  was  natural  that  the  opportunity  should  be  taken  to  make 
a  complete  calendar,  and  at  the  same  time  to  reduce  to  order  the  mass 
of  documents,  which  were  in  a  state  of  confusion. 

Classification  of  them  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  results  of  a  previous 
classification.  The  Royal  Commission  which  examined  into  the 
administration  of  the  Charity  properties  in  1738  ordered,  among  other 
things,  that  the  deeds  and  other  documents  then  in  the  possession  of 
the  Corporation  should  be  entered  up)on  a  schedule  with  a  view  to  their 
better  preservation.     In  the  making  of  this  schedule  the  documents 


RECORDS  PRESERVED  IN  THE  TOWN        309 

were  divided  into  several  series,  according  to  the  Charities  with 
which  they  were  connected.  Each  series  was  given  a  distinguishing 
letter  and  the  documents  were  numbered  in  chronological  order. 
On  the  whole  this  classification  was  well  done  ;  only  in  a  few  instances 
have  documents  been  placed  in  a  wrong  series  or  out  of  their  chrono- 
logical order  ;  these  instances  are  noted  in  the  ensuing  calendar. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  Charities  represented  on  the 
schedule  of  1738,  given  in  the  order  and  with  the  series  letter  of  the 
schedule  : 

(i)  Poole's  Lands.  Series  letter  P.  Property  bequeathed  in 
1500  by  Thomas  Poole,  Citizen  and  Tailor  of  London,  to  the  Burgesses, 
for  the  good  continuance  of  the  fraternity,  the  provision  of  a  fund 
for  paying  the  Chancery  fees  for  confirmation  of  charters,  &c.  The 
earliest  document  is  dated  1401.  This  series  is  a  large  one,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  several  documents  not  concerning  these  lands  alone 
were  included  in  it.  Owing  to  the  Trust  being  so  specifically  for 
Corporation  purposes,  and  connected  with  the  Charters,  the  Burgesses 
seem  to  have  caused  to  be  placed  in  this  series  all  documents  con- 
cerning in  general  their  administration  of  the  Charity  lands,  as,  for 
instance,  a  copy  of  the  Decrees  of  the  Royal  Commissi9n  of  1628,  and 
the  general  Trust  feoffments  made  in  pursuance  of  the  Decrees. 

(2)  School  Lands.  Series  letter  S.  The  Grammar  School  was 
founded  in  157 1.  But  many  lands  given  to  its  maintenance  at  that 
date  had  previously  been  held  for  Church  purposes.  Consequently 
the  documents  go  back  to  a  much  earlier  period,  the  first  of  the  series 
being  dated  1374. 

(3)  Church  Lands.  Series  letter  CH.  Property  given  or  bequeathed 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  fabric  and  services  of  the  Church  and  the 
Gild  Chapel.   The  earliest  document  is  dated  1377. 

(4)  Bridge  Lands.  Series  letter  B.  A  small  property  held  in  trust 
for  the  repair  of  the  Bridge  and  the  highways  leading  thereto.  The 
earliest  document  is  dated  1322.  The  property  seems  originally 
to  have  been  given  for  the  general  religious  purposes  of  the  Gild,  and 
no  specific  declaration  of  the  use  of  the  rents  for  the  upkeep  of  the 
Bridge  is  made  until  1560.  There  is,  however,  good  reason  for  holding 
that  the  money  had  always  been  devoted  to  the  Bridge.  The  date 
of  the  first  document  in  this  series  is  significant.  It  is  the  same  date 
is  that  of  the  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  II,  granting  to  the  town  for 
a  limited  period  tolls  on  all  merchandise  passing  over  the  Bridge  to 
market,  the  grant  being  made  because  the  Bridge  was  then  in  disrepair. 


310  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

The  occurrence  of  this  date  on  the  first  document  of  the  Bridge 
Lands  series  can  hardly  be  a  mere  coincidence.  It  is  more  likely  that 
the  necessities  of  •  keeping  up  the  Bridge,  which  had  led  to  the  issue 
of  the  Letters  Patent,  had  also  led  to  the  gift  of  this  property.  The 
absence  of  any  specific  reference  to  the  Bridge  in  early  documents 
of  the  series  is  not  surprising,  since  the  repair  of  bridges  was. one  of 
the  customary  objects  of  the  early  Gilds.  But  the  Edwardian  Act 
dissolving  the  Gilds  and  Chantries  would  make  it  advisable  to  declare 
for  this  Trust  a  use  that  did  not  come  under  the  head  of/  superstitious 
uses  *.    Hence  the  declaration  in  the  Deed  of  1560. 

(5)  Almshouse  Lands.  Series  letter  A.  Property  of  which  the 
rents  were  devoted  to  the  Almshouses  founded  by  Henry  Bishop  in 
1455.  The  document  numbered  i  in  this  series  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  Almshouses.  It  is  a  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Warwick  concerning 
the  Priory  or  Hospital  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist.  It  may  have  been 
included  in  this  series  by  mistaken  association  with  another  document 
signed  by  the  Earl,  the  true  beginning  of  the  series,  giving  his  hcence 
as  Lord  of  the  Manor  to  Henry  Bishop  to  found  the  Almshouses.  This 
is  the  document  bearing  one  of  the  only  two  known  signatures  of  the 
King-maker. 

(6)  Fifteen  Lands.  Series  letter  T.  A  small  property  the  rents 
of  which  were  intended  to  accumulate  to  relieve  the  burden  on  the  town 
when  a  tax  of  Tenths  or  Fifteenths  waS  levied.  The  earliest  document 
is  dated  1382. 

(7)  Cobb  Hall.  Series  letter  GS.  A  house  given  in  1590  by  George 
Symonds  (hence  the  initials  of  the  series  mark)  with  the  intent  that 
the  rent  should  be  used  to  supplement  the  weekly  allowances  to  the 
poor  in  the  Almshouse. 

(8)  Lenthall  and  Holloway  Charities.  Series  letter  LH.  A 
combination  of  two  bequests  of  money  for  apprenticing  poor  children, 
the  combined  fund  being  invested  in  land  at  Standlake.  The  earliest 
document  is  dated  1677,  but  the  investment  of  money  was  not  made 
till  1726,  though  the  Lenthall  bequest  had  been  in  hand  since  1662. 

(9)  Mullei^der's  Lane  Houses.  Series  letter  M.  A  similar 
investment  of  a  monetary  bequest  by  Lady  Tanfield.  The  property 
purchased  was  in  Mullender's  Lane,  now  Swan  Lane,  Burford. 

(10)  Cleveley's  AiiD  Heylin's  Charities.  Series  letters  CL  and 
H.    Similar  investments  made  in  the  early  eighteenth  century. 

(11)  Wills  and  Gifts.  Series  letter  W.  A  collection  of  wills  and 
extracts  from  wills,  the  earliest  documents  being  the  complete  wills  of 


RECORDS  PRESERVED  IN*  THE  TOWN        311 


two  Burford  Burgesses,  that  of  John  Pynnock,  dated  1473,  ^^^  ^^^^ 
of  Henry  Bishop,  dated  1478. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  documents  thus  classified  about 
1738  have  been  preserved  almost  intact.    Hardly  any  have  been  lost. 

It  was,  of  course,  easy,  in  reducing  to  order  the  confused  masses 
of  documents,  to  reconstitute  the  classification  of  the  1738  schedule 
as  far  as  it  went ;  and  the  bundles  into  which  I  have  gathered  the 
documents  concerning  the  Charity  Lands  follow  that  classification. 
There  remained,  however,  a  large  quantity  of  documents  not  entered 
upon  (he  schedule.  The  Charters  of  the  Corporation  come  under  this 
head  ;  they  have  been  collected  together  into  a  single  bundle.  The 
bulk  of  the  unscheduled  documents  were  concerned,  with  various 
inquiries  into  the  Charity  administration  of  the  Corporation,  and 
especially  with  the  Royal  Commission  of  1738  and  the  Chancery 
Suit  of  1742  which  arose  out  of  the  Commission's  Decrees.  All  these 
have  been  classified  and  sorted  into  bundles  under  the  heading 
'  Commissions  and 'Legal  Proceedings '.  A  certain  number  of  docu- 
ments have  had  to  be  classified  as '  Miscellanea  '.  Most  of  them  have 
some  bearing  on  Corporation  affairs,  but  a  few  have  no  traceable 
relation  to  Burford  at  all.  There  is  a  small  quantity  of  Apprentice- 
ship Indentures  of  comparatively  late  date  which  were  not  worth 
calendaring. 

In  classifying  the  documents  I  have  lettered  the  labels  of  the  bundles 
to  increase  the  ease  of  reference  to  the  documents.  A  single  letter 
has  been  used  for  the  Tolsey  Collection,  and  a  double  letter  for  the 
Cheatle  Collection. 


I.     THE  CHEATLE  COLLECTION 


BB 
CC 
DD 
EE 
FF 
GG 
HH 
II 
KK 
LL 
MM 
NN 
00 
PP 
RR 
SS 


Bundle 
AA    Charters 

Fifteen  Lands  . 

School  Lands  I 

School  Lands  II 

Poole's  Lands  I 

Poole's  Lands  II  ■ 

Almshouse 

Wills 

Roll  of  the  Burgess  Rules 

Cobb  Hall 

Cleveley's,  Heylin's,  &c. 

Commissions  and  Legal  Proceedings 

Commi^ions  and  Legal  Proceedings ' 

Con^issions  and  Legal  Proceedings 

Miscellanea  I    . 

Miscellanea  II 

Miscellanea  III  (Warwick  signature.  Ac.) 


16th 


1 8th 


.   1351-1659 
.   1 392-1732 

•   1375-1635 

.   1637-1736 

1401-1659 

1659-1729 

.   1456-1717 

.   1473-1672 

1605 

■   1590-1735 

1691-1724 

and  17th  centuries 

1 8th  century 

1 8th  century 

.      1472-1741 

and  19th  centuries 


312      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

THE  FIFTEEN  LANDS 
Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  BB 
T 1.    Saturday  next  after  the  Feast  of  St.  Lawrence^  i6  Richard  II 

(1392). 

Conveyance  by  John  Wenryche, '  Senior  Gildae  Borfordiae ',  and 
Thomas  Spycer, '  Senior  dictae  Gildae  \  '  consensu  fratrum  nostrorum 
dictae  Gildae ',  to  John  Stowe.  Two  cottages  lying,  together  on  the 
south  side  of  *  Synt  Jones  Street '  between  the  messuage  of  John 
Wenryche  on  one  side  and  the  messuage  of  Robert  Cotylere  on  the 
other  side. 

Witnesses :  John  Carswall,  John  Walkere  of  Bampton,  Thomas 
Batyn,  Robert  Cotyler,  WiUiam  Nayler  of  Borford,  John  Abraham 
of  Clanfield. 

T2.    7  February,  7  Henry  VII  (1492). 

Conveyance  by  John  Hyll  of  Burforde,  to  Richard  Brame,  Thomas 
Synde,  John  Hyll,  and  William  Bowdelare,  *  Camerarii  de  Burforde  '. 
Two  tenements  situate  together  on  the  south  side  of  *  Seynt  Johnnes 
Street '  between  the  gate  of  John  Neweman  late  of  Richard  Starr  on 
the  east  side  and  the  tenement  of  John  Kenne  late  of  Richard  Mosyer 
on  the  west  side  '  habenda  et  tenenda  predicta  duo  tenementa  cum 
suis  pertinentibus  prefatis  Ricardo  Thome  lohanni  et  Willelmo  et 
camerariis  per  dictam  villam  electis  qui  pro  tempore  fuerint  existentibus 
in  perpetuum  sub  forma  sequente  videlicet  quod  redditus  illorum 
duorum  tenementorum  venient  et  persolvantur  predictis  camerariis 
ad  proficuum  villae  quum  taxaciones  vel  quintadecima  domini  regis 
advocantur  seu  ad  onmia  aha  onera  si  petantur  '. 

Witnesses  :  William  Flodyatt,  Richard  Brame,  then  bailiffs  of  the 
town  of  Burford,  John  Bysshope,  Thomas  Synd,  John  Lambard. 

T  3.    I  December,  38  Henry  VIII  (1546). 

Conveyance  by  Richard  Hannes,  Robert  Johnson,  Jhone  Tomson, 
and  John  Fallor  of  Burford,  yomen,  to  Simon  Wisdom,  William 
Hewis,  alias  Calcatt,  Richard  Hodges,  Robert  Bruton,  Edmund 
Silvester,  and  Thomas  Prickevannce,  yomen.  Two  cottages  lately 
held  by  gift  and  feoffment  of  William  Hedges  and  Thomas  Leper, 
in  St.  John's  Street  between  the  tenement  belonging  to  Thomas 
(blank)  chaplain  of  Charlbury  on  the  west  side  and  the  way 
called  the  backside  of  the  tenement  where  Walter  Rose  now  lives  on 
the  east  side.   '  The  contente  of  this  present  dede  is  that  they  above 


THE  FIFTEEN  LANDS  313 

named  feoffees  shall  take  and  receave  the  Rentes  Revenewes  and 
profettes  that  shalbe  yerely  comynge  and  growynge  of  the  forsaide 
cotages  over  and  above  the  Reparacions  of  the  same  cotages  well  and 
sufficiently  to  be  made  done  and  kepte  And  the  same  shall  put  in  to 
one  common  Boxe  to  be  had  amonge  them  and  tiiere  to  be  Reserved 
and  kepte  untyll  suche  tyme  as  any  payment  of  the  fyftenes  shallbe 
levyed  and  gathered  of  the  towne  and  Burroughe  of  Burforde  aforsaid 
to  the  use  and  behoffe  of  our  saide  sovreyne  lorde  the  kynge  that  now 
is  his  heirs  and  successours  here  after  to  come  And  that  the  saide 
Rentes  Revenewis  and  profettes  if  any  there  be  to  be  paide  for  the 
easemente  of  the  poore  people  inhabitynge  within  the  saide  towne 
and  Burroughe  of  Burfforde  Or  elles  to  be  Imploide  to  any  other  honeste 
use  By  the  discression  of  the  said  feoffees  yf  they  shall  deme  the  saide 
use  to  be  for  a  common  welthe  to  the  said  towne  and  Burroughe  of 
Burfforde  aforesaide.' 

Witnesses  :  Robert  Payne  and  Will.  Hewes  bailiffs  of  Burford, 
Walter  Rose  and  Robert  Starre  constables,  Robert  Bruton  sergeant, 
John  Crouchman,  Henry  Perrott. 

[For  T  4  see  below  :  the  document  was  wrongly  numbered  in  the  maddng 
of  the  schedule.] 

T5.    3  May,  4  Elizabeth  (1562), 

Conveyance  by  William  Hughes  alias  Calcott,  Robert  Brewton, 
Edmund  Sylvester,  Senior  Burgesses  of  Burford,  to  Thomas  Freers 
one  of  the  bailiffs,  Richard  Chawreleye,  Richard  Dalby,  Burgesses, 
William  Partridge,  and  John  Dallam  yeomen.  Two  cottages  (*  ilia 
duo  cotagia  nostra ')  in  St.  John's  Street  between  the  tenement  of 
Simon  Wisdom  on  the  west  side  and  a  way  called  the  backside  of 
a  tenement  in  which  Walter  Rose,  late  of  Burford,  shoemaker,  lately 
lived  on  the  east,  and  abutting  on  the  King's  highway  on  the  north, 
and  the  land  of  the  foresaid  Walter  Rose  on  the  south.  Also  a  piece 
of  ground  lately  in  the  tenure  or  occupation  of  Thomas  Brayne  alias 
Thomas  George  late  of  Burford,  now  deceased.  Also  two  other  arable 
lands  lying  in  the  south  field  of  Upton  belonging  to  the  same  piece  of 
ground.  All  which  the  first-named  parties  recently  had  by  gift  and 
feoffment  of  Richard  Hannes,  Robert  Jhonson,  Thomas  Tomson,  and 
Thomas  Fawler,  lately  Burgesses,  now  deceased,  by  charter  bearing 
date  I  December  38  Henry  VIII  for  the  uses  and  intentions  therein 
sf>ecified. 

(After  repeating  these  uses  and  intentions,  with  the  additional 
detail  that  the  ultimate  use  of  the  surplus  money  for  the  poor  is  to 


314  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

be  by  direction  of  'the  Alderman,  Steward,  and  Burgesses  or  the  more 
part  of  them,  the  deed  enjoins  that  the  *  pronotours ',  or  persons 
appointed  by  the  feoffees  to  receive  the  rents,  shall  render  yearly 
'  a  wise  and  true  account  *  of  the  monies  received  and  the  amount 
spent  in  repairs  ;  and  further  that  the  feoffees  or  the  longest-lived 
of  them  and  his  heirs  shall  enfeoff,  upon  requirement  by  the  common 
assent  of  the  said  Alderman,  Steward,  and  Burgesses  and  by  the 
common  assent  of  the  more  part  of  them,  such  person  or  persons  as 
the  Alderman,  Steward,  and  Burgesses  or  the  more  part  of  the  Burgesses 
shall  appoint. 

Witnesses :   William  Hughes,  John  Lord,  John  Smythar. 

Witnesses  to  delivery  of  possession  :  William  Grene  one  of  the 
constables,  John  Craft,  John  Tyler,  Henry  Perrott,  John  Smythear 
the  younger,  Nicholas  Smythe,  and  Thomas  Arnolde. 

T6.    15  May,  4  Elizabeth  (1562). 

Counterpart  of  lease  from  the  feoffees  named  in  T  5,  to  Simon 
Wisdom,  Alderman  of  the  town  of  Burford.  The  two  cottages  with 
appurtenances  situate  in  St.  John's  Street,  lying  as  described  in  T  5, 
'  and  the  void  piece  of  ground  lyeth  between  a  tenement  of  the  late 
dissolved  chantry  in  Burford  on  the  east  side  and  the  said  way  leading 
to  the  said  Walter  Rose's  tenement  on  the  west  side  '.  For  61  years 
at  125.  a  year.  ^ 

*  And  whereas  also  the  said  lands  and  tenements  at  the  day  of 
making  of  these  indentures  are  utterly  in  Rewyn  dikayed  and  fallen 
down  as  it  is  manifestly  to  be  seen  and  perceived,  and  for  that  also 
the  foresaid  Simon  Wisdom  upon  the  consideration  hereafter  in  these 
presents  to  be  remembered  hathe  promised  in  the  face  of  the  most 
part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  borough  of  Burford  aforesaid 
to  reedify  make  and  buylde  anew  within  four  years  next  coming 
after  the  date  hereof  as  well  tl^e  aforesaid  towe  cottages  or  tenements 
well  and  sufficiently  with  timber  sclatt  stones  and  all  other  things  to 
the  same  mete  and  expedient  as  also  to  build  and  set  up  one  other 
new  house  or  barne  in  the  void  piece  of  ground  aforesaid  well  and 
sufficientlye  made  and  buylded  in  forme  aforesaid  .  .  . '  this  lease  is 
granted  by  the  feoffees  with  the  consent  of  William  Hughes  alias 
Calcott,  now  Steward  of  the  Fellowship  of  the  Burgesses,  Robert 
Brewton,  John  Lord  alias  Hughes,  Edmund  Sylvester  the  elder, 
John  Smythar,  John  Hannes,  John  Heyter,  Thomas  Hynes,  Hugh 
Colbrowe  and  Walter  Mollyner,  now  Burgesses  of  the  town,  and  with 
the  consent  of  the  most  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town. 


THE  FIFTEEN  LANDS  315 

Witnesses*:  William  Hughes  alias  Calcott,  John  Hannes,  Edmund 
Sylvester  the  elder,  Burgesses,  Bennett  Fawler,  Hugh  Perrott,  John 
Geast,  Edmund  Sylvester  the  younger,  Robert  Childe,  John  Taylor. 

T4.    I  February,  29  EHzabeth  (1587). 

Conveyance  by  William  Partridge,  surviving  feoffee,  to  John  Lyme, 
one  of  the  Bailiffs,  Robert  Sylvester,  and  Richard  Dalby,  Burgesses, 
Richard  Merywether,  William  Webbe,  and  Edmund  Sylvester,  yeomen. 
Two  cottages  in  St.  John's  Street  on- south  side  between  a  tenement  of 
Simon  Wisdom  lately  defunct  on  west  and  a  way  called  the  backside 
leading  to  the  tenement  in  which  the  son  of  Walter  Rose  lived  on 
east,  and  land  of  the  said  Walter  Rose  on  south ;  also  one  piece  of 
ground  on  which  a  bam  has  lately  been  built.  The  intents  specified 
as  previously. 

Witnesses  :  John  Roffe,  William  Hewis,  Thomas  Penrise. 

T7.    25  July,  22  James  I  (1624). 

Conveyance  by  William  Webbe  the  elder,  surviving  feoffee,  to 
John  Collier  the  elder,  innholder,  William  Bartholomew  the  elder, 
mercer,  Robert  Jordan  the  elder,  yeoman,  John  Hunt  the  elder, 
ironmonger,  Thomas  Silvester  the  elder,  clothier.  Burgesses,  William 
Webbe  the  younger  of  Clifford's  Inn,  London,  gentleman,  eldest  sdn 
of  William  Webbe  the  elder,  William  Huntt  of  New  Colledge  in  the 
Universitie  of  Oxon,  gentleman,  eldest  son  of  the  said  John  Hunt, 
and  John  Jordan  of  London,  grocer,  eldest  son  of  the  said  Robert 
Jordan.  Two  cottages  with  appurtenances  in  St.  John's  Street 
between  a  tenement  of  Symon  Wisdome,  lately  of  Phillipp  Barrett 
on  west,  the  gateway  or  passage  belonging  to  the  tenement  sometime 
of  Walter  Rose  lately  of  William  Lambert  on  east ;  also  one  cottage 
and  stable  in  the  game  street  heretofore  in  the  tenure  of  John  Lyme 
and  now  in  occupation  of  John  Hawkins,  gentleman,  and  Thomas 
Russell ;  and  two  acres  of  arable  in  the  south  field  of  Upton  belonging 
to  the  said  cottage  and  stable  and  occupied  by  Thomas  Russell. 
The  intents  specified  as  previously. 

Witnesses  :   William  Lambert,  Walter  Veysey. 

Note. — This  deed  seems  to  have  been  fully  executed  ;  the  witnesses 
are  to  the  sealing  and  delivery  of  the  deed  and  to  the  delivery  of  possession 
of  the  premises  and  to  the  formal  attendance  of  the  tenants.  But  the  deed 
handing  over  the  property  to  the  trustees  appointed  by  the  Royal  Com- 
mission seems  to  take  no  account  of  this  document,  and  is  executed  again 
by  William  Webbe  the  elder  as  surviving  feoffee. 

T8.    23  February,  5  Charles  I  (1630). 

Conveyance  by  William  Webbe  the  elder  of  Burford,  gentleman. 


3i6  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

to  the  trustees  as  in  the  Commission's  defiree.  The  Fifteen  Lands 
as  specified  in  the  decree, '  the  said  WiUiam  Webbe  being  the  sole 
surviving  feofifee '. 

Witnesses :  William  Webbe,  junior,  Walter  Hayter  the  elder, 
William  Symons,  Richard  Norgrave. 

Note. — ^The  lands  are  described  simply  as  charitable  lands. 

Note. — From  this  point  the  leases  are  all  granted  by  the  trustees 
appointed  by  the  Royal  Commission ;  the  names  of  the  lessors  are 
therefore  not  given. 

T9.   9  November,  17  Charles  I,  1641. 

Lease  to  Robert  Perry  the  elder,  slatter,  and  Margaret  his  wife. 
House  on  south  side  of  St.  John's  Street  between  a  tenement  in  the 
possession  of  the  same  on  east  and  a  tenement  of  John  Hannes  on 
west.   For  21  years  at  24^.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Edward  Watkins,  Thomas  Randolph. 

T 10.    8  June,  6  William  and  Mary,  1694. 

Lease  to  John  Boulter,  saddler.    House  on  south  side  of  St.  John's 
Street  between  a  tenement  of  William  Jorcian  on  east  and  a  tenement 
,    .of  Christopher  Kempster  on  west.    For" 21  years  at  305.  a  year. 

Witnesses :  Thomas  James,  Christopher  Brooke,  Richard  Mathewes. 

Til.   8  June,  6  WiUiam  and  Mary,  1694. 

Lease  to  William  Jordan,  broadweaver.  House  on  south  side  of 
St.  John's  Street  between  the  back  gate  of  J9hn  Robins  on  east  and 
tenement  of  John  Boulter  on  west.    For  21  years  at  35^.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Philip  Sessions,  Richard  Mathewes. 

T12.    18  June,  3  George  I,  1 717. 

Lease  to  William  Jordan,  broadweaver.    The  same  house  at  the 
same  rent. 

Witnesses  :  John  Boulter,  Humphrey  Gillett. 

T 13.    24  May,  3  George  I  (1717). 

Lfase  to  John  Boulter,  carpenter.   House  on  south  side  of  St.  John's 
Street  between  William  Jordan  on  east  and  John  Kempster  on  west. 
For  21  years  at  £1  zos.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Benj.  Woodroffe,  Humphrey  Gillett,  Thomas  Patrick. 

T14.    24  May,  3  George  I  (1717). 
Counterpart  of  the  preceding. 

T15.    25  March,  6  George  I  (1720). 

Lease  to  John  Andrues,  weaver.    House  on  south  side  of  St.  John's 


THE  FIFTEEN  LANDS  317 

Street  between  Widow  Winfeild  on  east  and  Widow  Jordan  on  west ; 
with  2  acres  of  arable  land  belonging  to  the  same  house.   For  21  years 
at  £3  105.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  Wm.  Applegarth,  Humphrey  Gillett. 

T16.    27  November,  6  George  II,  1732. 

Lease  to  Richard  Parke,  broadweaver.  House  late  of  John  Boulter 
between  Richard  Cobome  on  east  and  John  Kempster  on  west.  For 
21  years  at  395.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Geo.  Underwood,  R.  GriflSths. 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS 
Cheatle  Collection,  Bundles  CC  and  DD 

S  1.     Sunday  after  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  49  Edward  III 

(1375)- 

Conveyance  by  Robert  Whitteway  of  Boreford  to  Henry  Taillor, 
draper,  of  Boreford.  A  half  burgage  with  curtilage  adjacent  and  all 
appurtenances  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  on  the  west  side  between 
a  tenement  of  the  said  Robert  on  one  side  and  a  tenement  of  William 
Cotteswold  on  the  other. 

Witnesses  :  John  Wynrish,  John  Crosson,  Robert  Coteler,  William 
Nailler,  John  Kyngton,  Thomas  Spycer,  William  Cokerell,  John 
Saleman,  William  Bemes,  clerk. 

S  2.  Tuesday  in  the  week  of  Pentecost  and  the  last  day  of  May, 
7  Richard  II  (1384). 

Conveyance  by  Geoffrey,  Vicar  of  the  parish  church  of  Burford,  to 
Thomas  Causton,  *  cognato  meo '.  Two  messuages  lying  in  the  High 
Street  on  the  west  side  Between  the  vicarage  tenement  on  one  side 
and  the  river  called  Wynrich  on  the  other.  The  conveyance  to  take 
place  after  the  death  of  Geoffrey. 

Witnesses  :  John  Crosson,  John  Wynrich,  Robert  Coteler,  William 
Nailer,  Thomas  Spiser,  William  Ponter,  John  Sclatter,  William 
Shulton,  William  Bemes,  clerk. 

S8.  Feast  of  St.  John  the  Apostle  in  the  week  of  the  Nativity  of 
the  Lord;  10  Richard  II  (1386). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Causton  of  Burford,  to  John  Comewaill 
•of  the  same.    The  two  messuages  as  above. 

Witnesses  :  The  same. 


3i8      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

S  4,    Feast  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel,  6  Henry  IV  (1404). 

Lease  by  Thomas  Spicer,  Senior  of  the  Gild,  Henry  Coteler,  Seneschal 
of  the  Gild,  Thomas  Wynryshh  and  Edmund  Dyere,  pronotours  of 
the  Gild  of  St.  Mary,  to  John  Spicer  of  Burford,  with  the  assent  of 
all  the  Burgesses  of  the  town.  A  tenement  with  appurtenances  in 
Witney  Street  on  the  north  side  between  a  tenement  of  William 
Coberley  and  a  tenement  of  John  Fawllere.  For  60  years  at  75. 
a  year.  The  tenant  to  have  the  boughs  of  trees  within  the  close  of 
the  messuage,  and  to  be  allowed  to  cut  down  trees  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Gild,  as  might  be  necessary  to  repair  the  house. 

S  5.  —  May,  2  Henry  VI  (1424). 

Conveyance  by  John  Grene,  Vicar  of  Fayreford,  to  John  Leche  of 
Burford.  A  messuage  in  Sheep  Street  on  the  north  side  between  the 
tenement  of  Agnes  Conyng  on  one  side  and  the  tenement  of  William 
Lynham  on  the  other. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Spicer,  William  Coteler,  Richard  Lavyngton, 
John  Ponter,  Simon  Mosyer. 

S  6.    16  December,  8  Henry  VI  (1429). 

Conveyance  by  Roger  Coupe  of  Campden,  to  William  Ingelby, 
Vicar  of  Burford,  and  Edmund  Dyere  of  the  same.  One  messuage 
with  curtilage  adjacent  and  all  appurtenances  on  the  east  side  of  the 
High'  Street  between  the  tenement  of  William  Sterre  on  one  side  and 
the  tenement  of  Robert  Stowe  on  the  other, '  which  I  recently  had  by 
gift  and  feoffment  of  Alice  Ameryes  of  Burford  '. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Spycer,  William  Coteler,  Richard  Lavyngton, 
John  Ponter,  Henry  Blont. 

S  7.    24  August,  6  Edward  IV  (1466). 

Conveyance  by  John  Egle  of  Oxford,  '  gentilmon  ',  to  William 
Kempe  of  Borford  and  Isabella  his  wife.  A  messuage  on  east  side  of 
the  High  Street  between  a  tenement  of  William  Hylle  on  one  side 
and  a  tenement  of  Nicolas  Spaldying  on  the  other. 

Witnesses  :  John  Pynnock,  John  Grove,  Bailiffs,  Thomas  Brampton, 
William  Hylle,  Thomas  Maiow. 

S8.    4  June,  16  Edward  IV  (1476). 

Conveyance  by  William  Freeman  of  Taynton,  '  husbondman  ', 
to  Walter  Nymes,  *  gentilman  ',  and  John  Pynnok.  A  half  burgage 
with  appurtenances  on  west  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the 
tenement  of  John  Longe  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of  William 
Wollyng  on  the  south. 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  319 

Witnesses :  John  Graunger,  Robert  Leveryche,  John  Banbury, 
William  Flodeyate. 

S9.    12  July,  4  Henry  VII  (1489). 

Conveyance  by  John  Petur  of  Mynysterlevell  and  Marjory  his  wife, 
to  Master  Richard  Chauncelere,  Vicar  of  Burford,  John  Hyll,  Thomas 
Jenyvere,  William  Smethyare,  and  George  Moyese.  Two  tenements 
in  Burford,  one  on  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the  tenement 
of  John  Bishop  on  the  south  and  the  inn  called  the  '  Bere  '  lately  of 
John  Pynnocke  on  the  north  ;  the  other  in  Witney  Street  on  the  south 
side  between  the  tenement  once  of  Robert  Coberley  on  the  east  and 
the  tenement  lately  of  John  Mosyer  on  the  west. 

Witnesses:     Thomas    Bishop,    John    Boterell,    Bailiffs,    Robert 

Leveryche,  William  Flodyatte,  Richard  Brame. 

Note. — Margery  was  the  name  of  the  granddaughter  of  John  Pynnok 
the  elder,  by  whose  will  (W  i)  she  was  to  have  for  her  life  the  use  of  the 
house  left  by  him  ultimately  to  the  Church. 

S  10.    I  May,  17  Henry  VII  (1502). 

Conveyance  by  Richard  Chauncelere,  clerk,  Thomas  Jenyver,  and 
John  Hill  alias  Prior,  to  Richard  Brame,  Thomas  Boterell,  Robert 
Osmond,  Richard  Harris,  Robert  Rile,  and  Peter  Eynysdale.  Two 
messuages  in  Burford,  one  near  the  inn  called  the  '  Bere  ',  and  the 
other  in  Witney  Street  near  a  messuage  lately  of  Thomas  Pole. 

*  The  intent  of  this  feoffment  is  that  the  said  feoffees  their  heirs 
and  assigns  shall  suffre  the  proctors  of  the  chirche  of  Burford  for  the 
tyme  beyng  yerely  for  ever  to  take  and  receave  all  the  issues  and 
prqfettes  of  all  the  said  ii  messuages  and  on  tyme  in  the  yere  for 
ever  shall  cause  an  obite  to  be  kept  in  the  said  chirche  that  is  to  say 
in  the  xiithe  day  of  Marche  a  dirige  by  note  and  on  the  morowe  after 
a  masse  of  Requiem  by  note  to  pray  for  the  sowlle  of  John  Pynnoke 
the  eldyr  and  Ely  his  wiffe  and  all  cristen  sowllys  and  X5.  of  lawfull 
money  yerely  comyng  of  the  Issues  and  Profettes  of  the  said  ii  mes- 
suages shall  distribute  for  the  kepyng  of  the  said  obyte  to  prestys 
clerkes  and  pooremen  And  the  residue  of  the  said  issues  and  profettes 
thereof  to  be  disposed  yerely  to  the  use  and  behoffe  of  the  said  chirche 
as  to  them  shalbe  thought  most  orofetable  for  the  wele  of  the  sowUs 
afore  rehersed.'  • 

Witnesses  :  Richard  Bishope,  William  Flodeyate,  Thomas  Stanton. 

Endorsed  in  a  later  hand  :  *  Dalby's  house  and  George  Fawler's.' 

S 11.    A  duplicate  of  the  above  conveyance. 

Endorsed  *  For  Andrewe  Wards  House  and  a  tenement  in  Witney 


320  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Street  *  and  in  a  later  hand  '  Now  the  Bull  and  in  the  tenure  of  Edmond 
Serrell  (the  house  in  High  Street) '. 

5 12.  9  November,  23  Henry  VII  (1508). 

Conveyance  by  John  Tanner  and  Richard  Brame,  to  Milo  Gerard, 
John  Bisshope,  Thomas  Pynnoke,  William  Fludeyatte,  Thomas 
Stanton,  and  Richard  Bagote.  Lands  and  tenements  *  which  we  had 
by  gift  and  feoffment  of  Robert  Leveryche,  Henry  Janyver,  John 
Boterel,  Thomas  Sende  alias  Call,  Henry  Stodam,  and  William 
Janyvere '.  '  The  intent  of  this  feoffment  is  this  that  the  said  feoffees 
theyr  heyrs  and  assignys"  schal  suffre  the  proctours  of  our  ladye 
chapel  in  Burford  aforesaid  for  the  tyme  beyng  yerely  to  take  and 
receve  all  the  issues  and  profetes  of  all  the  landys  or  tenements  and  of 
theyr  appurtenances  for  the  exhibicion  fjmdyng  and  mayntenyng  of 
a  honeste  preste  in  the  said  chapel  dayly  to  singe  there  or  to  say  be 
the  quere  aftjn*  the  costom  laudable  and  xs.  iiud.  of  lawful  money 
yerely  comyng  of  the  issues  and  profetes  of  the  said  lands  and  tenements 
schal  geve  paye  and  delyvyr  to  the  same  said  honeste  preste  to  be 
chosen  by  the  said  feoffees  for  ever  for  his  yerely  servyce  and  the 
residue  of  all  the  Issues  and  profetes  thereof  to  be  disposed  yerely 
to  the  use  and  behuffe  of  the  said  chapell  and  otherwise  as  to  them 
schalbe  thought  most  profetable.' 

Witnesses  :    John  Lauerance,  William  Bristo,  Thomas  Janyvere, 
John  Billynge,  John  Prior,  Robert  Osemonde,  Thomas  Dylke. 
.     Endorsed,  'A  feoffment  of  our  lady  lands  '. 

513.  24  May,  7  Henry  VIII  (151 5). 

Conveyance  by  William  Rose  alias  Smythe  of  Field  in  le  Wychwode, 
to  Robert  Silvester  of  Burford.  A  close  in  Burford  in  Witney  Street 
on  the  south  between  the  King's  highway  on  both  sides,  called  Picked 
Close. 

Witnesses  :  Peter  Enysdale,  Robert  Riley,  Bailiffs,  Thomas  Hoggs, 
Thomas  Stodham,  Robert  Sharpe,  Thomas  Clerke, 

S  14.    23  January,  151 2. 

Indenture  of  gift  by  Agnes  Stodam,  widow  of  Henry  Stodam  of 
Burford,  to  John  Bysshope,  Peter  Aynsdale,  Thomas  Hedgys,  and 
Robert  Ryley,  Burgesses.  An  annuity  of  135.  ^d.  out  df  the  rent  of 
a  tenement  of  hers  in  High  Street,  occupied  by  Robert  Silvester. 

*  Thententt  off  the  graunte  ys  thatt  they  withyn  named  John 
Bysshoppe,  Petrus  Aynsdale,  Thomas  Hedgys  and  Robert  Ryley 
and  their  heyrys  and  assignes  yerely  for  ever  shall  kepe  an  obit  Yn 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  321 

the  Chirche  of  Burford  uppon  monday  nexte  aftir  Trinite  Sonnday 
for  the  saules  off  Wyllyam  Stoddam  and  agnes  his  wyffe  for  the  saules 
off  John  Chestir  and  Isabell  his  wyffe  for  the  saules  of  Henre  Stoddam 
and  John  hys  son  for  the  saules  of  John  Morley  and  Jone  his  wyffe 
and  for  the  saule  of  agnes  Stoddam  the  wyffe  of  Henry  Stoddam  and 
for  all  crysten  saules  Wyth  the  summe  off  xiii^.  iiii<i.  after  the  forme 
folowyng  thatt  ys  to  say  to  prestys  and  clerks  vs.  and  to  the  pore 
pepull  vs.  and  to  the  use  of  the  chyrche  off  Burford  ii5.  and  for  the 
labourers  takyng  yn  thys  behalfe  every  off  the  sayd  J  P  T  &  R  to 
have  and  reteyn  iiiiJ.  for  ever  And  also  I  wyll  that  Thomas  Stoddam 
my  son  and  his  heyres  and  assigns  to  be  oversears  that  thys  my  last 
wyll  be  perfformed  and  keppyd  for  ever  with  the  sayd  summe  of 
xiii^.  iiiii.  goyng  out  off  the  sayd  tenement.' 

Witnesses  :  William  Calaway,  Curate  of  Burford,  John  Bysshope, 
mercator,  Peter  Aynsdale,  William  Seyse,  Thomas  Hedges,  and  Robert 
Ryley,  Burgesses. 

S  15.    18 ,  29  Henry  VIII  (1538). 

Conveyance  by  Peter  Eynisdall  of  Burford,  to  John  Johns,  John 
Lambert,  Robert  Eynesedale,  Simon  Wysdom,  William  Roberts  alias 
Fyscher,  Robert  AUflett.  Two  messuages  in  Burford,  one  near  the 
inn  called  the  Bear,  the  other  in  Witney  Street  near  a  house  lately 
of  Thomas  Pole.    The  intents  of  the  conveyance  specified  as  in  S  10. 

5 16.  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  30  Henry  VIII,  1539. 

Lease  by  Robert  Payne,  Thomas  Fauler,  Hewe  Colbome,  and  John 
Browne  and  Thomas  Beynge,  Churchwardens,  with  the  whole,  assent 
of  the  parishioners,  to  Richard  Dawby  of  Burford, '  Bocher '.  Mes- 
suage on  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the  tenement  of  John 
Cally  and  the  Angel  of  William  Pinnock  on  the  north  and  the  tenement 
of  Robert  Browne  on  the  south.  For  41  years  at  305.  a  year,  the  tenant 
to  do  the  repairs. 

5 17.  26  February,  4  Edward  VI,  1550. 

Conveyance  by  John  Maynarde  and  Richard  Venables  '  armigeri ', 
to  Edmund  Sylvester  of  Burford,  gentleman.  A  tenement  in  Burford 
called  the  Broadgates  occupied  by  John  Jones  ;  a  tenement  with 
a  little  close  now  occupied  by  William  Roberts  alias  Fisher ;  a  tenement 
in  Sheep  Street  occupied  by  Edmund  Silvester  ;  a  tenement  occupied 
by  Marke  Payne  ;  a  close  in  Batts  Lane  occupied  by  Robert  Browne  ; 
a  meadow  occupied  by  John  Lambard  ;  a  garden  occupied  by  John 
Hannes,  Richard  Wygpyt,  and  John  Jons ;    a  tenement  oecupied 

9304  Y 


322  -CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

by  Robert  Browne ;  to  be  held  of  the  King  by  reason  of  a  certain 
Act  concerning  the  dissolving  of  Chantries,  Colleges,  Gilds  and 
Fraternities,  passed  at  Westminster  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  ; 
to  be  held  as  John  Maynarde  and  Richard  Venables  held  the  properties 
of  the  Royal  manor  of  East  Greenwich  in  Kent  in  free  socage  and  not 
in  capite,  by  Letters  Patent  bearing  date  at  Westminster  21  December 
3  Edward  VI. 

Attorneys  for  delivery  of  possession  :  Robert  Bruton  and  Richard 
Hannes. 

Witnesses  :    Richard  Hedges  and  Robert  Brewton,  Bailiffs,  John 

Hayter,  Sergeant,  Symon  Wynchester  and   Rd.  Hunt,  Constables, 

William  Hewes,  Robert  Ennisdale,  John  Hannes,  Thomas   Faller, 

Robert   Jonson,  Richard  Dawby,  Burgesses  ;    John   Jones,  Phillipe 

Griffiths,  Robert  AUfiett,  Thomas  Crouchman,  Bedell ;  Henry  Perrott, 

Town  Clerk. 

[S  1 8  will  be  found  among  the  documents  in  the  keeping  of  the  Governors 
of  the  Grammar  School.] 

S 19.    I  May,  13  Elizabeth  (157 1). 

Lease  by  WiUiam  Partrige,  John  Lyme  the^  elder,  William 
Silvester,  and  Thomas  Appar,  churchmen  of  the  parish  church  of 
Burford,  Richard  Dalby,  Edmond  Silvester,  Bailiffs  of  the  Borough 
of  Burford,  Symon  Wisdom,  Alderman  of  Burford,  John  Hannes, 
Steward  of  the  Fellowship  of  the  Burgesses  of  Burford,  Thomas 
Fettyplace,  WilUam  Mollyner,  Richard  Reynolles,  William  Symons, 
Bennett  Fawler,  Robert  Chilld,  John  Williams,  Robert  Scarborough, 
William  Phillips,  Burgesses  of  Burford,  Robert  Starre,  Thomas 
Butcher,  WilUam  Stampe,  John  Hunt,  John  Wood,  Robert  Everest, 
Robert  Silvester,  Hugh  Davis,  Thomas  Ward,  Thomas  Hooper,  John 
Heme,  with  the  assent  and  consent  of  the  residue  of  the  parishioners 
of  Burford,  to  William  Butcher  of  Burford.  A  messuage  or  tenement 
lying  in  the  nether  end  of  the  High  Street  on  the  west  side  with  a 
garden  adjoining,  between  the  vicarage  of  Burford  on  the  north  and 
a  bame  of  Edmund  Silvester  on  the  south,  late  in  the  tenure  of  Philip 
Griffith,  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Butcher  the  yoimger.  For 
41  years  at  135.  4d.  a  year. 

Endorsed:  '  The  colledge.' 

The  documents  next  in  sequence  are  the  Foundation  Deeds  of  the 
Grammar  School  of  Burford.  S  20  and  S  21  are  (in  duplicate)  the 
deeds  conveying  certain  properties  from  the  Bailiffs  and  some  of  the 
co-feoffees  of  the  parish  lands  to  feoffees  for  the  purposes  of  a  free 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  323 

school ;  S  22  is  the  deed  by  Simon  Wisdom,  conveying  other  properties, 
not  to  the  same  feoffees,  and  has  attached  to  it  the  constitutions  of 
the  School  written  in  Simon  Wisdom's  own  hand. 

These  documents  have  been  entrusted  by  Mrs.  Cheatle  to  the  keeping 
of  the  authorities  of  the  School,  and  are  thereforfe  not  calendared  here. 

S  23.    1  May,  13  Elizabeth,  157 1. 

Lease  by  the. same  lessors  as  in  S  19,  to  John  Wekens.  House  on 
North  side  of  Witney  Street  with  a  Backside,  garden,  and  a  little 
piece  of  ground  shooting  down  from  the  said  garden  to  the  river-side, 
between  a  bam  of  Alexander  Hedges  on  east  and  a  tenement  called 
the  Oxhouse  occupied  by  Joan  Silvester,  widow,  on  west.  For  41 
years  at  12s,  a  year. 

S24.    20  January,  29  Elizabeth  (1587).  ; 

Conveyance  by  William  Symons,  tanner,  Thomas  Wysdome  of 
Shipton-under-Wychwood,  clothier,  John  Lyme  of  Burford,  shoe- 
maker, William  Partridge,  smith,  John  Hunt,  Raphe  Wysdome, 
mercers,  Symon  Allfiett,  clerk,  and  Edmond  Pittam  of  Stratton 
Audley,  yeoman  ;  to  Richard  Chadwell,  gentleman,  Robert  Silvester, 
Richard  Dalbye,  Symon  Greene,  Symon  Symons,  Symon  Chadwell, 
gentleman,  John  Woode,  John  Roffe,  John  Hannes,  Robert  East, 
John  Griffith,  Symon  Starre,  William  Webbe,  Daniel  Silvester, 
William  Hewes,  and  Edmond  Silvester  the  elder.  Three  tenements 
in  one  range  adjoining  to  the  common  bridge,  occupied  by  William 
Longe,  Lawrence  Holdinge,  and  John  Scriven  ;  one  tenement  in 
High  Street  between  a  tenement  of  Symon  Partridge  on  the  south 
and  a  tenement  belonging  to  the  common  bridge  on  the  north,  occupied 
by  Thomas  Prickevance  ;  two  tenements  in  one  range  in  Witney 
Street  between  Gildenford  Lane  on  east  and  a  tenement  of  Symon 
Allfiett,  clerk,  on  west,  occupied  by  Thomas  Cotton  and  Thomas  Hiett ; 
one  tenement  on  the  hill  in  the  High  Street  between  a  tenement  of 
William  Hewes  on  south  and  a  tenement  belonging  to  the  parish 
church  on  north,  occupied  by  Evans  Floid.  A  lease  of  a  house  to 
Thomas  Wysdom  by  Symon  Wysdome  excepted. 

Witnesses  :  John  Hanns,  Richard  Merywether,  Richard  Allfiett, 
Thomas  Penrise. 

[S  2$  in  the  keeping  of  the  Governors  of  the  Grammar  School.] 

S26.    5  February,  36  Elizabeth  (1594). 

Indenture  between  Edmund  Silvester  of  Burford,  and  Robert 
Maulthus  of  Reading.     Marriage  settlement  upon  the  marriage  of 

Y  2 


324  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

the  said  Edmund  with  Anne  Hopkyns  of  Burford,  widow.  One 
messuage  in  Church  Lane  called  Broadgates  with  garden  and  appur- 
tenances, with  1 6  acres  in  the  West  and  East  fields  of  Burford  and 
Signett  and  one  acre  in  the  common  lot  meadow  called  High  Mead  ; 
one  tenement  with  §;arden  and  appurtenances  on  east  side  of  the 
High  Street  occupied  by  Robert  Hayter,  between  a  tenement  of 
Mr.  Edmund  Harman  on  south  and  a  tenement  of  Richard  (illegible) 
on  north  ;  also  a  tenement  with  backside  on  east  side  of  High  Street 
occupied  by  John  Scarborowe,  shoemaker  ;  also  the  house  called  the 
Comer  Tenement  abutting  upon  Priory  Lane  on  the  south  and  upon 
the  smith's  forge  on  the  east ;  and  two  yard  lands  in  the  West  and  East 
fields  of  Burford  and  Signett. 
Witnesses  :   Roger  Webb,  Humphry  Finmore,  William  Finmore. 

S  27.    3  April,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  Richard  Merywether,  yeoman.  Alderman,  and  Symon 
Symons,  Steward  of  the  Fellowship,  with  the  assent  of  Robert  Serrell 
and  William  Sessions,  Wardens  or  Proctors  of  the  School,  John  Roffe 
and  John  Yate,  Bailiffs,  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkins,  William  Webbe, 
and  Toby  Dallam,  Senior  Burgesses,  to  Richard  Sowthe,  curryer. 
House  in  Witney  Street  between  Thomas  Hiatt  on  east  and  Symon 
AUflett  on  west.  Lease,  for  21  years  at  165.  a  year,  granted  in  con- 
sideration of  a  payment  by  the  tenant  of  65.  Sd.  towards  the  repairing 
of  the  school. 

Witnesses  :  John  Roffe,  John  Yate,  John  Huntt,  Andrew  Ward, 
Raphe  Wisdom,  John  Griffith,  William  Taylor,  Edmond  Serrell. 

[S  28  in  the  keeping  of  the  Governors  of  the  Grammar  School.] 

S  29.    14  February,  41  EHzabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  Richard  Merywether,  Alderman  of  the  town,  and  Symon 
Symons  the  elder.  Steward,  to  Symon  §ymons  the  younger,  one  of 
the  sons  of  Symon  Symons  the  elder.  The  three  chambers  over  the 
Almshouse.  Lease,  for  90  years  at  ^d.  a  year,  granted  in  consideration 
of  a  surrender  of  a  term  of  36  years  unexpired  of  an  existing  lease 
granted  to  Symon  Symons  the  elder.  Common  Seal  of  the  Brother- 
hood to  be  affixed. 

Witnesses  :  John  Roffe,  John  Yate,  William  Webbe,  John  Huntt, 
Andrew  Ward,  Raphe  Wisdom,  John  GriflSth,  Edmund  Serrell. 

[The  above  is  an  Almshouse  document,  placed  in  the  wrong  series.] 

S30.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkins,  John  Roffe,  William  Webbe, 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  325 

John  Huntt,  John  Griffith  alias  Phillippes,  and  Thomas  Parsons^ 
yeomen,  Burgesses,  to  Nicholas  Webbe,  one  of  the  sons  of  WilHam 
Webbe.    One  acre  and  a  swathe  in  High  Mead  late  in  the  tenure  of 
Thomas  Hewis  alias  Calcott.    For  31  years  at  7s.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  John  Collier,  Thomas  Hemyng. 

S  31.    18  May,  i  James  1, 1603, 

Indenture  between  Edmund  Silvester  of  Burford  and  Robert 
Maulthus  of  Reading,  reciting  an  indenture  of  18  January,  43  Elizabeth 
(i6oi),  making  a  settlement  upon  Anne  Hopkyns, '  his  late  wife',  and 
his  daughter  Anne  Silvester.  Messuage  called  Broadgates,  occupied 
by  Thomas  Silvester ;  house  called  the  Comer'  Tenement  abutting 
upon  St.  John's  street ;  one  close  of  an  acre  adjoining  to  Witney 
Street. 

Witnesses :  H.  Heylyn,  William  Hunt,  Richard  Mery wether, 
Robert  Silvester. 

[S  32  to  S  39  in  the  hands  of  the  School  authorities.] 

S40.    2  August,  18  James  I,  1620.     ' 

Lease  by  Symon  Symons,  tanner.  Alderman  of  Burford,  and  William 
Webbe,  yeoman.  Steward,  with  the  assent  of  John  Hunt  and  David 
Hughes  alias  Floyde,  yeomen.  Wardens  of  the  School,  William  Taylor 
and  WiUiam  Bartholomew  the  elder.  Bailiffs,  Thomas  Parsons,  John 
Templer,  and  John  Collier,  senior  Burgesses,  to  Thomas  Parsons  the 
younger,  chandler.  House  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  the 
tenement  of  Thomas  Prickevance  on  north  and  the  tenement  of  Symon 
Partridge  on  south.    For  21  years  at'^3  10^.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Richard  Hanckes^  Thomas  Silvester,  Leonard  Mills, 
Walter  Hayter  senior. 

S  41.    2  August,  18  James  1, 1620. 

Lease  by  the  same  lessors,  with  the  assent  of  the  same  parties,  to 
Paul  Silvester.  A  house  sometime  occupied  by  Andrew  Tayler,  now 
by  Paul  Silvester ;  also  the  house  next  to  it  sometime  occupied  by 
Lawrence  Holding,  now  by  William  Overbury ;  both  being  at  the 
north  end  of  the  town  between  a  tenement  of  Richard  Tayler  on  south 
and  a  tenement  sometime  of  William  Wysdome,  now  of  Paul  Silvester. 
For  21  years  at  £4  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  as  in  S  40. 

[S  42  in  the  hands  of  the  School  authorities.] 

S  43, 44, 45.  Three  indentures  fastened  together,  an  Exemplification 
of  a  Recovery,  and  a  Fine. 


326  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

i.  An  indenture  of  i8  June,  41  Elizabeth,  1599,  reciting  Edmund 
Silvester's  settlement  in  favour  of  his  daughter.  (The  Comer  Tene- 
ment is  now  described  as  abutting  upon  '  a  little  tenement,  of  the 
Queen's  Majesty  '  in  the  place  of  the  forge.) 

ii.  An  indenture  of  16  July,  3  Charles  I,  1627,  between  Christopher 
Gale  of  Burford,  gentleman,  and  Anne  his  wife,  and  Thomas  Silvester 
of  Burford,  clothier,  mutually  agreeing  to  produce  title  deeds  relating 
to  lands  and  properties  conveyed  to  each  other. 

iii.  An  indenture  of  13  August,  21  James  1, 1623,  between  Christo- 
pher Gale,  late  of  the  City  of  London,  gentleman,  and  Anne  his  wife, 
daughter  of  the  late  Edmund  Silvester,  and  John  Chamberlayne  of 
Reading,  gentleman,  and  Christopher  Hall  of  Thorburn  in  the  county 
palatine  of  Durham,  gentleman  ;  being  a  settlement  of  Broadgates 
and  the  two  houses  in  High  Street  specified  in  S26,  and  a  close  of 
arable  or  pasture  in  Witney  Street. 

iv.  Exemplification  of  a  Recovery  between  John  Chamberlain  and 
Christopher  Hall  plaintiffs  and  Christopher  Gale  and  his  wife  defen- 
dants, 21  James  I. 

V.  A  fine  of  43  Elizabeth  between  Robert  Malthus  and  Edmund 
Sylvester,  for  £80  sterling. 

The  whole  endorsed  :  '  A  deed  and  fine  of  the  house  called  Broad- 
gates  in  the  Church  Lane  belonging  to  the  Free  school  of  Burford.' 

S  46.    23  February,  5  Charles  I  (1630). 

Conveyance  by  John  Collier  of  Burford,  innholder,  William  Hunt 
'of  Farrington,  mercer,  William  Bartholomew  the  elder  of  Burford, 
mercer,  Richard  Hancks  of  Burford,  chandler,  Robert  Jordan  of 
Burford,  sadler,  William  Symons  of  Burford,  tanner,  WilHam  Webbe 
of  Widford,  gentleman,  Symon  Parsons  of  Burford,  chandler,  John 
Tayler  of  Burford,  yeoman,  and  Edmond  Serrell  of  Burford,  haber- 
dasher, to  the  trustees  as  in  the  Commission's  decree.  The  School 
Lands  as  specified  in  the  decree. 

Witnesses  :  Richard  Simeon,  William  Kempster,  Thomas  Pricke- 
vance,  Thomas  Ferryman,  Thomas  Martyn,  Walter  Hayter  senior, 
Richard  Hayter. 

S  47.  —  September,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Power  of  attorney  by  John  Collier  and  the  other  parties  making 
the  conveyance  S  46,  to  John  Hunt  of  Burford,  mercer.  To  hand 
over  the  School  Lands  to  the  trustees  appointed  by  the  Royal  Com- 
mission. 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  327 

* 
Witnesses :    Thomas    Prickevance,  Thomas   Ferryman,   Richard 

Symons,  William  Kempster. 

S  48.    18  October,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Lease  to  William  Symons,  tanner.  The  three  chambers  over  the 
Great  Almshouse,  which  Symon  Symons  had  for  90  years  at  4^.  a  year. 

For  59  years,  remainder  of  term,  at  the  same  rent,  in  consideration 
of  costly  repairs  carried  out  on  the  said  rooms.  Also  a  half  acre  and 
a  shurffe  in  High  Mead,  one  acre  arable  in  East  field,  and  one  acre 
in  Upton  field,  being  part  of  the  School  Lands.  For  21  years  at  20^. 
a  year. 

Witnesses :  Thomas  Richards,  John  Cole,  Edmund  Heminge, 
Symon  Brookes,  William  Kempster,  Daniel  Berry. 

[The  above  is' again  an  Almshouse  document,  placed  in  the  wrong  series.] 

S  49.    18  October,  6  Charies  I  (1630). 

Lease  to  Richard  Buckingham,  labourer.  House  on  north  side  of 
Witney  Street  between  the  tenement  of  John  Abraham  on  west  and 
lane  turning  down  to  Gildenford  on  east.  For  21  years  at  265.  Sd. 
a  year. 

S50.    26  June,  1635. 

Indenture  of  delivery  and  seizin  of  the  house  called  Broadgates, 
the  Pickes  or  Picked  Close  over  against  Patrick's  Mill,  and  the  garden 
now  in  possession  of  Christopher  Gale,  of  Burford,  gentleman — all 
which  property  is  conveyed  by  Christopher  Gale  and  Anne  his  wife 
to  William  Bartholomew  and  Richard  Taylor,  Bailiffs,  Thomas 
Silvester,  David  Hughes,  John  Clarke,  and  John  Taylor,  Burgesses. 

Witnesses :  C.  Glyn,  Thomas  Randolph,  Thomas  Bolton,  John 
Bartholomew  and  Thomas  Braggs,  Constables. 

S  51.    10  May,  12  Charles  I  (1636). 

Indenture  of  sale  by  Simon  Veysey  of  Chymney,  Oxon.,  and 
Robert  Veysey,  his  son  and  heir,  to  the  trustees  of  the  charitable 
lands.  House  on  north  side  of  Church  Lane  in  the  tenure  of  William 
Fayreford,  bounded  on  the  east  by  a  tenement  of  Edmond  Castle ; 
two  houses  in  the  occupation  of  Margaret  Francklyn,  widow,  and  George 
Peisley,  a  tenement  of  Thomas  Silvester  on  north  and  a  tenement  of 
Richard  Andrewes  on  south.  The  deed  relates  that  these  houses  were 
bought  for  £52,  part  of  a  sum  of  1,000  ducats  (£260  sterling  given 
as  equivalent  of  this  sum)  left  by  Symon  Reynolds,  merchant,  late 
deceased  overseas,  in  his  will  bearing  date  at  Roham  in  France 
8  December  1626. 


328  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

»• 

Witnesses  :  John  Bartholomew,  William  Hayter,  Edmond  Heming, 
Thomas  Tunckes,  Thomas  Hord,  John  Hobbes,  William  Collier. 

Endorsed  :  The  deed  of  three  houses  purchased  for  the  free  school 

in  Burford  vizt.  the  tenement  on  the  soi;th  side  of  Thomas  Silvester, 

One  tenement  on  the  south  side  of  a  tenement  in  the  tenure  of  Roger 

Daniel  and  one  other  tenement  in  possession  of  Wm.  Fairefield  over 

against  Broadgates  now   in  possession  of  Alice   Yate  widow  and 

Leonard  Yate  her  sonne. 

Belonging  to  this  document  is  another,  unnumbered,  being  a  fine  for 
£i6o  between  the  parties  for  these  premises. 

S  52.    25  March,  12  Charles  1, 1637. 

Lease  to  Nathaniel  Noble  of  Burford,  apothecary.  House  on  north 
side  of  Witney  Street  between  Richard  Buckingham  on  east  and 
Richard  Sindrey  on  west.    For  21  years  at  26s.  Sd.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  William  Peislye,  Thomas  Randolph. 

S53.    18  October,  23  Charles  I,  1647. 

Lease  to  Paul  Silvester  the  younger,  tanner.  Three  houses  near  the 
bridge  late  occupied  by  Paul  Silvester  the  elder  *  together  with  all 
those  erections  or  buildings  lately  had  or  made  by  the  said  Paul 
Silvester  the  elder  '.    For  21  years  at  £4  i6s.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  William  Hannes,  Thomas  Silvester,  William  Bartholo- 
mew, David  Loyd  alias  Hughes,  Paul  Silvester,  John  Clark,  William 
Sumner,  Edmond  Heminge,  David  Berry. 

S  54.    27  November,  1649. 

Lease  to  William  Buckingham.  House  on  north  side  of  Witney 
Street  between  Phillip  Collins  on  west  and  Guildenford  Lane  on  east. 
For  21  years  at  265.  Sd.  a  year. 

S55.    16  September,  1 65 1. 

Lease  to  Matthew  Winfield,  sieveyer.    House  on  west  side  of  High 

Street  between  Richard  Thome  on  south  and  Edmund  Vincent  alias 

Greenhill  on  north,  heretofore  occupied  by  Walter  Veysey,  gentleman. 

For  21  years  at  £3  105.  a  year. 

Note. — The  list  of  trustees  is  headed  by  '  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of 
the  Parliament  of  the  Commonwealth '. 

S  56.    27  December,  1658. 

Lease  to  Richard  Smyth,  blacksmith.  House  called  the  College, 
a  court  belonging  to  the  Vicarage  on  north  and  a  tenement  belonging 
to  Paul  Silvester  on  south.    For  21  years  at  £3  a  year. 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  '        329 

S  57.    18  February,  1658. 

Lease  to  Mary  Yate,  widow.  House  called  Broadgates  on  south 
side  of  Church  Lane,  adjoining  to  tenement  of  John  Wells  on  west ; 
also  the  Picked  Close  belonging  to  Broadgates  lying  between  the 
highways  leading  from  Burford  to  Witney.   For  21  years  at  £10  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Rebekah  Hughes,  C.  Yate,  Symon  Randolph. 

S58.    18  March,  1658. 

Lease  to  Richard  Veysey,  innholder.  Tenement  in  Witney  Street 
heretofore  occupied  by  Thomas  Haynes,  with  a  garden  on  north  side 
of  the  street,  now  occupied  by  Andrew  Smith,  between  Richard  Sindrey 
on  east  and  Henry  Brisco  on  west.    For  21  years  at  £2  135.  4J.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Lawrence  Yate,  John  Jordan  junior,  Robert  Jordan. 

[S  59  is  among  the  papers  in  the  keeping  of  the  School  authorities.] 

S  60.    29  December,  14  Charles  II,  1662. 

Lease  to  Roger  Daniel,  mason.  House  on  east  side  of  High  Street 
between  Margaret  Haynes,  widow,  on  north  and  Richard  Andrewes 
on  south. '  For  21  years  at  34^.  a  year. 

S  61. 25  Charles  II,  1673. 

Lease  to  William  Buckingham.  House  on  north  side  of  Witney 
Street  between  Gildenford  Lane  on  east  and  Phillip  Collins  on  west. 
For  21  years  at  26s.  Sd.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   William  Winchester,  Symon  Randolph. 

S  62.    25  January,  29  Charles  II  (1678). 

Lease  to  Richard  Smith,  blacksmith.  House  on  west  side  of  High 
Street  called  the  College,  between  a  court  belonging  to  the  Vicarage 
on  north,  and  a  house  belonging  to  Paul  Silvester  on  south.  For 
21  years  at  £3  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph. 

S  63.    16  April,  30  Charles  II,  1678. 

Lease  to  Jacob  Dix,  fuller.  House  on  north  side  of  Witney  Street 
between  WilUam  Buckingham  on  east  and  Richard  Hulls  and  others 
on  west.    For  A  years  at  £2  a  year. 

Witnesses :  Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph. 

S  64.    25  March,  36  Charles  II  (1684). 

Lease  to  Symon  Partridge,  clothier.  House  on  north  side  of  Sheep 
Street  late  occupied  by  David  Berry  between  the  garden  of  John 
Winsmore  on  east  and  the  tenement  of  George  Firbett  on  west.  For 
21  years  at  £1  15^.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  the  same. 


330  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

S  66.   8  July,  3  James  II,  1687. 

Lease  to  Andrew  Lifollie, 'rooper '.  House  on  north  side  of  Witney 
Street  between  Robert  Newman  and  others  on  east  and  Richard 
Wiett  and  others  on  west.    For  21  years  at  £2  13^.  ^d.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  and  John  Randolph. 

[No  document  was  numbered  S  66  on  the  schedule.  S  67  is  in  the  keeping 
of  the  Governors  of  the  Grammar  School.] 

S  68.    8  July,  3  James  II,  1687. 

Lease  to  Richard  Winfield, '  si veyer  '.  House  on  west  side  of  High 
Street  between  Margaret  Greenhill  on  north  and  Edward  Keble  on 
south.    For  21  years  at  £4  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Alice  Smith,  Thomas  Randolph. 

•   S  69.    8  July,  3  James  II,  1687. 

Lease  to  Humphrey  Greene,  collarmaker.  House  on  east  side  of 
High  Street  between  William  Dalby  and  others  on  north  and  John 
Mills  on  south..  For  21  years  at  £1  10s.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  and  John  Randolph. 

S  70.    28  May,  2  William  and  Mary,  1690. 

Lease  to  Joanna  Whiter,  widow.  House  on  north  side  of  Church 
Lane  late  occupied  by  Anne  Blackman  deceased,  between  Thomas 
Daniel  on  east  and  the  Almshouse  on  west.  For  21  years  at  13^.  4d. 
a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Richard  Mathewes,  Mary  Ellis. 

S  71.    26  April,  9  William  III,  1697. 

Lease  to  Jacob  Dikes,  fuller.  Two  tenements  on  north  side  of  Witney 
Street  between  Charles  Hague  on  west  and  a  tenement  occupied  by 
Joseph  Dikes,  late  by  Mary  Buckingham,  on  east, '  towards  the  lane 
turning  down  towards  Guildenford  '.    For  21  years  at  £3  105.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Richard  and  Anne  Mathewes. 

572.  3May,  II  Wilhamlll,  1699.  * 

Lease  to  Edward  Townsend,  maltster.  House  on  west  side  of  High 
Street  between  Thomas  Newbury  on  north  and  Richard  Winfield 
on  south.    For  21  years  at  £2  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Anne  Baylis,  John  Jordan. 

573.  18  November,  2  Anne,  1703. 

Lease  to  Drew  Whiter,  tailor,  and  Walwin  Packer,  carpenter. 
House  called  Broadgates,  late  occupied  by  Thomas  Ashworth,  gentle- 
man, with  the  Picked  Close  on  south  side  of  the  highway  to  Witney, 


THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  331 

adjoining  a  close  called  Kingshead  close  to  the  west.    For  21  years 
at  £10  a  year. 
Witnesses  :   John  Jordan,  Ambros  Aston. 

S74.    28  February,  1704. 
•    Lease  to  Jonathan  Osman,  mason.    House  on  west  side  of  High 
Street  late  occupied  by  Richard  Winfield  between  Edmund  Townsend 
on  north  and  Edward  Keeble  on  south.    For  21  years  at  £4  105. 
a  year. 

S  75.    See  Poole's  Lands. 

S76.    2  March,  8  Anne,  1709.  ' 

Lease  to  Drew  Whiter,  tailor.    House  on  north  side  of  Church  Lane 

between  Thomas  Daniel  on  east  and  the  Almshouse  on  west.    For 

21  years  at  £1  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  Thomas  Baxter,  Humphrey  Gillett. 

S  77.    25  November,  13  Anne,  1713. 

Lease  to  Thomas  Green,  collarmaker.  House  on  east  side  of  High 
Street  between  Walter  Sessions  on  north  and  Thomas  Boulter  on  south. 
For  21  years  at  305.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Walter  Sessions,  Joseph  Payton. 

578.  28  April,  13  Anne,  1 7 14. 

Lease  to  Edmund  Townsend,  labourer.  House  on  west  side  of 
High  Street  between  Thomas  Newberry  on  north  and  Jonathan 
Osmond  on  south.    For  21  years  at  40^.  a  year. 

Witness  :   Sarah  Bay  ley.  • 

579.  29  September,  1715. 

Lease  to  John  Boyce,  slatter.  House  on  north  side  of  Witney 
Street,  late  occupied  by  Andrew  Lifoly,  between  Richard  Wallington 
on  west  and  Richard  Palmer  and  George  Sparrow  on  east.  For  21  years 
at  405.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  George  Hart,  William  Castoll. 

S  80.    26  March,  1716. 

Lease  to  Richard  Smith,  blacksmith.  House  called  the  College, 
between  the  Vicarage  on  the  north  and  Richard  Monke  junior  on  south. 
For  21  years  at  505.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  the  same. 

S  81.    26  September,  4  George  I,  1717. 

Lease  to  Paul  Silvester,  tanner.  Three  houses  in  his  occupa- 
tion with  the  new  buildings  erected  by  his  father ;  and  2  acres  of 


332       CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

meadow  ground  and  a  swath  in  High  Mead.    For  21  years  at  £8  45. 
a  year. 
Witnesses  :  R.  Griffiths,  Edward  Brown. 

S  82.    3  March,  11  George  1, 1725. 

Lease  to  Joseph  Dicks,  fuller.  Two  tenements  on  north  side  of 
Witney  Street  now  occupied  by  Henry  Baylis  and  Widow  Hague, 
between  Widow  Grimes  on  west  and  Widow  Hague,  formerly  Mary 
Buckingham  on  east,  towards  a  lane  turning  down  toward  Guilding 
ford.    For  21  years  at  £4  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Aston,  Daniel  Dicks. 

S83.    12  April,  13  George  1, 1727. 

Lease  to  Robert  Osman,  mason.  House  on  west  side  of  High  Street 
late  of  Jonathan  Osman,  between  Widow  Townsend  on  north  and 
John  Keeble  on  south.    For  21  years  at  £4  15^.  a  year. 

Witnesses :    Matthew  Underwood,  Humphrey  Gillett. 

S84f.    I  June,  4  George  II,  1 731. 

Lease  to  Mary  Townsend,  spinster.  House  on  west  side  of  High 
Street  between  Martin  Turner  on  north  and  Robert  Osman  on  south. 
For  21  years  at  £2  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  George  Underwood,  Henry  Walker. 

[S  85  in  the  keeping  of  the  School  authorities.] 

S86.    2  December,  9  George  II,  1735. 

Lease  to  Thomas  Boyce,  slatter.  House  on  north  side  of  Witney 
Street  between  Joseph  Midwinter  on  west  and  George  Ward  and  others 
on  east.    For  21  years  at  £2  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  John  Hall,  William  Jordan. 

S  87.    18  January,  10  George  II,  1737. 

Lease  to  Malachi  Gladwin,  blacksmith.  House  on  west  side  of  High 
Street  called  the  College,  between  the  Vicarage  on  north  and  James 
Monk  on  south.    For  21  years  at  £3  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   John  Patten,  William  Jordan. 

No  number.    10  October,  i  George  II,  1727. 

Lease  to  John  Fox,  shoemaker.  House  late  of  Widow  Cosins  oh 
east  side  of  High  Street,  between  Nicholas  Willett  on  south  and  Honour 
Legg,  widow,  on  north.    For  21  years  at  £3  10s.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Keeble,  Humphrey  Gillett. 


333 

POOLE'S  LANDS 
Cheatle  Collection,  Bundles  E£  and  FF 

P 1.    Feast  of  Holy  Trinity,  3  Henry  IV  (1402). 

Conveyance  by  John  Fawlour,  Peter  Webb,  and  Matilda  formerly 
wife  of  John  Cakebred,  to  Thomas  Spycer  of  Burford.  One  messuage 
in  Witney  Street  on  south  side  between  tenement  formerly  of  William 
Purser  East  and  tenement  of  William  Brampton  West  .  .  .  which  we 
had  by  gift  and  legacy  of  John  Cakebred. 

Witnesses :  Henry  Coteler,  John  Stowe,  Robert  Cok,  Thomas 
Wynryssh,  John  Cook. 

P2.    17  Jan.,  5  Henry  IV  (1404). 

Conveyance  by  William  Brampton  of  Oxford,  to  Nicholas  Chaloner, 
chaplain.  Messuage  in  High  Street  on  west  side  between  tenement 
of  Henry  Cotiler  on  one  side  and  tenement  of  the  said  William  Bramp- 
ton on  the  other  .  .  .  which  messuage  is  twenty  feet  long  and  twenty- 
three  feet  deep. 

Witnesses :  Thomas  Spycer,  Henry  Cotiler,  Thomas  Wynrysh, 
John  Stowe,  Robert  Cok. 

P8.    22  Jan.,  5  Henry  V  (1418). 

Conveyance  by  Nicholas  Chaloner,  chaplain,  to  William  Brampton- 
and  Margaret  his  wife.  Messuage  in  High  Street  on  west  side  between 
tenement  of  Henry  Cotiler  on  one  side  and  tenement  of  the  said 
William  Brampton  on  the  other  .  .  .  which  I  lately  had  by  feoffment 
of  William  Brampton. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Spycer,  Henry  Cotiler,  John  Stowe,  Thomas 
Wynrysh,  John  Milton. 

P  4.    Sunday  next  before  the  Feast  of  St.  Lucy  Virgin,  7  Henry  IV 

(1405). 

Conveyance  by  John  Cook  and  Christina  his  wife,  to  Thomas  Alys 
and  Matilda  his  wife.  A  certain  shop  in  the  High  Street  on  west  side 
between  tenement  of  William  Brampton  on  one  side  and  tenement  of 
the  said  Thomas  on  the  other  side  . . .  the  shop  being  in  length  from  the 
High  Street  to  the  lower  part  17  J  feet,  in  breadth  7  feet,  and  in  height 
7  feet. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Spycer,  Henry  Cotiler,  John  Stowe,  Thomas 
Wynrysh,  John  Iremonger,  Robert  Cok,  John  Milton. 

Endorsed  :   Grant  of  Sadler's  House. 

[For  P  5  and  P  7  see  the  end  of  this  series.] 


334  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

P6.    Fine,  6  Henry  (IV). 

Sale  by  William  Brampton  of  Oxford,  mercer,  and  Margaret  his 
wife,  to  Thomas  Alys  of  Burford  and  Matilda  his  wife.  The  sixth 
part  of  a  messuage  with  appurtenances  in  Burford.  Ten  marks  of 
silver. 

P8.    7  Sept.,  7  Henry  V  (1419). 

Conveyance  by  John  Blocklee  of  Abyndon,  Berks,  to  Simon  Mosyer 
of  Burford.  Two  acres  of  arable  land  in  the  East  Field  of  Burford 
of  which  one  acre  lies  in  Comefast  furlong  between  the  land  formerly 
of  Henry  le  Tayllour  on  one  side  and  the  land  of  John  Longe  of  Seynet 
on  the  other  side  and  the  other  lies  in  Coppdeslade  furlong  next  the 
land  formerly  of  Richard  Mylton  clerk  on  one  side  and  the  land 
formerly  of  John  Dyte  of  Seynet  on  the  other  side. 

Witnesses  :    Thomas  Spycer,  Henry  Cotelere,  William  Cotelere, 
John  Punter,  Thomas  Alys,  Edmund  Dyere,  Richard  Lanyngton. 
•  Endorsed :    A  feoffment  of  two  acres  of  land  in  Burford  Feilds. 
(Added  in  later  hand)  Called  the  Church  lands. 

P9.    3  July,  7  Henry  VII  (1492). 

Indenture  of  sale  by  John  Hill  alias  Priour  of  Burford,  son  of 

William  Hill,  wever,  to  Thomas  Pole,  Cittizen  and  Taillour  of  London. 

All  that  his  close  or  piece  of  land  and  pasture  called  Culverhey  with 

a  Culverhouse  as  it  is  enclosed  with  wall  and  hedge  lying  in  Ship 

Street  between  the  tenement  and  ground  belonging  to  the  bretherede 

of  the  chapell  of  our  lady  there  on  the  east  part  and  the  land  of  the 

Abbot  and  convent  of  Keynsham  on  the  west  part  and  the  lands 

late  of  therle  of  Warwick  on  the  south  part  and  it  abbuteth  upon 

Ship  Street  on  the  north  part. 

Sold  for  £i-j.  John  Hill  is  indebted,  according  to  the  indenture,  to 
Thomas  Pole  under  the  Statutes  of  the  Staple  for  £10,  which  debt  was 
to  be  void  if  John  Hill  carried  out  this  sale. 

P 10.    14  Nov.,  8  Henry  VII  (1492). 

Indenture  of  sale  by  John  Hille  alias  John  Priour,  to  Thomas  Pole, 
Citizen  and  Tailor  of  London.  His  whole  Burgage  or  tenement,  with 
a  garden  lying  to,  in  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement  lately  of  John 
Pynnok  belonging  to  the  parish  church  of  St.  John  Baptist  on  west 
and  another  tenement  of  the  same  John  Pynnok  now  belonging  to 
the  said  church  on  the  east  and  the  street  on  the  north  and  a  curtilage 
belonging  to  John  Bishop  on  the  south.  Also  18  acres  of  arable  land 
belonging  to  the  said  burgage  lying  in  sundry  parcels  in  the  fields  of 
Burford  ...  all  which  late  belonged  to  Richard  Mosyer. 


POOLE'S  LANDS  335 

For  which  Thomas  Pole  was  to  pay  to  and  for  John  Hill  iio  sterling — 
£S  to  Rauf  Tilney  citizen  and  alderman  at  the  Feast  of  Pentecost  next 
coming,  for  which  Thomas  is  to  become  surety  to  Rauf,  and  the  other 
1$  to  John  Hill  at  Pentecost.  But  if  John  Hill  acquitted  the  ^5  to  Rauf 
Tilney  at  Pentecost  this  deed  was  to  be  void. 

(Attached  to  this  indenture) : 

Fine  (two  copies),  8  Henry  VIL 

Sale  by  John  Hill  and  Margaret  his  wife,  to  Thomas  Pole  and 
Petroniila  his  wife,  A  dovehouse,  a  garden,  and  three  acres  of  pasture 
with  appurtenances  in  Burford  on  the  Wold.    £20  sterHng. 

P 11.    16  July,  9  Henry  VII  (1494). 

Conveyance  by  John  Hill  alias  John  Pryour  of  Burford,  to  Thomas 
Pole,  citizen  and  tailor  of  London,  Petroniila  his  wife,  John  Gardyner, 
William  Huntyngfeld  (all  of  London),  and  Richard  Brame  of  Burford, 
yeoman.  A  cottage  in  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement  lately  of 
Robert  Stowe  now  of  John  Bysshop  on  east  and  north  and  a  tenement 
lately  (PAnnselrye)  now  of  Thomas  Maior  on  west  and  Witney 
Street  on  south. 

Witnesses  :  John  Tanner,  Bailiff  of  Burford,  William  Brame  and 
Robert  James  of  Burford. 

Endorsed  :  Polys  lands.    Andrew  Yates  house  in  Witney  Street. 

P 12.    8  Sept.,  10  Henry  VII  (1494). 

Release  by  John  Hill  alias  Pryour,  to  Thomas  Pole  and  others 
(as  in  P  11)  of  the  cottage  in  Witney  Street  (P  11). 

P13.    13  April,  10  Henry  VII  (1495). 

Conveyance  by  John  Hill  alias  John  Prior  of  Burford,  yeoman,  to 
Thomas  Pole,  citizen  and  tailor  of  London,  Petroniila  his  wife,  John 
Percyvall  knight,  John  Gardyner,  citizen  of  London,  Richard  Braham, 
Robert  Leveryche,  and  Thomas  Hubawde.  A  house  in  the  High  Street 
formerly  of  Richard  Mosyer  bounded  by  the  street  on  the  east,  a  house 
lately  of  William  Brampton  on  west  and  north,  and  a  tenement  of 
John  Pynnok  on  the  south. 

Endorsed  :  A  feoffment  of  sadler's  house. 

P 14.    3  June,  10  Henry  VII  (1495). 

Release  by  John  Kene  of  Kenkeham  (county  left  blank),  Thomas 
Kene  his  son  and  heir,  John  Hille  alias  Pr>'or  of  Burford,  yeoman,  to 
Thomas  Pole  and  the  rest  (as  in  P.  13).  The  same  house  in  High 
Street '  with  a  shop  cellars  solars  and  all  appurtenances  '. 

Endorsed  :  A  release  of  Polys  land.    Sadler's  house. 


336  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

P 15.  Extract  from  the  registry  of  the  Prerogative  Court  of  Canter- 
bury. 

In  the  testament  or  last  will  of  Thomas  Poole,  late  citizen  and  tailor 
of  London,  deceased,  bearing  date  the  4th  day  of  April  1500. 

Item  as  to  the  disposition  of  all  my  lands  and  tenements  as  well  in 
Burford  aforesaid  as  in  Fulbroke  I  will  that  the  said  Petronilla  my  wife 
shall  have  the  same  for  time  of  her  life  and  after  her  decease  I  will 
the  same  lands  and  tenements  in  Burford  shall  be  put  in  feoffment 
to  such  persons  as  shall  then  be  of  the  most  worshipful  and  honest 
parishioners  Burgesses  of  the  abovesaid  Fraternity  or  Gyld  in  Burford 
to  have  and  to  hold  to  them  their  heirs  and  assigns  for  evermore  to 
the  use  and  intent  that  of  the  issues  and  profits  of  the  same  the  poor 
people  in  the  Almshouse  shall  have  sixpence  weekly  to  their  refreshing 
to  pray  for  my  soul  and  my  wife's  soul  and  the  residue  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  priest  of  the  said  Fraternity  and  other  such  things  as 
shall  be  to  the  good  continuance  of  the  same  Fraternity. 

P 16.    4  June,  19  Henry  VII  (1504). 

Conveyance  by  John  Gardyner  and  Thomas  Preyers  of  London, 
to  Thomas  Stanton  and  Thomas  Jenyver  of  Burford,  burgesses.  Two 
messuages  and  a  close  called  the  Colvirhey  and  a  bam  called  the  Wool- 
house  situate  and  lying  in  Burford  aforesaid  which  formerly  were  the 
property  of  Thomas  Pole  citizen  of  London, '  and  came  to  us  John 
Gardyner  and  Thomas  Preyers,  executors  of  the  will  of  the  said 
Thomas  Pole  .  .  .  ' 

{In  English)  Thintent  of  this  feoffment  is  that  the  seid  feoflfees  and 
their  heyres  schal  yerely  for  evyr  fulfyll  a  certen  wylle  declared  jti 
the  testament  of  the  beforenamyd  Thomas  Pole  concemyng  the  seid 
ii  messuages  close  and  woUehouse  with  theyr  appurtenances  the  which 
be  recityd  and  reported  in  a  certen  transumpt  copye  or  exemplification 
of  the  seid.wille  in  the  custodye  and  kepyng  of  John  Bisshope  and 
William  Fludeyate  Burgesses  of  Burford  aforesaid.  • 

Endorsed  :  A  feoffment  of  Poole's  lands  with  the  uses  thereof 
sett  downe  in  the  deed  in  Englisshe.  Also  in  a  later  hand — The 
first  infeoffment  of  Poole's  land  by  his  overseers  to  Tho.  Stanton 
and  Tho.  Jenyver. 

P 17.    27  May,  5  Henry  VIII  (1513). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Stanton  of  Burford,  burgess,  to  Peter 
Eynesdale,  WilUam  Burrell,  Thomas  Hodges,  Robert  Rile,  and  John 
Harris.  Two  messuages,  one  close  with  dovecote,  one  cottage  called 
the  Woolhouse  with  twenty  acres  of  arable  land  in  the  fields  of  Burford, 


POOLE'S  LANDS  337 

and  one  close  in  Fulbrok  called  Houndmylles  with  its  appurtenances 
...  *  which  messuages  close  with  dovecot  and  cottage  with  twenty 
acres  and  cottage  with  appurtenances  in  Fulbrook  I  lately  held  to 
myself  the  aforesaid  Thomas  together  with  Thomas  Jenyver  now 
defunct  by  gift  and  feoffment  of  John  Gardyner  gentleman  and 
Thomas  Preyers  of  London  goldsmith  executors  of  the  will  of  Thomas 
Pole  of  London  aforesaid  Tailour '. 

Witnesses :  Robert  Osmond,  Thomas  Pjmnok,  Robert  Payne, 
John  Hille,  Thomas  Boterell,  Robert  Bagote. 

Endorsed  :  ii  messuages  and  i  close  the  dowehouse  the  woUehouse 
20  acres  of  land  and  i  close  in  Fulbrooke.  Also  in  later  hand  :  The 
2nd  enfeoffment  of  Poole's  land  from  Thomas  Stanton  to  Peter 
Senesdale,  etc. 

P18.    27  October,  21  Henry  VIII  (1529). 

Conveyance  by  Peter  Eynesdale  of  Burford,  Burgess  and  Alderman, 
to  Robert  Jonson,  Thomas  Tomson,  William  Hughes  alias  Calcott, 
and  John  Hayter,  Burgesses.  Two  messuages,  a  close  with  a  dovecote, 
a  cottage  called  the  Woolhouse  and  twenty  acres  of  arable  land  in 
the  fields  of  Burford. 

Ad  usus  et  intentiones  in  anglicis  verbis  subscriptos  videlicet 
That  they  the  abovenamed  feoffees  shall  permytt  and  suffer  all  and 
every  suche  officer  or  officers  being  admitted  nomynated  and  appointed 
from  tyme  to  tyme  by  the  Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses  of  the 
Bouroughe  of  Burford  aforesaid  pcrpetuallye  to  receave  and  take 
all  and  singuler  the  yssues  rentes  revenues  and  profitts  comynge 
renewynge  and  growinge  of  all  the  forsaid  lands  tenementes  and 
hereditaments  and  their  appurtenances  at  any  suche  daye  and  tyme 
which  are  or  hereafter  shall  be  appointed  lymyted  and  assigned  for 
the  payments  of  the  same  or  of  any  parte  thereof  quyetely  without 
contradiction  or  gaynesayinge  of  the  said  feoffees  or  of  any  of  them 
or  their  heires  or  of  any  other  person  or  persons  by  their  commandy- 
ment  or  assent  And  that  the  said  officer  or  officers  and  their  successors 
shall  from  tyme  to  tyme  and  at  all  tymes  forever  hereafter  diligentlye 
see  that  the  said  lands  tenements  and  hereditaments  aforesaid  be  well 
and  sufficientlye  mayntayned  and  kepte  in  good  reparacione  And 
whatsoever  shall  yerely  remayne  of  the  said  rentes  yssues  revenewes 
and  proffitts  of  the  said  lands  and  tenements  over  and  above  the  said 
reparaciones  shall  yerely  and  forever  be  employd  and  bestowed  by  the 
said  officer  or  officers  as  followithe  That  is  to  say  Everye  Sundaye 
in  the  yere  they  shall  geve  and  distribute  in  almes  to  the  twelve  poore 

3304  z 


338  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

people  inhabitinge  in  the  almes  houses  nowe  beyng  edifyed  in  Burford 
aforesaid  sixe  pense  of  lawful!  moneye  of  England  and  what  so  ever 
shall  yerely  remayne  of  the  said  rentes  Yssues  revenewes  and  proffitts 
of  the  said  lands  and  tenements  over  and  above  the  said  reparacions 
and  almes  as  before  is  said  shall  yerely  from  yere  to  yere  and  tyme 
to  tyme  for  evermore  be  reserved  and  kepte  for  ever  towarde  the 
payments  and  chargis  which  shall  happen  to  growe  and  come  at  any 
tyme  or  tymes  for  the  renewynge  and  confyrmacion  of  the  charters 
gevyn  and  graunted  for  the  liberties  of  this  towne  and  Bouroughe  of 
Burford  aforesaid  Or  otherwise  as  theye  the  forsaid  Alderman 
Steward  and  Burgesses  for  the  tyme  beinge  and  their  successors  or 
the  more  parte  of  them  shall  by  their  discressions  thynke  moste 
necessarye  expedient  and  proffitable  for  the  comon  wealthe  of  the 
same  towne. 

(Clause  providing  for  presentation  of  yearly  accounts  by  the  officers 
to  the  Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses.) 
(Clause  providing  for  new  enfeoffment  at  demand  of  the  same.) 
Witnesses  :    John  Sharpe,  David  Taylor,  Bailiffs,  Thomas  Allflett, 
John   Wykyns,   Thomas    Crouchman,    Robert    Eynesdale,   William 
Roberts,  John  Jones,  Burgesses. 

P19.    27  October,  22  Elizabeth  (1580). 

Conveyance  by  William  Hughes  alias  Calcott,  Burgess,  to  Simon 
Wisdom,  Edmund  Silvester  the  elder,  John  Hannes,  Thomas  Farrs, 
Richard  Dal  by,  and  Walter  Molyner,  Burgesses.  One  Messuage  in 
High  Street  between  the  George  on  the  north,  the  tenement  of  Robert 
Brewton  chandler  on  the  south  and  the  highway  on  the  east,  occupied 
by  Richard  Chancelere  yeoman.  One  messuage  in  Witney  Street 
in  the  tenure  of  Simon  Wisdom  between  land  belonging  to  the  parish 
church  on  the  west  and  a  tenement  late  of  Richard  Hodges  on.  the 
east  and  abutting  on  the  highway  on  the  north.  One  messuage  in 
same  street  between  a  tenement  of  Benedict  Fawler  yeoman  on  the 
west  and  a  bam  lately  of  William  Hodges  baker  on  the  east  now 
deceased,  occupied  by  John  Wyckyns  husbandman.  Also  a  small 
bam  called  the  Woolhouse  in  Witney  Street,  and  a  close  called  the 
Culverclose  in  Sheep  Street,  now  in  the  tenure  of  Simon  Wisdom. 
Twenty  acres  in  the  fields  of  Burford,  Upton,  and  Signett  occupied 
by  Richard  Chancelere,  yeoman,  *  which  I  had  by  feoffment  from 
Peter  Eynisdale  by  deed  bearing  date  27  October  21  Henry  VIII '. 

Ad  usus  et  intentiones  in  Anglicis  verbis  subscriptos  videlicet 
(as  in  P  18). 


POOLE'S  LANDS  339 

Witnesses :  Richard  Chancelere,  John  Smithyar,  John  Lloyd  alias 
Hughes,  Burgesses,  John  Geast,  John  Dallam,  Edmund  Silvester 
junior,  Benedict  Faller,  William  Grene,  Griffith  Jonnes,  William 
Partridge,  John  Lyme,  John  Smithyar  junior,  Henry  Perrott. 

P20.    Michaelmas,  1580. 

Lease  by  John  Hannes  the  elder,  Richard  Dalbie  and  Walter 
Mollyner,  feoffees  of  Poole's  lands,  Symon  Wisdom,  Alderman,  John 
Hannes,  Steward,  Thomas  Fettiplace,  Richard  Reynolds,  Richard 
Chadwell,  William  Symons,  Robert  Silvester,  William  Partridge, 
John  Lyme,  Thomas  Hewis,  John  Williams,  Robert  Scarborow,  William 
Phillipps,  and  Benedict  Fawler,  with  all  the  other  burgesses,  to  Raphe 
Wisdom.  The  Culverhouse,  with  dovehouse  and  stable  upon  it, 
'  between  a  tenement  late  appertaining  to  the  chauntree  of  our  Ladie 
in  Burford  now  dissolved  on  the  East  and  the  parsonage  ground  on 
the  West  and  the  cohimon  field  there  on  the  South  and  the  highway 
on  the  North  '.  Also  a  tenement  in  Witney  Street  called  Poole's 
house  between  a  tenement  of  Richard  Hodges  on  the  east  and  the 
backside  of  the  tenement  of  Richard  Dalbie  the  younger  on  the  west. 
Also  one  little  bame  over  against  this  house  between  the  backgate 
of  William  Stampe  on  the  east  and  the  tenement  of  John  Wyckins 
on  the  west.  All  now  in  the  occupation  of  Symon  Wisdom.  Fine 
of  £10.    Lease  for  31  years  at  305.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :    Symon  Greene,  Robert  Stowe,  Bartholomew  Tanner, 

Johji  Pay  ton. 

[P21  is  missing.  As  entered  on  the  schedule  it  was  the  conveyance 
by  Tipper  and  Dawe  to  Merywether  and  Dallam  of  the  repurchased 
Charity  Lands.] 

P22.    26  December,  41  Elizabeth  (1598). 

Conveyance  by  Richard  Merywether,  Alderman,  and  Toby  Dallam, 
Burgess,  to  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkins,  John  Roffe,  William  Webbe, 
John  Huntt,  John  Gryffith  alias  Phillippes,  and  Thomas  Parsons, 
yeomen.  Burgesses. 

In  discharge  of  the  trust  and  confidence  reposed  in  them  by  their 
brethren  the  bailiffs  and  burgesses. 

(i)  Garden  strip  next  to  the  river  called  Gyldenfforde  occupied 
by  William  Hewes  aUas  Calcott. 

(ii)  18  ^cres  in  the  arable  fields  occupied  by  William  Taylor, 
chandler. 

(iii)  2  acres  of  meadow  in  High  Mead  late  occupied  by  William 
Partridge  and  William  Hewes  alias  Calcott. 

Z2 


•340  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

(iv)  I  acre  of  meadow  in  the  common  lott  mead  occupieci  by  Alice 
Reynolds,  widow. 

(v)  Messuage  on  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the  messuage 
of  Robert  Elston,  gent.,  on  the  north  and  the  messuage  of  Sir  Anthony 
Cope  on  the  south,  occupied  by  Thomas  Hemynge,  barber  surgeon. 

(vi)  Messuage  with  shop  on  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between 
the  tenement  of  William  Geast  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  belonging 
to  the  Free  School  on  the  south,  occupied  by  John  Smart,  smith,  and 
Gryffin  Lewes,  cutler. 

(vii)  Messuage  on  west  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the  George 
Inn  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of  the  heirs  of  Agnes  Brewton  on 
the  south,  occupied  by  John  Scarborough,  shoemaker. 

(viii)  Messuage  on  west  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the  tenement 
of  the  heirs  of  Agnes  Brewton  on  the  north  and  the  highway  leading 
into  Sheep  Street  on  the  south,  occupied  by  Alice  Reynolds,  widow. 

(ix)  Messuage  in  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement  of  Sir  Anthony 
Cope  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  Rychard  Hodges  on  the  west, 
occupied  by  George  Fowler, '  cowper '. 

(x)  Messuage  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement 
and  bam  of  Symon  Partridge  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  the  Queen's 
Majesty  on  the  west,  sometiftie  occupied  by  John  Wyckyns,  now  by 
Owen  Thomas,  clerk. 

(xi)  Bam  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement 
and  bam  of  Symon  Partridge  on  the  west -and  the  backgate  of  the 
tenement  of  William  Geast  on  the  east,  occupied  by  George  Fowler. 

(xii)  Messuage  and  garden  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street 
between  a  tenement  of  Richard  Hodges  on  the  north  and  a  tenement 
of  Edward  Reynolds  on  the  south,  sometime  occupied  by  Richard 
Dalby,  now  by  Andrew  Ward. 

(xiii)  Messuage  on  the  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  between  a  garden 
ground  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  Richard  Chadwell,  gent.,  on 
the  west,  sometime  occupied  by  John  West  deceased,  now  by  Robert 
Serrell. 

(xiv)  Little  close  of  a  third  part  of  an  acre  on  the  south  side  of 
Witney  Street,  occupied  by  Alice  Reynolds,  widow. 

(xv)  The  Culverclose  with  houses,  on  the  south  side  of  Sheep  Street 
between  a  tenement  of  the  Queen's  Majesty  on  the  east  and  a  pasture 
called  the  Leynes  on  the  west,  sometime  occupied  by  Raphe  Wisdom, 
now  by  Toby  Dallam. 

(xvi)  Capital  messuage  with  garden  on  Church  Green  between  the 


POOLE'S  LANDS  341 

Almshouse  on  the  north  and  a  little  close  or  garden  strip  and  Gilden- 
ford  Lane  on  the  south,  late  occupied  by  William  Symons,  now  by 
Symon  Symons,  tanner.  The  deed  recites  that  all  these  properties 
were  bought  by  Merywether  and  Dallam  from  William  Typper  and 
Robert  Dawe  of  London  by  indenture  dated  lo  December  38  Elizabeth, 
enrolled  in  Chancery,  Typper  and  Dawe  having  bought  them  of  the 
Queen  by  Letters  Patent  dated  25  February  32  EHzabeth. 
The  intents  of  the  present  conveyance  are  specified  as  follows  : 

(A)  The  rents  of  numbers  ii,  iv,  v,  viii,  xii,  xiii,  xiv  are  to  be 
collected  with  the  consent  of  the  churchwardens  and  expended  for 
the  upkeep  of  the  church  and  the  bells. 

(B)  The  rents  of  numbers  iii  and  x  are  to  be  expended  with  the 
consent  of  the  wardens  of  the  school  for  the  purposes  of  the  school. 

(C)  The  rent  of  number  vi  is  to  be  expended  on  the  repair  of  the 
bridge. 

(D)  The  rents  of  numbers  i  and  xvi  are  to  be  expended  with  the 
consent  of  the  Alderman,  Steward,  and  Burgesses  for  the  poor  people 
in  the  Almshouse. 

(E)  The  rents  of  numbers  vii,  ix,  xi,  xv  are  to  be  expended  with  the 
consent  of  the  Bailiffs,  Alderman,  Steward,  and  Burgesses  for  the 
payment  of  6d.  a  week  to  Ihe  poor  people  in  the  Almshouse,  according 
to  the  bequest  of  Thomas  Poole,  and  as  regards  the  remainder  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Fellowship  of  the  Burgesses. 

Witnesses :  John  Yate,  Bailiff,  Thomas  Fowler  and  Thomas 
Silvester,  Constables,  Raphe  Wisdom,  William  Taylor,  John  Collyer, 
Andrewe  Ward,  Edmond  Serrell,  William  Sessions,  Burgesses  ;  John 
Ward,  Thomas  Levett,  William  Huntt,  Henry  Hayter,  Walter  Hayter, 
Thomas  Hardinge,  William  Wysdom,  John  Taylor,  John  Clarke, 
Thomas  Hemynge  ;  Symon  Symons,  Steward. 

Note. — The  properties  axe  not  numbered  in  the  original ;  I  have  numbered 
them  for  convenience  and  clearness,  and  for  purposes  of  comparison  with 
later  deeds  concerning  the  transaction. 

P23.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth,  1599. 

Conveyance  by  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkyns,  John  Roffe,  William 
Webbe,  John  Huntt,  John  Gryffyth  alias  Phillipps,  and  Thomas 
Parsons,  yeomen.  Burgesses,  to  Richard  Meryweather,  yeoman, 
Alderman  of  Burford.  Messuage  with  appurtenances  on  west  side  of 
the  High  Street  between  the  George  on  the  north  and  a  tenement 
belonging  to  the  heirs  of  Agnes  Brewton,  widow,  on  the  south  ;  and 
six  acres  of  land  in  the  corn  fields  alias  Bury  Bams.   All  which  premises 


342  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

are  described  as  having  been  bought  by  the  six  lessors  from  Richard 
Mery weather  and  Toby  Dallam,  26  November  1597.  The  lease,  for 
90  yeafs  at  23s.  &d.  a  year,  is  specified  as  granted  in  consideration  of 
a  fine  of  £10  and  a  surrender  of  a  term  of  11  years  unexpired  of  an 
existing  lease  granted  by  Meryweather  to  the  widow  of  Simon  Greene. 

The  common  seal  of  the  Fellowship  or  Brotherhood  of  the  Corpora- 
tion of  the  Burgesses  of  Burford  affixed  by  Richard  Meryweather, 
Alderman  of  the  town,  Symon  Symons,  Steward,  John  Roffe  and  John 
Yate,  Bailiffs,  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkyns,  William  Webbe,  Thoby 
Dallam,  John  Hunt,  Andrewe  Warde,  Raphe  Wysdome,  John  Gryff yth 
alias  Phillippes,  William  Taylor,  Thomas  Parsons,  Robert  Serrell, 
Edmond  Serrell,  John  Templer,  John  Collyer,  William  Sessions, 
Burgesses. 

Witnesses  :  Symon  Symons,  John  Templar,  William  Taylor,  Thoby 
Dallam,  Henry  Perrott,  Walter  Hayeter, '  the  wryter  hereof '. 

P  24.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth,  1599. 

Lease  by  the  same  lessors,  to  Toby  Dallam,  clothier.  The  Culver- 
close  and  four  tenements  thereupon  newly  built,  in  the  occupation 
of  Thomas  Sheppard,  William  Townesend,  John  Mare,  and  William 
Veysey ;  between  a  tenement  of  the  Queen's  Majesty  on  the  east 
and  certain  pastures  called  the  Leynes  on  the  west ;  also  a  tenement 
in  Witney  Street  occupied  by  George  Fawler,  between  a  tenement 
of  Sir  Anthony  Cope,  Knt.,  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  Richard 
Hodges  on  the  west ;  also  a  bam  in  Witney  Street  over  against  this 
tenement  between  the  back-gate  of  WiUiam  Geast  on  the  east  and 
a  tenement  of  Simon  Partridge  on  the  west.  The  same  account  of 
the  purchase  of  the  premises  as  in  P  23.  The  lease,  for  90  years  at 
32s.  a  year,  is  specified  as  granted  in  consideration  of  a  fine  of  40  marks 
and  the  surrender  of  a  term  of  15  years  unexpired  of  a  previous  lease. 

P25.    14  February,  41  Ehzabeth,  1599. 

Lease  by  the  same  leisors,  to  William  Taylor,  chandler.  22  acres 
in  the  east  and  west  fields  of  Burford,  alias  Bury  Bams.  The  same 
account  of  purchase  as  in  P  23  and  24.  The  lease,  for  80  years  at 
lis.  4d.  a  year,  is  specified  as  granted  in  consideration  of  a  fine  of  £5 
and  the  surrender  of  a  term  of  13  years  unexpired  of  a  previous  lease. 

[No  document  numbered  P  26  on  the  Schedule.] 

P27.    20  March,  6  James  I  (1608). 

Conveyance  by  William  Webbe,  yeoman,  and  Thomas  Parsons, 
iunholder,  two  of  the  elder  Burgesses,  to  Robert  Serrell,  Thomas 


POOLE'S  LANDS  343 

Silvester,  mercer,  William  Huntt,  William  Bartholomew,  John  Warde, 
Richard  Hancks,  and  Robert  Jordan,  Burgesses.  jg^     . 

in  P  22. 

(i)  Arable  lands  containing  by  estimation  18  acres  more  or 
less,  occupied  by  William  Taylor,  chandler        .         .         .         .      ii 

(ii)  I  acre  of  meadow  in  the  common  lott  meadow  .         .     iv 

(iii)  Little  close  containing  a  third  part  of  an  acre  on  the  south 
side  of  Witney  Street,  occupied  by  Stephen  Scott       .         .         ,   xiv 

(iv)  Messi^age  on  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between  a  tene- 
ment of  Robert  Elston,  gent.,  on  the  north  and. the  tenement  of 
Robert  Veysey  on  the  south,  occupied  by  Thomas  Hemynge        .       v 

(v)  Messuage  with  appurtenances  and  shop  on  the  east  side  of 
the  High  Street  between  the  tenement  of  William  Geast  on  the 
north  and  a  tenement  belonging  to  the  free  school  on  the  south, 
occupied  by  Agnes  Partridge,  widow,  and  Peter  Reynolds  alias 
Hall .         .     vi 

(vi)  Messuage  on  west  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the 
George  Inn  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of  the  heirs  of  Agnes 
Brewton  on  the  south,  now  occupied  by  John  Collyer,  lately  newly 
erected  by  him,  containing  32  feet  from  east  to  west  and  22  feet 
from  north  to  south,  with  12  acres  of  arable  land  belonging  to  it    vii 

(vii)  Messuage  on  west  side  of  the  High  Street  between  the 
tenement  of  the  heirs  of  Agnes  Brewton  on  the  north  and  the 
highway  leading  into  Sheep  Street  on  the  south,  occupied  by 
William  Taylor  and  Stephen  Scott   .         .         .         .         .         .    viii 

(viii)  Messuage  in  Witney  Street  between  the  tenement  of 
Robert  Veysey  on  the  east  and  the  tenement  of  Richard  Hodges 
on  the  west,  occupied  by  Gregory  Patye  .         .         .         .         .     ix 

(ix)  Bam  on  north  side  of  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement 
and  bam  of  Symon  Partridge  on  the  west  and  the  backside  and 
gate  of  the  tenement  of  William  Geast  on  the  east,  now  occupied 
by  Thomas  Parsons         ........      xi 

(x)  Messuage,  backside,  and  garden  on  east  side  of  the  High 
Street  between  the  tenement  of  Richard  Hodges  on  the  north 
and  the  tenement  of  Edmond  Serrell  on  the  south,  occupied  by 
Andrew  Ward         .........     xii 

(xi)  Messuage  on  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  between  a  garden  on 
the  east  and  the  tenement  of  Richard  Chadwell,  gent.,  on  the    . 
west,  occupied  by  Edward  Taylerer  .         .         .         ...   xiii 

(xii)  The  close  called  the  Culverclose  with  all  the  houses  on  it  on 


344  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS  . 

Number 
in  P  22. 

the  south  side  of  Sheep  Street  between  the  tenement  of  Thomas 

Bignell  on  the  east  and  the  pasture  ground  called  the  Leynes  on 

the  west,  sometime  in  tenure  of  Raphe  Wisdom,  now  occupied  by 

Thomas  Shepheard,  Richard  Busten,  William  Townsend,  and 

William  Veysey      .........    xv 

(xiii)  Capital  messuage  with  backside  and  garden  and  a  piece 
of  ground  heretofore  called  a  garden  strip,  on  Church  Green 
between  the  Almshouse  on  the  north  and  gildenford  lane  on  the 
south,  occupied  by  Symon  Symons,  tanner        .         .         .       xvi  &  i 

The  same  recital  of  the  purchase  of  these  properties  and  the  same 
recital  of  charitable  intents  as  in  the  deed,  P.  22.  Two  clauses 
are  added  :  (A)  that  when  only  three  of  the  present  feoffees  survive 
they  shall  upon  request  made  to  them  enfeoff  the  four  elder  Burgesses 
inhabiting  the  town,  the  two  Bailiffs,  and  the  Steward,  or  such  other 
persons  as  shall  be  Burgesses  ;  (B)  that  all  conveyances  of  these 
properties  are  to  be  kept  in  the  chamber  over  the  Church  porch,  called 
the  Burgesses'  Chamber. 

The  deed  is  endorsed  to  the  effect  that  the  tenants  attended  on  a  given 
date  and  paid  to  Thomas  Silvester  one  penny  of  silver  each  for  and  in 
the  name  of  his  rent.  It  is  also  endorsed  '  Affeoffment  of  the  towne 
lands  among  which  Poole's  lands  are  to  the  same  uses  with  former 
feoffment '. 

Note. — It  will  be  observed  that  numbers  iii  and  x  of  the  deed,  P.  22, 
do  not  appear  in  this  deed.  These  two  properties  were  conveyed  to  trustees 
for  purposes  of  a  free  school  by  the  '  late  co-feoffees  of  the  parish  lands 
of  Burford  '  in  1571  (see  S  20).  But  from  the  fact  that  they  were  obtained 
by  Typper  and  Dawe  in  1 590  from  the  Crown  it  may  be  inferred  that  the 
title  of  the  co-feoffees  to  these  particular  properties  had  been  overruled. 
They  appear,  therefore,  in  the  deed  of  1599  as  if  they  had  not  been  con- 
veyed before  ;  but  having  been,  by  the  purchase  of  Mery wether  and  Dallam, 
put  upon  a  sound  basis,  they  are  then  transferred  to  the  school  trustees, 
and  appear  in  tlie  separate  school  conveyances  (see  S  36,  which  is  dated 
the  same  day  as  P  26). 

P28.    20  January,  3  Charles  I  (1628). 

Conveyance  by  Robert  Serrell,  haberdasher,  William  Huntt  late 
of  Burford,  mercer,  William  Bartholomew  the  elder,  mercer,  Richard 
Hancks,  chandler,  and  Robert  Jordan,  yeoman,  to  Thomas  Silvester, 
WiUiam  Bartholomew  the  younger,  David  Hewes  alias  Lloyd,  Paul 
Silvester,  John  Taylor,  "John  Clarke,  Richard  Taylor,  and  Edmond 
Serrell,  Burgesses.  All  the  town  lands,  as  in  P  27,  with  a  few  differ- 
ences in  the  occupiers.  The  occupiers  of  number  v  (messuage  with 
shop  on  east  side  of  High  Street)  were  now  Simon  Hewes,  shoemaker, 


POOLE'S  LANDS  345 

and  Richard  Dawson,  sadler ;  number  x  (messuage  with  backside 
and  garden  on  east  side  of  High  Street)  had  been  occupied,  after 
Andrew  Ward,  by  John  Silvester,  and  was  now  occupied  by  John 
Cooke ;  number  xii  (the  Culverclose)  had  Francis  Turner  in  place  of 
William  Townsend,  and  the  holding  of  Thomas  Bignell  on  the  east 
of  it  is  described  as  a '  tenement,  garden  and  croft '.  The  purchase 
of  the  properties  is  recited  as  in  the  two  preceding  deeds. 

Witnesses  :  William  Webb  junior,  Richard  Applegarth,  Humphrey 
Webbe. 

[No  document  numbered  V  29  on  the  schedule.] 

P30&31.  Verdict  of  the  Jury  and  Decrees  and  Orders  of 
THE  Court  under  the  Royal  Commission  of  Charles  I,  dated  26  Septem- 
ber, 4  Charles  I,  1628. 

The  Commissioners  were  :  Henry,  Earl  of  Danby  ;  Sir  John  Walter, 
Knt.,  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer ;  Sir  Rowland 
Lacy,  Knt. ;  Sir  Giles  Bray,  Knt. ;  John  Fettiplace,  Esq. ;  John 
Martyn,  Esq. ;  and  Francys  Gregory,  Esq. 

The  jurors  were :  Anthony  Bromsgrove  of  Kingham,  Edmond 
Weston  of  Comewell,  William  Bridges  of  Churchill,  Francis  Collyns  of 
Sarsden,  Richard  Lissett  of  Bampton,  Thomas  Hinton  of  Alvescott, 
John  Fynnes  of  Kelmscott,  Daniel  Warwick  of  Kelmscott,  Thomas 
Fawler  of  Chipping  Norton,  John  Higgins  of  Chipping  Norton,  William 
Hodson  of  Witney,  John  Gunn  of  Witney,  John  Weekes  of  Witney, 
and  John  Clarke  of  Witney. 

The  Commission  was  issued  under  the  Act  43  Elizabeth,  Concerning 
the  Misimployment  of  Lands  heretofore  given  to  Charitable  Uses. 

The  jury  found  that  the  following  were  lands  given  in  Burford  for 
charitable  uses,  and  had  hitherto  been  let  at  the  rents  mentioned  : 

Poole's  Lands  : 

i.  House  occupied  by  John  Collyer  on  west  side  of  the  High 
Street  between  the  George  Inn  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  George 
Watkyns  and  Thomas  Tonks,  together  with  twelve  acres  of  arable 
land. 

ii.  The  Talbott  on  south  side  of  Witney  Street  occupied  by  Gregorye 
Patye. 

iii.  Bam  called  the  Woolhouse  on  north  side  of  Witney  Street  over 
against  the  Bull  back-gate,  occupied  by  Thomas  Parsons. 

iv.  The  Culverclose  with  four  several  houses  occupied  by  Thomas 
Smyth,  Richard  Bustyn,  William  Veysey,  and  Francis  Turner. 


346       CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

V.  22  acres  of  arable  land  occupied  by  Robert  Veysey,  William 
Taylor,  and  William  Fawkes. 

Rents  :  number  i     .         .         .         ,    235.  &d. 
numbers  ii,  iii,  iv  .         .    325. 

number  v    .         .         .         .115.  ^d. 

Great  Almshouse  : 

The  Great  Almshouse  with  a  capital  messuage  on  Church  Green 
between  Guildenford  Lane  and  a  tenement  called  Bavorks  occupied 
by  the  heirs  of  John  Templer,  the  capital  messuage  having  been 
occupied  by  William  Symons  the  elder  and  afterwards  Symon  Symons, 
and  now  occupied  by  Samuel  Warcopp,  gent. 

Rent :  50^.  Sd. 

House  or  Inn  called  the  S^an  next  the  Bridge  given  by  George 

Symons  to  the  poor  in  the  Great  Almshouse,  the  new  Almshouse, 

and  otherwise,  occupied  by  Richard  Norgrave. 

Rent:   £6. 

* 
School  Lands  : 

i.  Three  houses  lying  together  near  the  Bridge  occupied  by  Paul 
Silvester. 

ii.  House  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  Symon  Partridge  on  the 
south  and  Richard  Dawson  on  the  north,  occupied  by  Thomas  Parsons. 

iii.  Two  houses  lying  together  on  north  side  of  Witney  Street  next 
Guildenford  Lane,  occupied  by  Richard  Buckingham  and  John 
Abraham. 

iv.  Two  houses  lying  together  on  west  side  of  the  High  Street  on 
the  hill  between  the  lands  of  William  Hewes  alias  Calcott  and  the  lands 
of  Richard  Osbaston  in  the  tenure  of  Jeremy  Jellyman,  occupied  by 
John  Dallam  and  George  Greenhill  ahas  Vincent. 

v.  Land  in  Bury  Orchard,  occupied  by  William  Symons. 

vi.  A  half-acre  and  a  shurff  in  High  Mead  occupied  by  the  same. 

vii.  One  acre  arable  in  East  Field  occupied  by  the  same. 

viii.  The  College,  between  the  Vicarage  on  the  north  and  the  tene- 
ment of  John  Sympson  on  the  south,  occupied  by  Henry  Sowdley, 
Joseph  Boys  and  others. 

ix.  Two  acres  in  High  Mead  occupied  by  Christopher  Glyn,  clerk, 
and  William  Bartholomew  the  younger. 

X.  House  in  Witney  Street  heretofore  occupied  by  John  Wyckyns, 
now  by  Robert  Gray. 

Rents  :  not  specified. 


POOLE'S  LANDS  347 

Church  Lands  : 

i.  House  or  Inn  called  the  Crown  with  a  garden  on  west  side  of 
High  Street,  occupied  by  Suzan  Scott. 

ii.  Little  close  at  the  furthest  end  of  Witney  Street  between  a  tene- 
ment of  Nicolas  Franklyn  on  the  west  and  a  garden  of  William  Taylor' 
on  the  east,  occupied  by  the  same. 

iii.  One  acre  in  High  Mead,  occupied  by  the  same. 

iv.  House  on  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  between  the  garden  of  Suzan 
Scott  on  the  east  and  the  tenement  of  Anne  Levett  on  the  west,  occupied 
by Steward. 

V.  House  or  Inn  called  the  Bull  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between 
the  land  of  Edmond  Serrell  on  the  south  and  the  Inn  called  the  Angell 
on  the  north,  occupied  by  John  Cooke. 

vi.  House  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  the  tenement  of 
Henry  Hayter  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of  Richard  Hemynge 
on  the  south,  occupied  by  Edmund  Hemynge. 

vii.  A  rent  of  35.  4J.  out  of  an  house  next  the  Church,  occupied  by 
Mary  Templar,  widow. 

Rents  :  numbers  i,  ii,  iii   .         .         .     255. 

number  iv  .         .         .         .13^. 

number  v    .         .         .         .     41s. 

number  vi  .         .         .         .21s. 

Bridge  Lands  : 

Two  houses  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  a  house  of  the  Free 
School  on  the  south  and  the  tenement  of  John  Taylor  in  the  tenure 
of  Thomas  Bolton,  glover,  on  the  north,  occupied  by  Symon  Hewes 
and  Richard  Dawson. 

Rents  :   not  specified. 

Fifteen  Lands  :  •  . 

i.  Three  houses  in  St.  John's  Street,  occupied  by  Elizabeth  Pricke- 
vance,  widow,  Robert  Perry,  and  Thomas  Russell. 

ii.  Two  acres  arable  in  Upton  Field,  occupied  by  Thomas  Russell. 

Rents  :  not  specified. 

Charitable  Annuities  : 

.The  jury  also  found  that  the  following  annuities  had  been  left  for 
charitable  purposes  : 

i.  By  Edmund  Harman — £4  4s.  a  year  out  of  the  Port  Mills. 

ii.  By  John  Lloyd  alias  Hewes,  the  elder — 6s.  Sd.  to  which  John 
Lloyd  the  younger  added  3s.  ^d. 


348 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


iii.  By  William  Bniton — 6s.  Sd.  out  of  his  orchard  at  the  end  of 
Lavington  Lane,  now  the  land  of  Robert  Veysey  ;  this  payment  was 
twenty  years  in  arrear. 

iv.  Belonging  to  the  Free  School — A  strip  of  ground  called  a  garden 
strip,  occupied  by  William  Batson,  gent.,  between  his  garden  ground 
on  the  west  and  Gildenford  Lane  on  the  east ;  the  rent  of  55.  a  year 
was  50^.  in  arrear. 

V.  By  Symon  Wysdogie — The  new  almshouse  in  Church  Lane  for 
four  poor  people. 

vi.  By  Richard  Hunt — 155.  yearly  out  of  the  rent  of  a  tenement 
at  the  furthest  end  of  Witney  Street,  occupied  by  Nicholas  Franklyn, 
of  which  55.  was  to  be  paid  to  the  Church,  55.  to  the  poor,  and  55.  to 
the  schoolmaster. 

vii.  By  Timothy  Stampe — A  gift  of  £40  to  be  lent  out  to  four  young 
tradesmen,  who  were  to  pay  an  interest  of  izd.  in  the  £  yearly,  to  be 
given  to  the  poor. 

viii.  By  George  Tomson  (i  James  I) — A  gift  of  £30  to  be  lent  out 
for  one  year  or  not  more  than  two  years,  the  profits  to  be  given  to 
the  poor. 

ix.  By  WilUam  Edgeley — A  gift  of  £10,  the  profits  to  be  given  to 
the  poor. 

X.  By  Alexander  Ready,  clerk  (vicar  of  Sherborne) — A  gift  of  £40, 
half  to  be  lent  in  sums  of  £6  135.  4d.  to  poor  shopkeepers,  one  quarter 
to  be  lent  to  two  poor  maidens  to  help  them  in  getting  married,  ^nd 
one  quarter  to  be  lent  to  two  decayed  townsmen. 

xi.  By  Edmund  Silvester  (1568) — ^£20  to  be  lent  to  young  men  for 
periods  of  five  years. 

xii.  By  Phillip  Mullyner — A  gift  of  £20  for  the  same  purpose. 

Upon  this  verdict  the  Commission  decreed  as  follows  : 

(A)  That  the  rents  of  the  various  properties  should  in  future  be 
as  hereunder : 

Poole's  Lands  :  £ 

i.  CoUyer's  .    - '    •     4 


u.  The  Talbot 

iii.  The  Woolhouse 

iv.  Smyth's  house  and  close 

V.  Bustyn's 

vi.  Veysey 's  . 
vii.  Turner's  . 
viii.  Arable  lands     . 

Total  for  Poole's  Lands 


s. 

o 

10 

5 
10 

5- 
5 
5 
6 


6    8 


POOLE'S  LANDS 

Almshouse  and  Poor  : 

Capital  messuage  on  Church  Green    . 


349 


Swan  Inn 


5.  tf. 
o  4 
o    o 


Out  of  the  latter  rent  Sd.  a  week  to  be  paid  to  the  people  in  the  Great 
Almshouse,  tinid  i6d.  a  week  to  the  people  in  the  new  almshouse. 


School  Lands  : 

£    s.  d. 

i.  Silvester's 4    i6    o 

ii.  Parsons'  .... 

3      ID      o 

iii.  Buckingham's  and  Abraham's 

2     13     4 

iv.  Dallam's           .         .         . 

2       ID      0 

V.  Greenhill's 

I      13     4 

vi.  Symons'  land   . 

I       10      0 

vii.  The  College 

200 

viii.  Two  acres,  High  Mead 

100 

ix.  Gray's     .... 

200 

Total  for  School  Lands 

.21       12      8 

Out  of  this  sum  £5  was  to  be  allotted  to  an  usher  and  the  remainder 
to  the  schoolmaster. 


Church  Lands  : 

i.  Susan  Scott's 

ii.  Steward's 
iii.  The  Bull 
iv.  Hemynge's 

V.  Annuity  . 

Total  for  Church  Lands 


d. 
o 
o 
o 
o 
4 


15      3    4 


Out  of  this  sum  £10  was  allotted  to  the  upkeep  of  the  Church  and 
the  bells,  and  the  residue  to  the  poor,  i6d.  to  be  paid  weekly  to  the 
people  in  the  Great  Almshouse  and  8d.  weekly  to  the  people  in  the  new 
almshouse. 

Bridge  Lands  :  £     s.    d. 

Hewes'  and  Dawson's 400 

Fifteen  Lands  :  £     s.    d. 

The  three  houses  and  the  two  acres  to  make  a 

total  of 3    10    o 

(B)  The  Commission  next  decreed  that  there  should  be  a  new  body  New 
of  trustees,  consisting  of :    Sir  John  Lacy,  Knt.,  of  Shipton-under-  Z^t-el. 
Whichwood,  John  Dutton,  Esq.,  of  Sherborne,  Edward  Fettiplace, 
Esq.,  of  Swinbrook,  William  Lenthall,  Esq.,  of  Burford,  Hercules 


350  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Osbaston,  Esq.,  of  Chadlington,  Thomas  Silvester,  clothier,  William 
Bartholomew  the  younger,  mercer,  David  Lloyd  alias  Hewes,  mercer, 
Paul  Silvester,  tanner,  John  Taylor,  shoemaker,  John  Clarke,  felt- 
maker,  and  Richard  Taylor,  tanner— all  of  Burford. 

Enfeoffments  were  to  be  made  in  favour  of  this  new  body  by  : 

Symon  Chadwell,  gent.,  heir  to  Symon  Wisdome,  surviving  feoffee 
of  Poole's  Lands  ; 

Robert  Walbridge,  son  and  heir  of  John  Walbridge,  surviving 
feoffee  of  Church  Lands  ; 

Richard  Hannes,  heir  of  Richard  Hannes,  his  great-grandfather, 
surviving  feoffee  of  the  Great  Almshouse  and  capital  messuage 
adjoining ; 

John  Collyer,  William  Hunt,  William  Bartholomew  the  elder, 
Richard  Hannes,  Robert  Jordan,  Samuel  Mery wether,  William 
Symons,  William  Webbe  the  younger,  Symon  Parsons,  John  Taylor, 
and  Edmond  Serrell,  surviving  feoffees  of  School  Lands  : 

William  Webbe  the  elder,  surviving  feoffee  of  the  Fifteen  Lands  ; 

Richard  Allflett,  son  and  heir  of  (blank),  surviving  feoffee  of  Bridge 
**        Lands. 

The  new  trustees  were  to  make  a  new  enfeoffment  when  they  come 

to  be  of  the  number  of  six  or  less,  and  were  to  choose  for  that  purpose 

discreet  persons  of  Burford  and  the  parts  adjoining. 

Period  of      In  future  leases  were  not  to  be  for  longer  periods  than  twenty-one 

leases.       years  ;  but  existing  leases  might  be  renewed  for  the  remainder  of  their 

term,  if  it  did  not  exceed  thirty-one  years. 
An  illegal     The  Commission  found  that  the  capital  messuage  next  to  the  Great 
^  Almshouse  had  been  improperly  dealt  with.    Mr.  Samuel  Warcopp 

had  been  allowed  to  buy  for  a  considerable  sum  shortly  before  this 
date  a  very  long  lease,  and  on  the  strength  of  this  lease  William 
Symons  had  spent  money  on  repairs.  They  were  therefore  to  have 
special  terms  in  the  making  of  a  new  lease,  if  they  surrendered  the  old 
lease  without  suit. 
Fraudu.  (C)  The  Commission  next  considered  the  case  of  the  lands  purchased 
lent  jjy  Mery  wether  and  Dallam  from  Typper  and  Dawe,  who  had  obtained 

them  by  Letters  Patent  from  the  Crown.  These  lands  comprised  the 
whole  of  Poole's  Lands,  the  Great  Almshouse  and  house  adjoining, 
the  whole  of  the  Church  Lands,  and  two  items  of  the  School  Lands 
(numbers  ix  and  x  in  the  above  list). 

The  Commission  stated  that  there  was  suspicion  of '  fraud  and  cozen ' 
in  the  obtaining  of  the  Letters  Patent ;  they  had  been  obtained  on 


POOLE'S  LANDS  351 

the  representation  that  these  lands  had  been  concealed  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  officers  of  the  Crown  at  inquisitions  into  lands  left 
for  obits,  lights  in  churches,  etc.,  and  ought  to  have  been  surrendered. 
The  Commission  found  that  there  had  been  no  such  concealment, 
and  that  the  Letters  Patent  to  Typper  and  Dawe  were  therefore  void. 

Long  leases  had  been  obtained  at  small  rents  after  the  purchase 
depending  on  these  Letters  Patent ;  these  leases  were  also  pronounced 
void.  Yet  since  the  lessees  had  spent  money  on  repairs,  they  might, 
if  they  would  surrender  the  old  leases,  have  new  ones  from  the  trustees 
for  the  residue  of  their  term,  if  it  were  not  more  than  thirty-one 
years,  or,  if  it  were  more,  for  the  residue  of  the  term  at  the  new 
rents. 

(D)  The  Commission  made  decrees  for  the  rendering  of  accounts  Accounts, 
yearly. 

P32.    23  February,  5  Charles  I  (1630). 

Conveyance  by  Symon  Chadwell  '  being  cozen  and  next  heir  of 

Symon  Wisdome  deceased ',  surviving  feojffee  of  the  lands  given  by  • 

Thomas  Poole,  to  the  trustees  as  in  the  Commission's  decrees. 

[Describes  thq  house  on  the  south  side  of  Witney  Street  as  the  Talbot, 
and  the  Woolhouse  as  '  over  against  the  Bull  back-gate  ',  and  the  22  acres 
of  arable  as  dispersed  in  the  fields  of  Burford,  Upton,  and  Signett.] 

Witnesses :  Richard  Chadwell,  Willm.  Bartholomew,  William 
Kempster. 

P38.    II  March,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Writ  of  execution  for  carrying  out  the  decrees  of  the  Commission, 
addressed  to  John  Colly er,  Gregory  Paty,  Thomas  Parsons,  Thomas 
Smyth,  Richard  Bustyn,  William  Veysey,  Francis  Turner,  Robert 
Veysey,  William  Tayler,  William  Fawke, 

[Note. — Remains  of  a  Great  Seal  attached  to  this  document.] 

Note. — From  this  point  onwards  the  leases  are  all  granted  by  the 
trustees  appointed  by  the  Royal  Commission,  ^d  their  due  successors  ; 
the  names  of  the  lessors  are  therefore  dropped. 

P  34.    23  September,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Lease  to  Edmond  Redman  of  London,  gentleman.  Part  of  Poole's 
Lands,  viz.  the  Talbot,  the  Woolhouse,  and  the  Culverclose  with  four 
houses.    For  31  years  at  £4  a  year. 

P35.    18  October,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Lease  to  William  Taylor  of  Burford,  chandler.  The  22  acres  of 
arable  land,  of  Poole's  Lands.   For  31  years  at  £1  6s.  Sd.  a  year. 


352  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

P  36  &  37.    28  March,  8  Charles  I  (1632). 

Lease  to  Robert  Veysey,  of  Chimney,  Bampton,  in  consideration  of 
a  surrendered  lease.  House  in  the  tenure  of  John  Collyer,  innkeeper, 
on  west  side  of  the  High  Street,  lately  added  and  adjoined  to  the  George 
on  the  north  side  thereof,  being  in  length  on  the  street  23  feet  and  in 
depth  30  feet,  containing  six  several  chambers,  a  cellar,  a  parlour, 
a  lodging-chamber  over  the  same,  and  a  cock-loft  over  that  chamber, 
and  two  back  rooms  towards  the  kitchen,  with  12  acres  of  arable 
land.    For  31  years  at  £4  a  year. 

P38.    30  September,  1657. 

Conveyance  by  William  Lenthall,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  William  Bar- 
tholomew, of  Westalhill,  gentleman,  and  Paul  Silvester  the  elder,  of 
Burford,  tanner,  surviving  feoffees  of  the  charitable  lands,  to  Sir 
Anthony  Cope,  Knight  and  Baronett,  Sir  Edmund  Bray  of  Great 
Barrington,  Knight,  John  Lenthall,  son  and  heir  of  William  Lenthall, 
Esquire,  Robert  Jenkinson  of  Walcott  in  the  parish  of  Charlbury, 
Esquire,  Edward  Hungerford  of  Black  Bourton,  Esquire,  John 
Fettiplace  the  younger  of  Swin brook.  Esquire,  John  Hughes,  mercer, 
David  Hughes,  clothier,  John  Knight,  mercer,  John  Jordan,  gentle- 
man, Paul  Silvester  the  younger,  clothier,  and  Thomas  Mathewes, 
innholder — all  of  Burford.  The  charitable  lands  set  forth  in  the 
Commission's  decree. 

Witnesses  :   Robert  Harleston,  C.  Glyn. 

[Note. — This  deed  bears  William  Lenthall's  signature.] 

P39.   4  November,  1659. 

Lease  to  Margaret  Haynes,  widow.  House  now  in  her  occupation 
on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  Robert  Cossen  on  north  and  Roger 
Daniel  on  south.    For  21  years  at  305.  a  year. 

P40.  4  November,  1659.  Lease  to  Thomas  Smith,  House  on 
south  side  of  Sheep  Street  between  Thomas  Newbery  on  west  and  John 
Newport  on  east ;  and'also  the  Culverdlose  containing  by  estimation 
two  acres,  between  a  close  of  Leonard  Mills  on  east  and  a  close  called 
the  Leynes  on  west  now  occupied  by  Thomas  Taylor.  For  21  years 
at  £4  105.  a  year. 

P41.    4  November,  1659. 

Lease  to  Phillis  Bignell  of  Burford  and  Alice  Bignell  her  sister, 
spinsters.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep  Street  now  in  occupation  of 
Symon  Hughes,  between  William  Goram  east  and  Robert  Spurrett 
west,  with  garden  plot  and  back-side.    For  21  years  at  305.  a  year. 


POOLE'S  LANDS  353 

P42.    4  November,  1659. 

Lease  to  Thomas  Newberie  of  Burford,  yeoman.  House  on  south 
side  of  Sheep  Street  between  Thomas  Smith  on  east  and  John  Hum- 
phreys on  west,  with  back-side  and  garden.  For  21  years  at  305. 
a  year. 

P43.    4  November,  1659. 

Lease  to  William  Coram  of  Burford,  chapman.  House  on  south 
side  of  Sheep  Street  between  John  Humphreys  on  east  and  Symon 
Hughes  on  west,  with  garden  plot  and  back-side.  For  21  years  at 
305.  a  year. 

P44.    30  November,  12  Charles  II  (1660). 

Lease  to  John  Payton  of  Burford,  clothier.  The  Talbot  in  Witney 
Street  next  adjoining  the  back-gate  belonging  to  the  Bull  on  west 
and  the  tenement  of  Richard  Yate  and  others  on  east.  For  21  years 
at  £5  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Edward  Borham,  John  Lambert,  Symon  Randolph. 

P45.    26  December,  1659. 

Lease  to  Thomas  Parsons  of  Burford,  chandler.  A  bam  heretofore 
called  the  Woolhouse  on  north  side  of  Witney  Street  next  to  the  back- 
gate  belonging  to  the  three  tenements  of  William  Bartholomew, 
gentleman,  Ralph  Hicks,  and  Andrew  Davis  on  east,  and  over  against 
the  back-gate  of  the  Bull.    For  21  years  at  235.  4^.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Parsons  the  younger,  John  Sherrell,  Symon 
Randolph. 

P46.    20  January,  1660. 

Lease  to  Richard  Veisey  of  Burford,  innholder.  House  on  west 
side  of  High  Street  adjoining  to  and  occupied  with  the  George,  called 
the  new  building,  the  George  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of  Mar* 
garet  Watkins,  widow,  and  John  Collier  on  the  south,  with  2  acres  of 
arable  land.    For  21  years  at  £6  6s.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  C.  Glyn,  J.  Glyn,  Robert  Jordan. 

P47.    10  October,  1661. 

Lease  to  Thomas  Castle  of  Burford,  innholder.  22  acres  of  arable 
land  in  Burford  fields  detailed  in  a  schedule.   For  21  years  at  £3  a  year. 

The  Schedule : 
\  acre  in  East  Field  shooting  on  Widford  Hedge,  \  acre  of  parsonage 
land  on  north,  and  1  acre  late  Richard  Meryweather's  on  south. 
\  acre  at  White  Hill  beneath  the  ridge  way,  \  acre  of  parsonage  land 
north,  and  i  acre  late  of  William  Hall  on  south. 
3304  A  a 


354  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

J  acre  above  the  ridge  way  shooting  north  and  south,  J  acre  of  par- 
sonage land  west,  and  J  acre  of  Priory  land  east. 
J  acre  shooting  on  Sturt  Quarre  east  and  west,  |  acre  of  parsonage 

land  north,  and  J  acre  late  of  Richard  Meryweather  south. 
I  acre  shooting  upon  Sturt  Willow,  |  acre  late  of  John  Taylor  east, 

and  ^  acre  of  parsonage  land  west. 
J  acre  in  same  furlong,  J  acre  Priory  land  east,  and  J  acre  parsonage 

land  west. 
I  acre  in  the  Downs  shooting  north  and  south,  |  acre  Priory  land  east, 

and  ^  acre  of  Mr.  Elston  west, 
i  acre  shooting  over  Bampton  way,  i  acre  of  John  Hannes  east,  and 

I  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
J  acre  shooting  into  Bampton  way,  2  acres  of  John  Hannes  land  east, 

and  I  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
I  acre  shooting  upon  William  Combes  headland,  i  acre  of  John  Hame 

of  Signett  east,  and  |  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
J  acre  shooting  upon  the  same,  i  acre  of  Richard  Meryweather  east, 

and  I  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
J  acre  lying  upon  the  ridge  way  east  and  west,  |  acre  of  Thomas 

Silvester  south,  and  J  acre  parsonage  land  north. 
^  acre  beneath  Bampton  way  lying  north  and  south,  i  acre  late  of 

Mrs.  Chad  well  east,  and  J  acre  parsonage  land  west, 
f  acre  shooting  over  Bampton  way,  three  |  acres  of  the  Bull  land 

east,  and  i  acre  late  of  Richard  Meryweather  west. 
J  acre  shooting  the  same  way,  i  acre  of  the  Bull  land  east,  and  J  acre 

parsonage  land  west. 
I  acre  shooting  over  Shilton  path,  ^  acre  late  of  Thomas  Hincks  east, 

and  I  acre  of  Bull  land  west. 
J  acre  in  the  furlong  at  Shilton  Bush,  i  acre  of  William  Hunt  east, 

and  I  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
^  acre  in  the  furlong  beneath  Shilton  Bush,  1  acre  late  of  Robert 

Calcott  east,  and  ^  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
I  acre  shooting  into  Grove  way,  |  acre  parsonage  land  north,  and  i  acre 

parsonage  land  south. 

In  West  Field. 
^  acre  at  the  Conigree  end  shooting  on  W.  Calcott 's  piece  of  Mr.  Elston 's 

land  on  east,  and  |  acre  late  of  John  Taylor  west. 
Three  J  acres  shooting  into  Deane  Acre  way,  i  acre  late  of  Richard 

Meryweather  north,  and  i  acre  of  John  Hannes  south. 
J  acre  in  Clay  Furlong  going  north  and  south,  i  acre  of  John  Hannes 

east,  and  |  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
I  acre  shooting  into  Deane  Acre  way,  2  acres  of  Thomas  Silvester 

north,  and  J  acre  late  of  Richard  Meryweather  south. 
J  acre  shooting  into  Deane  Acre,  J  acre  parsonage  land  north,  and  land 

late  of  Richard  Meryweather  south. 
I  acre  shooting  into  Deane  Acre  way,  2  acres  of  Mr.  Elston  south, 

and  ^  acre  parsonage  land  north. 


POOLE'S  LANDS  355 

I  acre  shooting  in  the  same  way,  i  acre  Priory  land  north,  and  J  acre 

late  of  Richard  Meryweather  south. 
J  acre  in  Middle  Furlong  shooting  into  Signett  path,  J  acre  parsonage 

land  north,  arfd  i  acre  late  of  Mrs.  Chadwell  south. 
J  acre  in  the  Oares  shooting  on  the  Downs,  ^  acre  parsonage  land  north, 

and  I  acre  late  of  William  Hall  south. 
J  acre  shooting  into  Fulden  Bottom  in  the  Oares,  J  acre  parsonage 

land  east,  and  J  acre  late  of  Edmund  Silvester  west. 
J  acre  in  the  Oares,  i  acre  late  of  Edmund  Silvester  belonging  to 

Broadgates  east,  and  |,acre  parsonage  land  west. 
J  acre  shooting  upon  Westwell  Hedge,  2  acres  late  of  Mrs.  Chadwell 

east,  and  ^  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
I  acre  shooting  into  Fulden  Bottom,  i  acre  late  of  Symon  Partridge 

east,  ^  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
I  acre  shooting  into  Westwell  way,  J  acre  parsonage  land  north,  and 

I  acre  late  of  Mrs.  Chadwell  south. 
J  acre  shooting  into  the  same  way,  J  acre  late  of  Richard  Meryweather 

north,  and  i  acre  late  of  Thomas  Silvester  south. 
I  acre  shooting  upon  Poole's  Piece,  J  acre  late  of  Samuel  ttbbons 

east,  and  J  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
J  acre  shooting  upon  Edmund  Silvester's  headland,  2  acres  late  of 

Mrs.  Chadwell  east,  and  J  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
J  acre  shooting  upon  the  same  headland,  2  acres  of  the  Bull  land 
east,  and  J  acre  parsonage  land  west. 
Witnesses :  Richard  Veysey,  Edward  Boarham,  Robert  Jordan. 
P48.    20  August,  13  Charles  II  (1661). 

Lease  to  John  Humphries  of  Burford,  yeoman.    House  on  south 
side  of  Sheep  Street  between  Thomas  Newbery  on  east  and  William. 
Coram  on  west.    For  21  years  at  455.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :   Ambrose  Berry,  George  Thorpe,  Symon  Randolph. 
P49.    3  September,  30  Charles  II  (1678). 

Lease  to  John  Payton  the  elder,  clothier.  The  Talbot,  between 
the  Bull  back-gate  on  west  and  the  tenement  of  John  Treenway  on 
east.    For  21  years  at  £5  a  year. 

Witnesses:  John  Payton, junior,SymonRandolph,Thomas Randolph. 
P50.    22  June,  35  Charles  II  (1683). 

Conveyance  by  Sir  Edward  Hungerford  and  Sir  Edmund  Bray, 
surviving  feoffees  of  the  charitable  lands,  to  Sir  Edmund  Fetti place 
of  Swinbrook,  Thomas  Horde  of  Cote,  Esquire,  Reginald  Bray  of 
Barrington,  Esquire,  William  Lenthall  of  Burford,  Esquire,  Nathaniel 
Brookes  of  Burford,  gentleman,  David  Hughes,  mercer,  Richkrd 
George,  sadler,  Paul  Silvester,  tanner,  Thomas  Castle,  chandler, 
Richard  Bartholomew,  mercer,  Thomas  Silvester,  tanner,  and  Francis 
Keeble,  mercer — all  of  Burford.    The  charitable  lands  of  Burford. 

A  a  2 


356  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

P51.    29  September,  36  Charles  II,  1684. 

Lease  to  John  Castle  of  Tewxbury,  *  Physicion  '.    22  acres  in  the 
common  fields.    For  21  years  at  £3  105.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :   John  Payton,  Hannah  Castle. 

P52.    25  March,  36  Charles  II,  1684. 

,  Lease  to  Thomas  Smith,  yeoman.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep 
Street  between  Thomas  Newbery  on  west  and  Daniel  Payton  on  east, 
with  the  Culverclose  of  two  acres  between  the  close  of  Daniel  Payton 
on  east  and  close  called  the  Leynes  occupied  by  William  Taylor  on 
west.  For  21  years  at  £4  10s.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :   Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph. 

P53.    25  March,  36  Charles  II,  1684. 

Lease  to  John  Humfryes,  yeoman.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep 
Street  between  Thomas  Newbery  on  east  and  John  Linsey  on  west. 
For  21  years  at  £2  155.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  John  Smith,  Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph. 

P54.    25  March,  36  Charles  II  (1684).  * 

Counterpart  of  the  same. 

P55.    25  March,  36  Charles  II  (1684). 

Lease  to  John  Linsey  the  elder,  yeoman.  House  on  south  side  of 
Sheep  Street  between  John  Humfryes  on  east  and  John  Berry  on 
west.    For  21  years  at  £2  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  'Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph. 

P56.    26  August,  36  Charles  11  (1684). 

Lease  to  Thomas  Newbery  the  elder,  yeoman.  House  on  south 
side  of  Sheep  Street  between  Thomas  Smith  on  east  and  John  Hum- 
phries on  west.    For  21  years  at  £1  105.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph.  • 

P57.    8  July,  3  James  II  (1687). 

Lease  to  Margaret  Greenhill,  widow.  House  on  west  side  of  High 
Street  between  Thomas  Newberry  on  north  and  Richard  Winfield 
on  south.   For  21  years  at  £2  a  year. 

Witnesses  :    Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph. 

P58.    8  July,  3  James  II  (1687). 

Leasfe  to  Richard  Jordan  of  Witney,  gentleman.    The  new  building 

next  the  George,  with  12  acres  arable.   For  21  years  at  £S  a  year. 

[Endorsed  to  the  effect  that,  whereas  only  six  rooms  are  mentioned  in 
the  lease,  there  are  actually  eight,  the  spence  (?)  chamber  and  a  little  square 
passage  adjoining  to  it.] 


POOLE'S  LANDS  357 

P59.    25  March,  8  William  III,  1696. 

Lease  to  Joseph  Steele,  sadletreemaker.  House  on  south  side  of 
Sheep  Street  between  Joseph  Edmunds  on  west  and  Simon  Partridge 
on  east,  with  the  Culverclose  of  two  acres  between  the  close  of  Simon 
Partridge  on  east  and  the  Leynes  occupied  by  William  Taylor  on  west. 
For  21  years  at  £4  los.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Richard  Osman,  Richard  Mathewes. 

P60.    8  July,  10  William  III,  1698. 

Lease  to  Richard  Jordan  of  Witney,  gentleman.  The  new  building 
next  the  George,  occupied  by  William  Gossen,  with  12  acres  arable. 
For  21  years  at  £8  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Ben  Hawtyn,  John  Jordan. 

P61.    10  October,  10  William  III,  1698. 

Power  of  attorney  by  the  trustees  to  Symon  Partridge,  clothier, 
and  Richard  Haddon,  mercer,  to  recover  the  Sheep  Street  house  and 
the  Culverclose  from  Joseph  Steele,  saddletree  maker,  the  rent  being 
£13  10^.  in  arrear. 

Witnesses  :  Mary  Bartholomew,  James  Partridge,  George  Webb, 
John  Jordan,  junior. 

[P  62  missing.  It  is  entered  on  the  schedule  as  an  office  copy  of  the 
Decrees  of  the  Charity  Commissioners  at  Witney  in  1702.  See  Tolsey 
Collection,  infra,  p.  484.] 

P63.    21  September,  i  Anne,  1702. 

Conveyance  by  Sir  Edmund  Fetti place  of  Swinbrook,  Thomas 
Horde  of  Coat,  Esquire,  David  Hughes  of  Burford,  gentleman, 
Richard  Bartholomew  the  elder  of  Westhall  hill,  gentleman,  and 
Richard  George,  late  of  Burford,  saddler,  to  Edmund  Bray  of  Barring- 
ton,  Esquire,  Philip  Wenman  of  Caswell,  Esquire,  Charles  Fettiplace 
of  Swinbrook,  Esquire,  John  Lenthall  of  Burford,  Esquire,  John 
Castle,  gentleman,  Richard  Bartholomew  the  younger,  gentleman, 
John  Castle,  chandler,  William  Forde,  shoemaker,  Dionysiiis  Couzens, 
shoemaker,  William  Bowles,  maltster,  Paul  Silvester,  tanner,  and 
Edward  Sanders,  mercer — ^all  of  Burford.  The  charitable  lands  of 
Burford. 

Note. — Among  the  property  of  the  Almshouses  appears  a  house  in  Sheep 
Street  described  as  the  comer  house  on  the  west  side  of  Lavington  Lane. 
The  house  belonging  to  the  School  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street  was 
occupied  by  Denis  Couzens.  The  Church  Lands  now  consisted  of  the 
Crown  inn  and  a  close  at  the  further  end  of  Witney  Street  and  an  acre 
in  High  Mead,  all  occupied  by  John  Castle  ;  a  house  on  north  side  of 
Sheep  Street  occupied  by  George  Sims  next  to  the  garden  of  the  Crown  ; 
the  Bull,  between  land  of  John  Jordan  on  south  and  the  Angel  on  north  ; 


358  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

and  a  house  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  Henry  Hayter  on  north 
and  a  tenement  of  Mr.  Jordan  on  south. 

P64.    26  August,  6  Anne,  1707. 

Lease  to  Joseph  Nunney,  hatter.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep 
Street  between  Robert  Brown  on  east  and  John  Bery  on  west,  with 
garden  plot.    For  21  years  at  405.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Richard  Whitehall,  Joseph  Payton. 

P65.    26  August,  6  Anne,  1707. 

Lease  to  Robert  Browne,  yeoman.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep 
Street  between  Joseph  Edmunds  on  east  and  Joseph  Nunney  on  west. 
For  21  years  at  £2  155.  a  year. 

Witnesses :  the  same. 

r 

P66.    26  August,  6  Anne,  1707. 

Lease  to  Joseph  Edmunds,  yeoman.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep 
Street  between  James  Partridge  on  east  and  Robert  Browne  on  west. 
For  21  years  at  £1  10s.  a  year. 

Witnesses :  the  same. 
.  P67.    26  August,  6  Anne,  1707. 

Lease  to  William  Tash,  innholder.  The  Talbot  late  occupied  by 
John  Payton,  adjoining  the  back-gate  of  the  Bull  now  occupied  by 
Wilham  Tash  on  the  east  and  the  tenement  of  John  Smith,  Richard 
Berry,  and  Robert  Patrick  on  west.    For  21  years  at  £^  a  year. 

There  is  a  memorandum  to  the  effect  that  Tash  had  lately  taken  for  the 
Bull  the  garden  ground  and  back-side  of  the  Talbot  and  one  large  stable 
of  which  the  upper  part  adjoined  a  malt-house  of  Peter  Rich. 

This  counterpart  lease  is  not  executed. 

S  75.    21  April,  7  Anne,  1708. 

Lease  to  John  Berry  the  elder,  slatter.'  House  on  south  side  of 
Sheep  Street  between  Joseph  Nunney  on  east  and  Robert  Spurrett 
on  west.    For  21  years  at  40s.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Joseph  Payton,  John  Randolph. 

P68.    6  April,  1 7 13. 

Lease  to  Richard  Jordan  of  Witney.  House  called  the  new  Building 
occupied  with  the  George  by  Thomas  Kennett,  with  12  acres  arable. 
For  21  years  at  £8  a  year. 

P69.    20  February,  i  George  I,  1715. 

Lease  to  Richard  Osmond,  mason.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep 
Street  between  Joseph  Nunney  on  east  and  Robert  Spurrett  on  west. 
For  21  years  at  £2  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   George  Hart,  William  Castoll. 


POOLE'S  LANDS  359 

P70.    18  May,  5  George  I,  1718. 

Lease  to  Henry  Tash,  innholder,  of  the  Bu-ll.   The  Talbutt,  between 

the  back-gate  of  the  Bull  on  west  and  the  tenements  of  John  Mills, 

Daniel  Holiday,  and  Widow  Wigins  on  west.   For  2 1  years  at  £5  a  year. 

The  previous  inclusion  of  certain  premises  of  the  Talbot  by  the  Bull 
recited  as  in  P  67. 

P71.    16  October,  5  George  1, 1 7 18. 

Lease  to  James  Partridge,  slatter.  House  on  south  side  of  Sheep 
Street  between  Joseph  Edmunds  on  west  and  John  Andrus  on  east, 
with  the  Culverclose  of  two  acres  between  the  close  of  John  Andrus 
on  east  and  the  Leynes  occupied  by  Robert  Taylor  on  west.  For 
21  years  at  £4  105.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  W.  Applegarth,  Humphrey  Gillett.  • 

No  number.    16  October,  5  George  I,  1718. 
Lease  of  which  P  71  is  counterpart. 

P72,    13  December,  i  George  II,  1727. 

Conveyance  by  Philip  Wenman  of  Caswell,  John  Lenthall  of  Bur- 
ford,  and  WiUiam  Bowles  of  Burford,  to  Sir  John  Dutton  of  Sher- 
boume,  Sir  George  Fettiplace  of  Swinbrook,  Reginald  Morgan  Bray 
of  Great  Barrington,  William  Lenthall,  Charles  Perrott,  George  Hart, 
brazier,  Richard  Whitehall,  mercer,  Matthew  Underwood,  mercer, 
J*aul  Silvester,  tanner,  John  Green,  chandler,  and  Daniel  Dicks, 
maltster,  being  six  of  the  present  Burgesses — all  of  Burford.  The 
charitable  lands  as  before. 

Note. — There  were  now  five  houses  on  the  Culverclose. 

P78.    6  July,  3  George  II,  1729. 

Conveyance  by  William  Bowles,  to  Robert  Taylor,  baker,  Charles 
Perrott,  George  Hart,  Richard  Whitehall,  Matthew  Underwood,  Paul 
Silvester,  and  John  Green.   The  charitable  lands  as  before. 

Note. — ^This  conveyance  was  apparently  made  owing  to  the  former 
one  never  having  been  properly  executed  ;  there  is  no  endorsement  of 
delivery  of  possession  on  P  72.  It  may  be  conjectured,  in  view  of  the  near 
approach  of  another  Royal  Commission,  that  the  state  of  the  management 
of  charitable  afiairs  in  Burford  was  such  that  the  more  important  of  the 
trustees  named  in  P  72  refused  to  undertake  the  office. 

[P  74  to  79  missing.] 

Note. — ^The  two  documents  which  follow,  though  included  on  the 
Schedule  in  the  Poole's  Lands  series,  certainly  do  not  belong  to  it. 
No  part  of  Poole's  Lands  was  in  Church  Lane.  The  situation  of  the 
property  described  here  appears  to  correspond  with  the  situation  of 


36o      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

the  Lesser  Almshouse  founded  by  Simon  Wisdom,  and  the  endorse- 
ment *  Domus  Elimosinarius '  on  one  of  them  would  support  this 
view.  These  appear  to  be  the  only  documents  among  the  Records 
which  have  survived  concerning  that  foundation.  It  is  interesting 
to  observe  that  the  semicircular  shape  of  the  close  here  mentioned 
may  perhaps  be  just  traceable  to-day  in  the  slight  curve  of  the  line  of 
the  Grammar  School  premises  by  the  south-western  comer  of  the 
Churchyard. 

P5.    12  October,  i  Henry  V  (1413). 

Conveyance  by  William  Brampton,  to  Thomas  Alys  of  Burford. 
A  bakehouse  in  the  eastern  part  of  Burford  in  the  upper  lane  leading 
to  the  Church  on  the  north  side  of  the  said  lane,  next  the  tenement 
of  Henry  Spycer  on  one  side,  and  it  extends  thence  along  the  street 
to  the  door  which  once  was  of  John  Sclatter,  and  in  the  lower  part 
the  stable  is  built  and  abuts  on  a  room  of  the  said  William  Brampton 
between  the  messuage  of  the  said  Henry  and  the  tenement  of  the  said 
John  Sclatter,  and  the  close  in  the  lower  part  extends  in  a  semicircle 
inclusively  to  the  said  door  of  John  Sclatter  from  the  said  stable. 

Witnesses :  Thomas  Spycer,  Henry  Coteler,  Thomas  Wynrysh, 
John  Punter,  John  Iremonger,  William  Coteler,  John  Baker. 

Endorsed  :  *  Domus  Elimosinarius  '. 

P7.    29  January,  8  Henry  V  (1421). 

Conveyance  by  Henry  Spycer  and  John  Porter,  clerks,  to  William 
Brampton,  of  Oxford,  The  same  property, '  which  we  had  of  the  gift 
and  feoffment  of  Thomas  Alys  of  Burford  '. 

Witnesses :  Thomas  Spycer,  Henry  Coteler,  William  Cotelere, 
John  Punter,  Edmond  Dyere,  Robert  Cok,  Henry  Gumey. 

THE  GREAT  ALMSHOUSE 
Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  GG 

A 1.  5  August.  (No  year  given,  but  it  must  be  between  1455  and 
147 1.) 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Warwick  te  the  Corporation. 

Trusty  and  well  beloved  I  greet  you  well  and  desire  and  pray  you, 
that  at  the  instaunce  of  this  my  wrytynge  you  will  graunt  unto  mee 
the  presentation  of  the  next  advowson  of  the  Pryory  of  Burford  that 
thereunto  I  may  promote  a  Chaplaine  of  myne  whoe  by  God's  grace 
you  shall  fynde  of  suche  good  and  priestly  conversation  rule  and 


THE  GREAT  ALMSHOUSE  361    . 

govemaunce,  and  so  Demeane  him  amongest  you,   As  you  shall 

holde  you  pleased  with  God's  mercy  Whoe  have  you  in  Keepinge 

Wrytten  at  London  the  vth  day  of  August 

Richard  Erie  of  Warwicke. 

and  captayne  of  Callais    R.  Warwyk 

Endorsed  :  To  my  trusty  and  well  beloved  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 

of  Burford  And  to  every 'and  eche  of  them. 

Also :    The  Erie  of  Warwick's  letter  coppied  out.    The  original 

itself  included. 

Note. — The  original  has  been  lost.  The  date  of  the  letter  can  be  approxi- 
mately fixed  by  the  fact  that  Warwick  was  Captain  of  Calais  from  1455 
to  147 1.  After  the  early  part  of  1456  he  ^yas  abroad  until  1459.  Conse- 
quently this  letter  must  be  either  of  about  the  same  date  as  A  4  {also 
dated  from  London),  or  after  1460. 

A  2  and  A  3.  There  are  no  documents  with  these  numbers.  The 
documents  so  entered  originally  on  the  Schedule  were  evidently 
noticed  afterwards  to  be  subsequent  in  date  to  A  4 ;  they  were 
renumbered  A  5  and  A  6  and  the  previous  entry  cancelled. 

A  4.    26  February,  34  Henry  VI  (1456). 

Ricardus  Neville  Comes  Warrewici  Dominus  de  Berguevenny 
Omnibus  ad  quos  presentes  litere  nostre  pervenerint  salutem  Sciatis 
nos  concessisse  et  per  presentes  dilecto  nostro  Henrico  Bushope  de 
Burford  in  com  Oxon  heredibus  executoribus  et  assignatis  suis 
licenciam  dedisse  erigendi  edificandi  et  sustentandi  domum  seu  domos 
pro  quadam  elemosena  ad  pauperes  sustentandos  super  duo  crofta 
simul  iacencia  in  le  Cherchegrene  in  Burford  predicto  videlicet  inter 
tenementum  nuper  lohannis  Bavok  ex  parte  boriali  et  venellam 
vocatam  Gildenfordlane  ex  parte  australi  et  viam  regiam  ibidem  ex 
parte  occidentali  et  aquam  sive  rivulum  vocatum  Burfordwater  ex 
parte  orientali  quorum  quidem  croftorum  unum  vocatur  Fysshers- 
croft  nuper  in  tenura  Willelmi  Cotiller  et  aliud  croftum  nuper  fuit 
in  tenura  Willelmi  Pynell  et  modo  in  tejiura  dicti  Henrici  Bushope 
Proviso  semper  quod  nobis  heredibus  et  assignatis  nostris  de  annuis 
redditibus  et  serviciis  pro  eisdem  clausis  de  iure  debitis  fideliter  annua- 
tim  respondeant  persolvent  et  perimpleant  Et  quod  nos  prefatum 
comitem  et  Aimam  uxorem  nostram  heredes  et  assignatos  nostros 
eiusdem  Elemosinarie  sic  edificande  veros  et  licitos  fundatores  fieri 
facient  et  procurabunt  In  cuius  rei  testimonium  has  literas  nostras 
fieri  fecimus  patentes  Datum  apud  London  vicesimo  sexto  die  Februarii 
anno  regni  Regis  Henrici  sexti  tricesimo  quarto 

R  Warrewyk 


362  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Note. — This  document  bears  a  good  specimen  of  the  Earl's  seal  in  red 
wax.  As  it  also  bears  his  signature — one  of  the  only  two  specimens  of  the 
signature  of  the  King-maker — and  has  therefore  peculiar  historical  interest, 
it  has  not  been  placed  in  the  bundle  of  Almshouse  documents,  but  will  be 
found  in  Bundle  SS,  Miscellanea  III. 

A  5.    23  February,  34  Henry  VI. 

Conveyance  by  Ralph  Dominus  de  Suydeley,  John  Beauchamp 
Dominus  de  Beauchamp,  John  Norreys  and  John  Nanfan  armigeri, 
*  feofifati  Domine  Isabelle  nuper  Comitisse  Warrwici  ad  instanciam 
nobilis  Domini  Ricardi  Comitis  Warrwici ',  to  Henry  Bisshop  of 
Burford.   The  two  crofts  as  above,  at  a  rent  of  75.  6d.  a  year. 

Witnesses :  Robert  Harcourt  knight,  John  Pynnok  junior  and 
Richard  Lavyngton,  Bailiffs,  William  Stodam,  John  Pynnok. 

A  6.    8  October,  34  Henry  VI. 

Certificate  that  at  the  view  of  frankpledge  held  at  Burford  on  the 
above  date  Henry  Bishop  came  and  took  seisin  of  the  two  crofts  as 
above  to  build  thereon  Almshouses  for  the  poor,  to  pray  for  the  souls 
of  the  Lord  Richard  and  Anne  his  wife  and  all  faithful  souls. 

Sealed  by  Robert  Harcourt  knight,  seneschal  of  the  Lord  Richard 
in  com.  Oxon. 

Ndle. — The  dates  of  A  5  and  A  6  are  rather  confusing  ;  A  5  makes  the 
conveyance  of  the  crofts  take  place  three  days  before  the  Earl  of  Warwick's 
formal  grant.     October,  34  Henry  VI,  was  October  1455. 

A  7.    Feast  of  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  32  Henry  VIII  (1540). 

Lease  by  Richard  Manyngton, '  gentilman  ',  Alderman  of  Burford, 
and  Richard  Hans,  Steward  of  the  Borough  Towne,  Burgesses,  to 
John  Jones,  one  of  the  Bufgesses.  A  tenement  adjoining  to  the  Alms- 
houses on  the  south  of  them  with  a  garden  ground  and  a  back-side  ; 
also  three  chambers  over  the  said  Almshouses,  with  an  entry  going 
through  the  Almshouses  and  a  garden  ground  appertaining  to  the  said 
chambers.  For  90  years  at  345.  Sd.  a  year.  Rent  to  be  paid  to  the 
proctors  of  the  Almshouses.  (After  the  usual  covenants)  *  Over  this 
the  forseid  John  Jones  do  gyve  graunte  and  permyt  by  these  presents 
for  hym  and  his  assignes  to  and  with  the  said  Aldreman  Stewarde 
and  burgesses  and  to  their  successors  Almanner  suche  Sylingis  parti- 
cions  loynyng  and  Carvyng  worke  with  portallis  beyng  in  the  hall 
and  parler  And  also  pales  Yate  and  Suche  other  the  whiche  the  said 
John  nowe  have  Made  or  hereafter  shall  make  upon  the  said  Tenement 
and  ground  shall  stonde  and  remayne  in  the  said  Tenement  as  Imple- 
ments and  stonders  for  evermore.' 

Note. — This  deed  is  a  beautiful  piece  0/  writing  and  has  a  good  specimen 
of  the  town  seal  attached  to  it. 


THE  GREAT  ALMSHOUSE  363 

A  8.    Same  date. 
Counterpart  of  the  above. 

A  9.    30-  October,  15  JElizabeth  (1573). 

Lease  by  Symon  Wysdome,  Alderman,  and  John  Hannes,  Steward, 
with  the  assent  of  the  brethren,  to  William  Symons,  tanner.  The 
plot  or  strip  of  ground  part  of  the  back-side  of  the  Almshouses,  84  feet 
long  by  22  feet  wide,'  upon  part  whereof  the  said  William  hath  erected 
and  builded  up  a  new  tanhouse  with  other  necessaries  '.  For  50  years 
at  45.  a  year. 

A  10.    5  December,  18  Elizabeth  (1575). 

Lease  by  the  same  lessors  to.Thomas  Hewes  alias  Calcott,  yeoman. 
The  close  or  strip  with  the  workhouse  thereon  builded  commonly 
called  the  Tanhouse,  between  the  tenement  of  William  Symons  north 
and  Gyldenfoorde  lane  south.  *  Excepting  and  always  reserving  unto 
the  Alderman  and  Steward  and  Burgesses  an  annual  rent  of  2s.  &d. 
going  out  of  the  premises  and  to  be  paid  by  WilUam  Symons.*  For 
21  years  at  8^.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  John  Lyme,  Robert  Silvester,  Bailiffs  ;  John  Lloyde, 
Richard  Chadwell,  Thomas  Feteplace,  gentleman,  Richard  Reynolds, 
William  Symons,  Richard  Dalby,  Edmond  Silvester,  Benedicte 
Fawler,  William  Partridge,  Walter  Mollyner,  John  Wyllyams,  Robert 
Scarboroughe,  William  Phillips ;  John  Smythar,  bedle ;  Bartholomew 
Cannan  '  the  wryter  hereof  and  towne  clerke  '. 

A 11.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkyns,  John  Roffe,  William  Webbe, 
John  Huntt,  John  Gryfiith  alias  Phillippes,  and  Thomas  Parsons, 
yeoman.  Burgesses,  to  Symon  Symons,  tanner.  Steward  of  the  Fellow- 
ship. Capital  messuage  with  a  garden  strip  late  occupied  by  William 
Hewes  alias  Calcott  lying  near  to  the  river  called  Gyldenford,  all 
between  the  Almshouses  on  north  and  the  highway  and  Gyldenford 
river  on  south.  All  which  premises  are  described  as  bought  by  the 
lessors  from  Richard  Merywether  and  Thoby  Dallam,  the  title  of 
sales  being  recited  as  in  P  22.  Lease,  for  90  years  at  50^.  8J.  a  year, 
granted  in  consideration  of  a  fine  of  £30  and  the  surrender  of  a  term 
of  36  years  unexpired  of  an  existing  lease. 

.  Witnesses  :  John  Yate,  Bailiff,  Thoby  Dallam,  Andrew  Ward, 
William  Taylor,  Edmond  Serrell,  Raphe  Wisdom,  John  Templer, 
John  Collier,  William  Sessions,  Walter  Hayter, '  towne  clerke  and  the 
wryter  hereof '. 


.364  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Endorsed :  Md.  that  the  third  day  of  November  1606  Symon  Symons 
within  named  did  publishe  unto  the  company  then  assembled  that  the 
ground  lease  contajminge  the  Lands  within  mencioned  whereof  this 
is  a  true  counterpane  assured  unto  his  now  wyffe  for  terme  of  her  life 
ys  remayninge  in  the  custodye  of  John  Saunders  her  brother  in  London 
to  be  safely  kept  according  to  true  meaninge. 

A  12.    23  February,  5  Charles  I  (1630). 

'  Conveyance  by  Richard  Hannes  '  cosen  and  next  heire  of  Richard 
Hannes  his  great  grandfather  surviving  feoflfee  of  Bishop's  lands  ',  to 
the  trustees  as  in  the  Commission's  decree.  The  Great  Almshouse 
with  the  messuage  and  ground  adjacent. 

Witnesses :  William  Webbe  junior,  Walter  Hayter  the  elder, 
Richard  Alfiat,  William  Kempster. 

A 13.    17  October,  6  Charles  I,  1630. 

Lease  to  Samuel  Warcuppe  of  Burford,  gentleman.  The  capital 
messuage  adjoining  the  Great  Almshouse;  also  one  '  lowe  roome ', 
one  house  called  the  Tannehouse,  and  one  strip  of  ground  adjoining. 
For  59  years  at*^3  a  year  for  the  capital  messuage  and  205.  a  year 
for  the  low  room  and  the  tanhouse. 

It  is  stated  that  this  lease  is  granted  because  '  it  appeared  to  the 
said  Commissioners  that  the  said  Samuel  .Warcuppe  for  a  great  and 
full  valuable  consideration  of  one  hundred  and  fower  score  pounds 
(and  not  being  made  acquainted  that  the  premises  were  formerly 
given  to  any  charitable  use)  purchased  the  said  capitall  messuage 
and  other  the  premises  then  and  nowe  in  his  possession  of  and  from 
William  Symons  of  Burford,  tanner,  executor  of  Symon  Symons 
deceased,  and  Robert  Veysey  the  elder  of  Tainton,  gentleman,  who 
claimed  the  Residue  of  a  Tenure  of  Ninetie  yeares  of  and  in  the 
premises  .  .  .'  Reservation  is  made,  until  the  point  is  settled  at  the 
Exchequer,  of  a  possible  yearly  rent  of  5^.  to  the  Crown  with  arrears. 

Witnesses :  W.  Batson,  George  Watkins,  Thomas  Richards, 
Christopher  Gale. 

A 14.    7  June,  1655. 

Letter  from  William  Lenthall,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
to  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford  desiring  them  to  grant  him 
a  lease  of  a  parcel  of  ground  in  Berrie  Orchard  belonging  to  the  town 
and  formerly  let  by  lease  to  Mr.  Mathews. 

A  15.    20  January,  27  Charles  II,  1675. 

Lease  to  Nathaniel  Brookes  of  Burford,  gentleman.    Right  of  entry 


THE  GREAT  ALMSHOUSE  365 

through  the  Almshouse  to  the  house  on  north  side  of  the  Almshouse  ; 
also  of  a  parcel  of  ground  in  the  back-side  of  the  Almshouse  fenced 
of!  and  used  for  hay.  For  21  years  at  a  peppercorn  rent.  Granted 
in  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  a  former  lease  and  of  the  fact 
that  the  said  Nathaniel  Brookes  had  built  a  convenient  house  of  office 
in  the  back-side  of  the  Great  Almshouse  for  the  use  of  the  poor  people. 
Witnesses  :  Symon  and  Thomas  Randolph. 

A  16.    29  September,  36  Charles  II,  1684, 

Lease  to  Thomas  Gascoigne  of  Tainton,  gentleman.  The  capital 
messuage  adjoining  to  the  Almshouse,  now  occupied  by  James  Mady. 
For  21  years  at  £10  a  year.  The  lease  to  determine  if  the  lessee  allowed 
two  families  to  live  on  the  premises. 

Witnesses :  Walwin  Gascoigne,  Elizabeth  Gascoigne,  Symon 
Randolph. 

A  17.    30  August,  II  William  III,  1699. 

Lease  to  Anne  Brooke,  relict  of  Nathaniel  Brooke.    The  same  as 
in  A  15,  at  a  peppercorn  rent,  for  keeping  the  building  in  repair. 
Witnesses  :  Elizabeth  Lambert,  John  Jordan. 

A  18.    I  June,  3  George  I,  171 7. 

Lease  to  James  Gater,  maltster.  Part  of  the  messuage  on  south 
side  of  the  Almshouse,  viz.  two  rooms  below  and  three  rooms  above, 
all  front  rooms  to  the  street  on  the  south  side  of  the  said  messuage  ; 
also  the  bam,  malthouse,  dovehouse,  little  garden,  and  great  back-side 
between  the  dovehouse  and  malthouse  and  that  part  of  the  orchard 
that  is  on  the  north  side  of  the  dovehouse  straight  from  the  north 
side  of  the  dovehouse  down  to  the  river,  where  a  mound  is  to  be  made 
and  kept  in  repair  by  the  trustees  ;  the  tenant  also  to  have  access 
to  the  pump  in  the  inner  back-side  of  the  Almshouse.  For  21  years 
at  £10  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   John  Boulter,  Humphrey  Gillett. 

WILLS 
Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  HH 

Wl.    29  November,  1473. 

Will  of  John  Pynnok. 

(After  bequests  to  altars,  &c.)  Item  lego  cuilibet  filiolorum  et 
filiolarum  mearum  duas  oves  matrices  Item  lego  cuilibet  famulorum 
et  famularum  mearum  duas  oves  matrices   Item  lego  lohanni  Graunger 


366  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

unam  patellam  eneam  magnam  Item  lego  Willelmo  Spicer  unam 
patellam  eneam  magnam  Item  lego  Ricardo  Barbero  unum  cale- 
factorem  Item  lego  margerie  filie  lohannis  Pynnok  iunioris  unam 
murram  unam  zonam  stupatam  viridis  colons  unum  capicium  de 
Scarlett  Item  lego  lohanni  Gilmott  unum  plumale  cum  cervicali 
unum  par  lodicum  unum  par  lintheorum  duo  cooptoria  unam  magnam 
cistam  stantem  in  camera  unam  tabulam  volventem  stantem  in  par- 
lario  xii  pecias  de  electro  unam  mappam  duo  manutergia  unam 
murram  unum  craterem  unam  pelvim  cum  lavacro  duas  ollas  eneas 
unam  patellam  eneam  magnam  unum  cacabum  cum  pendentali  unum 
verutum  cum  duobus  popinagiis  unum  armorum  vocatum  pollax 
unam  sellam  cum  freno  unum  gladium  unam  zonam  stupatam  sex 
cocliaria  argentea  unam  oUam  stanneam  Item  lego  Matilde  Nott 
unam  maticiam  unum  par  lintheorum  unum  par  lodtcum  cum  cooptorio 
unam  armilausam  vocatam  Cloke  unam  togam  de  medley  que  quondam 
erat  uxoris  mee  unam  mappam  duo  manutergia  unam  ollam  eneam 
unam  patellam  eneam  unum  calefactorem  unum  cacabum  cum 
pendentali  vi  pecias  de  electro  unam  pelvim  cum  lavacro  unam 
parvam  tabulam  volventem  certa  vasa  lignea  unum  vocatum  le  vaate 
aliud  vocatum  cowle  aliud  vocatum  paile  et  duos  cados  vocatos 
Barellis  et  omnes  discos  ligneos  alia  duo  vasa  vocata  meelis  unum 
verutum  tripodem  vocatam  le  brond  yron  unam  ollam  stanneam  duo 
sacca  unum  urciolum  eneum  unam  cistam  stantem  in  camera  que 
vocatur  Hardyngs  chamber  unum  ventilabrum  et  unum  capicium 
que  quondam  erat  uxoris  mee. 

[Bequest  to  John  Pynnok,  '  filio  meo  ',  of  a  house  in  the  High 
Street  between  -a  tenement  of  Henry  Bishop  on  the  south  and  one 
of  John  Pynnok  junior  on  the  north,  and  a  house  on  the  south  side 
of  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement  formerly  of  Robert  Coburley 
on  the  east  and  a  tenement  late  of  John  Mosiar  on  the  west,  ten 
shillings  to  be  paid  yearly  on  testator's  obit  day  to  priests  and  poor 
people.  The  two  houses  to  pass  after  the  death  of  John  Pynnok 
junior  to  his  daughter  Marger>^,  and  after  her  death  to  pass,  the  High 
Street  house  to  the  Vicar  and  proctors  of  the  parish  church,  and  the 
Witney  Street  house  to  the  proctors  of  the  Gild.  John  Pynnok  to 
be  residuary  legatee  and  executor,  and  John  Graunger  supervisor.] 

In  cuius  rei  testimonium  presentibus  sigillum  meum  apposui  et 
quia  sigillum  meum  pluribus  est  incognitum  presentem  codicillum 
huic  testamento  indentato  apponi  procuravi  Hiis  testibus  Thoma 
Maiowe  Ricardo  Barbero  et  aliis    Datum  die  et  anno  supra  notatis. 


WILLS  367 

Note. — The  codicil  referred  to  is  a  certificate  by  John  Sabyn,  clerk, 
public  notary  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  that  he  was  present  at  the  making 
of  the  will,  saw  and  heard  the  dispositions  made,  and  himself  drew  up  the 
will,  and  signed  it  with  his  usual  signature  and  device.  The  device  is  a  form 
of  cross  on  a  pedestal  enclosing  the  words  Da  Deo  Cor  Tuum  and  Serva 
Mandata. 

W  2.    29  October,  1478. 

Will  of  Henry  Bishop. 

After  various  bequests  for  the  maintenance  of  altars,  lights,  &c., 
he  bequeaths  two  messuages  in  the  High  Street,  two  acres  in  the 
common  fields,  and  a  messuage  called  Gildenford  gardeyne  to  his 
son  John  ;  and  to  Margaret  his  wife  and  William  his  son  the  residue 
of  all  his  goods  and  other  lands  and  tenements  in  Burford  that  they 
may  lay  out  £200  for  the  good  of  his  soul.  • 

Witnesses  :  Sir  Thomas  Pollard,  by  the  grace  of  God  bishop,  and 
vicar  of  Burford,  and  Thomas  Bisshope  chaplain  and  bachelor  of  law, 

W3. 

Extract  from  the  will  of  Edmund  Silvester  the  elder,  late  of  Burford, 
clothier,  giving  £20  to  be  administered  by  the  Alderman,  Bailiffs, 
and  Steward  in  loans  to  young  tradesmen  of  the  town  on  sufficient 
surety,  for  terms  of  five  years,  the  sureties  to  be  reconsidered  every 
year.  The  recipients  of  the  money  to  pay  every  Easter  time  2d. 
to  the  Alderman,  id.  to  each  of  the  Bailiffs,  and  ^.  to  the  Steward^ 
for  their  pains.  If  the  money  were  ever  retained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Alderman,  Bailiffs,  and  Ste\yard  unused  for  a  period  of  three  months, 
the  testator's  heir  to  have  the  right  to  recover  the  money  for  his  own 
use.  Note  appended  to  the  effect  that  at  the  Church  Account  held 
on  8  May  1575  by  Richard  Reynolds,  Walter  Mollyner,  John  Walburge, 
and  Robert  Brewtone,  then  churchwardens,  the  £20  was  paid  over 
by  Edmund  Silvester  the  younger  to  the  Alderman,  Bailiffs,  and 
Steward,  and  by  them  lent  out  to  the  first  recipients — Robert  Evereste, 
'  glacier ',  John  Hiron,  '  diar,*,  Symon  Symons,  tanner,  and  Richard 
Jurden,  draper. 

W4.    17  March,  1576. 

Gift  by  Edmund  Harman,  of  £4  a  year  out  of  the  rent  of  the  Port 
Mills,  to  the  poor,  to  be  distributed  on  Monday  before  Easter  and 
Monday  before  Christmas  by  the  Constables. 

W  5.    14  December,  22  Elizabeth  (1579). 

Bond  of  Robert  Starre,  in  £4,  to  Symon  Wisdom,  clothier,  Richard 


368  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

ReynoUes,  woollen  draper,  and  William  Symons,  tanner.  The  bond 
relates  the  bequest  by  Raphe  Wyllett,  clerk,  parson  of  Kingham,  of 
a  cow  for  the  rehef  of  the  poor  of  Burford.  The  cow  had  been  delivered 
to  Wisdom,  Reynolds,  and  Symons,  and  by  them  hired  out  for  45. 
a  year.  As  the  cow  was  *  very  like  to  have  perished  through  casuallty 
and  ill  keeping  ',  the  three,  in  order  to  secure  the  testator's  intentions, 
sold  the  cow  to  Starre  for  305.,  and  added  3^.  4^.  each  to  make  up 
a  sum  of  40^.  This  sum  was  now  lent  to  Starre  for  ten  years,  the 
interest,  at  the  rate  of  45.  a  year,  to  be  devoted  to  the  relief  of  the  poor. 
Witnesses  :  John  Hannes  the  elder.  Raphe  Wisdom,  Miles  Padedford, 
and  Walter  Hayter. 

W6.    29  December,  1580. 

Copy  of  part  of  the  will  of  William  Bruton,  leaving  to  Thomas 
Hewes  the  younger  and  his  heirs  '  the  orchard  which  was  my  Brothers 
Roberts  the  which  he  bought  of  Bennett  Fawler  and  my  cosen  Thomas 
to  give  yearly  unto  the  poore  uppon  Good  Friday  65.  Sd.' 

Witnesses  :  John  Huntt,  Robert  West  alias  Hallidayes. 

W7.    4  August,  1 581. 

Gift  by  John  Floyde  the  elder,  clothier,  to  Symon  Wisdom,  Alderman, 
and  John  Hannes,  Steward,  and  their  successors,  of  a  yearly  annuity 
of  6s.  8d.  out  of  the  rent  of  a  house  of  his  on  west  side  of  High  Street 
between  a  tenement  belonging  to  Brasenose  College  on  south  and  the 
court  hall  commonly  called  the  Towlsey  on  north.  Tlie  annuity  to 
be  paid  on  Thursday  before  Easter  and  distributed  on  Good  Friday. 

Witnesses  :  John  Lyme  and  John  Williams,  Bailiffs  ;  Richard 
Chadwell,  Richard  Reynolles,  William  Partridge,  Richard  Dalby, 
William  PhiUips,  Benedict  Fawler,  John  Griffiths. 

W8.    28  December,  2  James  I,  1604. 

Gift  by  George  Thomson  of  Bampton  to  the  poor  of  Burford,  received 
by  Andrew  Ward  and  John  Collier,  Bailiffs  of  Burford,  of  £30  to  be 
lent  out  £10  a  year  in  sums  of  £2  los.  to  beginners  in  trade,  the  interest 
to  be  distributed  to  the  poor. 

W9.    24  January,  14  James  I  (161 7). 

Gift  by  WiUiam  Edgley  of  London,  gentleman,  of  £io,  to  be  disposed 
of  so  that  the  profits  might  go  to  the  poor. 

W 10.    24  January,  1616. 

Gift  by  Alexander  Ready,  Vicar  of  Sherborne  (received  from  Richard 
Ready  of  Burford,  yeoman,  executor  of  the  will,  and  Henry  Heylin 


WILLS  369 

of  Burford,  Thomas  Symons  of  Burford,  and  Alexander  Ready, 

citizen  and  grocer  of  London,  overseers  of  the  will),  of  £40  to  the  town 

of  Burford,  half  of  the  sum  to  be  lent  out  in  sums  of  £6  13^.  4^,  to  three 

poor  shopkeepers,  householders,  &c.,  at  interest  of  4^.  per  205. ; 

£10  of  the  sum  to  be  lent  to  two  maidens  to  help  them  to  get  married, 

the  period  of  the  loans  to  be  for  seven  years  ;  and  the  remaining  £io 

to  be  lent  to  tvfo  decayed  tradesmen. 

The  interest,  amounting  at  the  rate  mentioned  to  135.  4d.  a  year, 

to  be  disposed  of  thus  :  To  the  town  clerk  for  drawing  the  bonds  of 

the  loans,  15.  Sd. ;  to  the  serjeant  for  warning  the  recipients  to  appear, 

4d. ;  to  the  Registrar  of  the  Bishop  for  supervising  the  administration 

of  the  bequest,  Sd. ;  to  eight  of  the  Almshouse  people,  15.  each  on  the 

Sunday  before  Christmas,  8^. ;  the  residue  of  25^  Sd.  to  the  Alderman, 

Steward,  Bailiffs,  and  chief  minister  to  use  as  they  appoint. 

[W  II  and  12  missing.  They  were  extracts  from  William  Lenthall's 
will.] 

W 13.    5  October,  1672. 

Gift  by  John  Harris  of  £200,  *  out  of  the  great  love  and  respect 
which  I  bear  unto  the  town  of  Burford  where  I  was  bom  '.  Of  this 
sum  £100  to  be  lent  out  gratis  to  ten  tradesmen,  £10  apiece,  repayable 
by  20s.  a  year,  each  of  these  tradesmen  to  pay  6d.  to  the  Minister  or 
Clerk  who  should  read  out  the  accounts  of  the  charity  in  the  Church 
on  Tuesday  in  Whitsun  week ;  the  other  £100  to  be  disposed  of  so 
that  the  profits  should  be  employed  in  binding  out  apprentices. 

ROLL  OF  THE  BURGESS  RULES 

Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  II 

Note. — The  Roll  of  the  Burgess  Rules  has  not  been  transcribed 
here,  because  it  has  been  printed  in  full  in  the  Reports  of  the  Historical 
Manuscripts  Commission,  Various  Collections,  vol.  i  (1901). 

COBB  HALL 
Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  KK 

GSl.     19  January,  1590. 

Extract  from  the  will  of  George  Symons  of  Burford  : 

'  Item  I  give  and  bequeath  unto  ye  poore  of  Burford  my  now  dwelling 
house  in  Burford  called  cobhall  lying  in  the  west  part  of  the  High 
Street  with  all  edifices  bacsides  Courtyards  gardens  courts  and  easya- 

3304  B  b 


370  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

ments  and  all  other  comodities  and  advantages  whatsoever  in  as 
ample  manner  &  forme  as  I  the  said  George  Symons  have  or  doe  or 
ought  to  have  enioyed  the  same  which  house  with  the  foresaid  premisses 
are  to  be  set  yearely  by  Eight  of  ye  poore  people  of  Burford  to  be 
chosen  by  Voyces  of  ye  said  poore  people  out  of  their  owne  Company 
Wherof  I  will  that  fower  of  the  eight  shall  at  the  time  of  their  election 
vewe  and  survey  the  Reparacions  of  the  said  house  for  one  yeare  and 
to  have  authoritie  to  set  the  same  house  for  one  yeare  and  no  more 
for  the  best  and  most  advantage  for  all  ye  poore  people  of  Burford 
And  my  will  is  the  said  yearly  election  of  eight  poore  people  should 
be  done  by  them  uppon  St.  Andrew's  day  Provided  alwayes  that  all 
contracts  promises  compacts  agreements  bargaynes  or  graunts  of 
theirs  whatsoever  contrary  to  ye  true  meaning  of  my  will  shalbe 
utterly  void  &  of  none  effect.' 
This  will  was  proved  8  February,  1591. 

GS  2.    16  October,  6  Charles  I  (1629). 

Lease  to  Richard  Norgrave.    House  or  inn  called  the  Swan  lying 
near  to  the  Bridge  of  Burford.    For  21  years  at  £S  a  year. 
Endorsed  in  a  later  hand  :  *  Cobb  Hall.' 

GS3.    1  May,  1650. 

Assignment  by  Edmond  Heming,  barber  surgeon,  to  Robert  Collier 
of  Tainton.  Lease  of  the  house  or  inn  called  the  Swan  next  to  the 
Bridge,  formerly  in  the  tenure  of  Richard  Norgrave,  with  a  signpost 
and  sign  of  the  Swan  standing  at  the  door  thereof.  Leased  on  i  October, 
23  Charles  I  (1648).  to  Edmond  Heming,  then  in  his  occupation  ; 
now  let  to  Robert  Collier  for  £31  a  year  and  occupied  by  Richard 
Willett.  Remainder  of  Heming's  lease  assigned  to  Collier,  £8  a  year 
to  be  paid  to  the  trustees. 

Witnesses  :  Edmond  Heming  junior,  John  Jordan. 

GS4.    14  January,  31  Charles  II  (1679). 

Lease  to  William  Savage  of  the  City  of  London,  grocer.  House  or 
inn  called  the  Swan  now  occupied  by  Paul  Silvester  of  Burford,  clothier. 
For  21  years  at  £S  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Robert  Applegarth,  Richard  Mills,  Richard  Applegarth, 
Mary  Applegarth. 

GS  5.    ...  3  James  II  (1687). 

Lease  to  William  Rogers  of  Burford,  clothier.   Messuage  or  tenement 
called  the  Swan.    For  21  years  at  £8  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  John  Deacon,  Thomas  Randolph. 


COBB  HALL  371 

GS6.    20  June,  13  William  III  (i 701).    • 

Lease  to  the  same  of  the  same  premises,  for  same  term  and  rent. 

GST.    10  December,  3  George  I  (171 7). 

Lease  to  Daniel  Flexson  of  Widford,  clothier.    The  Swan.    For 

21  years  at  £S  a  year. 

Note. — The  lessee  signs  his  name  Daniel  Flexney,  and  the  name  appears 
so  in  an  unnumbered  counterpart. 

GS8.    I  March,  9  George  II,  1735.  * 

Lease  to  Joseph  Flexney  of  Burford,  clothier.    The  Swan.    For  21 
years  at  £S  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  Henry  Tash,  William  Jordan. 

GS  9.    Same  date. 

Bond  by  Joseph  Flexney,  in  £200.  In  considei-ation  of  a  new  lease 
replacing  the  unexpired  three  years  of  his  late  father's  lease,  at  the 
same  rent,  the  lessee  undertakes  to  spend  £100  in  repairs  ;  otherwise 
his  rent  to  be  at  £10  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  the  same. 


HEYLIN'S  CHARITY,  ETC. 
Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  LL 

H 1  and  H  2.    26  and  27  May,  1691. 

Indentures  of  a  marriage  settlement  between  Richard  Abell  of 
the  one  part  and  William  Little,  Edward  Osbom,  and  Elizabeth 
Little,  daughter  of  the  said  William  Little,  of  the  other  part.  A 
messuage  or  tenement  with  appurtenances  in  Clanfield  and  a  yard 
lands  and  a  quarter  of  a  yard  lands,  and  other  premises,  to  be  held 
upon  trust  to  the  uses  mentioned,  in  consideration  of  the  marriage 
intended  between  Richard  Abell  and  Elizabeth  Little. 

H8.    15  June,  I  Anne,  1702, 

Indenture  of  sale  by  Richard  Abell,  citizen  and  haberdasher  of 
London,  Elizabeth  his  wife,  and  Thomas  Abell  his  father,  to  the 
Trustees  of  charitablelands  in  Burford  as  in  the  decrees  of  the  Royal 
Commission.  Various  arable  and  pasture  lands  in  Clanfield,  amounting 
to  17  acres  and  one  farundell. 

A  Commission  held  at  Witney  in  the  year  above  mentioned  having 
ordered  that  £200  given  by  Henry  Heylin,  late  of  Minster  Lovell, 
Esquire,  by  his  will  dated  9  May,  1693,  and  also  £20  given  by  Richard 
Sindrey,felImonger,in  1660  for  charitable  purposes,  should  be  employed 

Bb  2 


372  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

in  the  purchase  of  lands,  the  rents  thereof. to  be  used  for  placing  out 
two  poor  boys  as  apprentices. 

H  4.    i8  February,  6  Anne  (1707). 

Warrant  addressed  to  John  Sindrey  and  Henry  Peacock.    John 

Sindrey,  of  Bedford,  merchant,  is  ordered  to  pay  the  sum  of  £20 

bequeathed  by  his  grandfather  in  1660,  which  had  not  been  paid 

either  by  his  widow  or  by  his  son.    Henry  Peacock,  executor  of  the 

will  of  Henry  Heyling,  gentleman,  of  Minster  Lovell,  is  ordered  to 

pay  the  sum  of  £200  given  by  that  will.    The  money  to  be  paid  at 

Burford  on  25  June  next  following. 

Note. — The  warrant  is  issued  on  the  findings  of  the  Royal  Commission 
of  1702  at  Witney.    See  Tolsey  Collection,  infm,  pp.  485,  486. 

CLl.     1668, 

Order  by  the  Trustees  of  Charitable  Uses  to  the  Trustees  of  Cleave- 
ley's  Charity  to  distrain  for  the  arrears  of  rent  and  when  received  to 
pay  them  according  to  the  will. 

CL2.    27  October,  1693. 

Conveyance  by  David  Hughes,  Thomas  Parsons,  and  Richard 
Hayries,  to  John  Bartholomew  and  others.  Two  several  yearly 
rents  of  five  pounds  and  three  pounds  given  by  the  will  of  William 
Cleaveley  to  hold  during  the  remainder  of  a  term  of  six  hundred  years 
upon  the  trusts  mentioned  in  the  will. 

CL3.    26  September,  1724. 

Conveyance  by  Paul  Silvester  the  elder,  to  George  Hart,  Richard 
Whitehall,  Paul  Silvester  the  younger,  Matthew  Underwood,  William 
Castle,  and  James  Whiteing.  The  two  yearly  rents  as  above,  to  hold 
upon  the  trusts  of  the  will. 

CH  54.    16  July,  8  George  II,  1734. 

Lease  to  Nicholas  Willett  of  Burford,  apothecary.  The  Crown  Inn 
with  garden,  on  west  side  of  High  Street.  Also  a  close  at  the  further 
end  of  Witney  Street  between  a  close  occupied  by  Henry  Tash  and 
a  tenement  occupied  by  Humphrey  Nunny  on  west ;  also  one  acre 
of  meadow  in  High  Mead.  This  lease  to  include  the  end  of  a  term 
granted  to- William  Castle  and  assigned  by. his  executors  to  Willett, 
six  years  yet  to  run.  For  15  years  from  25  March,  1749,  at 
£14  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  R.  Griffiths,  William  Jordan. 

CH  56.    5  March,  9  George  II,  1735. 

Lease  to  Henry  Tash,  innholder.    The  Bull,  between  a  tenement  of 


HEYLIN'S  CHARITY,  ETC.  373 

John  Green  on  south  and  the  Angel  occupied  by  Edward  Chavasse 
on  north.   For  ai  years  at  £14  a  year. 
Witnesses  :   Joseph  Flexney,  William  Jordan. 

16  October,  5  George  I,  17 19. 
A  lease  of  which  the  counterpart  is  among  the  documents  of  Poole's 
Lands  and  duly  scheduled  :  see  P  71. 
10  December,  3  George  I,  171 7. 
A  counterpart  of  a  lease  which  will  be  found  among  the  documents 
of  Cobb  Hall  duly  scheduled  and  numbered  :  see  GS  7. 
26  March,  1730. 
Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Richard  Clarke  of  Clanfield,  butcher. 
Seven  acres  and  a  farundell  of  arable  land.    For  21  years  at  £9  a  year. 
(Receipts  enclosed.) 

COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS.    I 
Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries 

Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  MM 

5  July,  10  Elizabeth  (1567). 

Exemplification  out  of  the  Exchequer  of  a  verdict  concerning 
certain  lands  in  Burford. 

The  lands  in  question  were  the  following :  one  acre  arable  called 
Jesus  Acre ;  one  acre  of  pasture  in  the  occupation  of  the  church- 
wardens, said  to  have  been  lately  given  for  the  maintenance  of  an 
anniversary  in  Burford  Church  ;  one  acre  of  meadow  and  a  shurf 
in  '  Heymeadow  '  occupied  by  Thomas  Calcott,  given  to  maintaining 
a  light  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Katherine ;  a  half-acre  of  meadow  called 
Cakebred  Land,  occupied  by  Thomas  Fryer,  given  for  maintaining 
an  anniversary  ;  a  piece  of  ground  called  '  a  platt  of  ground  '  occupied 
by  Simon  Wysdome  ;  two  acres  arable  in  Upton  occupied  by  the  same, 
given  to  the  maintenance  of  a  light  called  the  Torchlight ;  a  tenement 
occupied  by  Kenelm  Chaunce  ;  a  shop  occupied  by  William  Partridge, 
given  to  the  maintenance  of  a  priest  to  celebrate  Mass  in  St.  Thomas's 
Chapel ; 

The  Attorney  General  laid  an  information  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer 
on  2  February,  9  Elizabeth  (i  567),  to  the  effect  that  the  lands  mentioned 
had  been  given  for  the  purposes  named,  that  the  jury  at  the  inquisition 
held  at  Chipping  Norton,  3  September,  7  Elizabeth  (1564),  had  found 
that  the  lands  were  so  given  to  the  Church,  and  that  they  should 


374      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

therefore  have  been  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown.  The 
information  laid  proceeded  to  state  that  William  Dalby  and  John 
Geste  were  trespassing  in  possession  of  the  premises  and  converting 
them  to  their  own  use,  and  were  so  doing  on  8  October,  8  Elizabeth 
(1565),  and  still  continued  to  do  so  in  contempt  of  the  Queen  and 
against  her  laws. 

A  writ  was  issued  in  pursuit  of  this  information,  ordering  the 
attendance  of  Dalby  and  Geste  at  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  and  they 
attended  by  their  attorney  allowed  by  the  Court,  John  Marwood. 
They  asked  for  time  to  reply  to  the  information,  and  the  case  was 
adjourned.  On  its  resumption  at  a  later  date  Dalby  and  Geste 
protested  that  the  information  was  vexatious,  and  denied  in  detail 
that  the  lands  were  ever  given  for  the  purposes  alleged.  They  further 
protested  that  long  before  the  inquisition  at  Chipping  Norton,  viz. 
on  20  June,  6  Elizabeth  (1563),  Simon  Wysdome  and  Hugo  Colman, 
Proctors  of  Burford^Bridge,  were  seized  of  and  in  the  premises  speci- 
fied, to  apply  the  revenues  thereof  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Bridge, 
and  enfeoffed  Dalby  and  Geste  of  the  premises  on  the  date  men- 
tioned. 

The  jury  found  on  their  oath  that  the  premises  were  not  given  for 
the  purposes  alleged,  and  that  Dalby  and  Geste  had  not  been  guilty 
of  trespass. 

The  Court  gave  a  verdict  accordingly,  with  liberty  to  Dalby  and 
Geste  to  enter  on  the  premises. 

17  June,  i8  James  I  (1620). 

Quo  Warranto  Proceedings  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer  concerning 
the  franchises  of  Burford. 

Per  Trinitatis  Recordum  Anno  Decimo  Octavo  Regis  Jacobi. 
Oxon  Memorandum  quod  Henricus  Yelverton  miles  Attomatus  Domini 

Regis  Generalis  qui  pro  eodem  Rege  in  hac  parte  sequitur  presens 
hie  in  curia  decimo  septimo  die  lunii  hoc  termino  in  propria  persona 
sua  pro  eodem  Domino  Rege  dedit  curiam  hie  Intelligi  et  Informari 
quod  quidem  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Simons 
Leonardus  Mills  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  et  alii  Inhabitantes 
Ville  et  Burgi  de  Burford  in  comitatu  Oxon  predicto  per  spaiam  {sic) 
trium  annorum  iam  ultimo  elapsorum  et  amplius  usi  fuerunt  et  adhue 
utuntur  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  de  Burford  predictum  in  comitatu 
predicto  absque  aliquo  warranto  sive  Regali  concessione  libertates 
privilegia  et  ffranchesias  subsequentes  viz  :  habere  tenere  et  custodire 
iinum  mercatum  ibidem  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  quolibet 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS      375 

die  Sabbati  qualibet  septimana  Ac  eciam  habere  tenere  et  custodire 
ibidem  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  quolibet  anno  duas  ferias 
annuatim  viz :  unam  earundem  feriarum  in  festo  Sancti  lohannis 
Baptiste  et  aliam  earundem  feriarum  in  die  Exaltacionis  Sancte 
Crucis  aliter  vocate  Holliroode  day  et  in  mercato  et  feriis  illis  habere 
picagium  stallagium  et  alias  lurisdictiones  et  privilegia  ad  mercatum 
et  ferias  spectantia  et  pertinentia  et  pro  eisdem  picagio  et  stallagio 
exigere  levare  et  capere  ad  usus  suos  proprios  diversas  denariorum 
summas  de  subditis  dicti  Domini  Regis  ad  mercatum  et  ferias  pre- 
dictas  venientibus  et  accedentibus  ad  bene  cattalla  mercimonia  et 
mercandisa  sua  in  mercato  et  feriis  illis  vendenda  seu  vendi- 
cioni  exponenda  Ac  eciam  habere  recipere  et  percipere  ibidem  in 
mercato  et  feriis  illis  Tolnetum  de  omni  genere  frumenti  et  grani  ad 
mercatum  et  ferias  predictas  veniente  et  adducto  ac  Tolnetuip  pro 
omnibus  equis  spadonibus  bobus  boviculis  vaccis  iuvencis  ovibus 
porcis  et  aliis  averiis  quibuscunque  in  mercato  et  feriis  predictis 
emptis  et  venditis  Ac  eciam  habere  et  ad  usus  suos  proprios  convertere 
et  disponere  omnia  bona  et  cattalla  felonorum  bona  et  cattalla  waviata 
vocata  waives  bona  et  cattalla  extrahura  vocata  straies  infra  Villam 
et  Burgum  predictum  contingentia  et  accidentia  Necnon  eligere 
nominare  et  constituere  de  semetipsis  fore  Scenescallum  Ville  et 
Burgi  predicti  necnon  unum  de  semetipsis  fore  Deputatum  Alder- 
mannum  eiusdem  ville  et  Burgi  ac  ad  libita  sua  propria  quoscunque 
officiarios  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  ab  ofiiciis  suis  amovere 
ibidem  necnon  habere  et  tenere  infra  eandem  Villam  et  Burgum  unam 
•  Curiam  vocatam  a  Borrough  Court  de  tribus  septimanis  in  tres 
septimanas  ac  omnia  et  singula  proficua  et  emoleimenta  infra  curiam 
predictam  crescentia  et  contingentia  ad  usus  suos  proprios  capere 
convertere  et  disponere  et  in  eadem  curia  tenere  placita  quaecunque 
subter  summam  quadraginta  solidorum  ac  insuper  cogere  et  compellere 
quascunque  personas  eis  placuerint  iurare  et  sacra  praestare  in  curia 
predicta  in  quibuscunque  causis  et  materiis  in  eadem  curia  dependenti- 
bus  ad  libita  sua  et  easdem  personas  super  sacramenta  sua  in  omnes 
(sic)  causis  et  materiis  illis  examinare  Ac  eciam  statuta  ordinaciones 
leges  et  articulos  ad  libita  sua  propria  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  pre- 
dictum facere  ordinare  et  constituere  et  eos  qui  statutis  ordinacionibus 
legibus  constitucionibus  et  articulis  illis  obedire  negarent  seu  eadem 
non  observarent  Imprisonare  ac  fines  et  amerciamenta  super  omnes 
eis  de  causis  taxare  et  imponere  et  ea  ad  usus  suos  propriis  (sic)  levare 
et  convertere    Necnon  sacris  astringere  tot  et  tales  de  Inhabitantibus 


376      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Ville  et  Burgi  predicti  quot  et  quales  eis  placuerint  ad  statuta  ordina- 
ciones  leges  constituciones  et  articulos  predictos  observandos  et 
custodiendos  de  quibus  omnibus  et  singulis  privilegiis  libertatibus  et 
ff  ranchesiis  supradictis  iidem  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew 
Simo  Simons  Leonardus  Mills  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  et 
alii  Inhabitantes  Ville  et  Burgi  predicti  per  totum  tempus  supradictum 
super  dictum  Dominum  Regem  usurpaverunt  et  adhuc  usurpant  in 
dicti  Domini  Regis  nunc  contemptum  et  sue  Regie  prerogative  grave 
dampnum  et  preiudicium  Unde  predictus  Attornatus  Domini  Regis 
pro  eodem  Domino  Rege  petit  auditum  in  premissis  et  debitum  legis 
processum  versus  ipsos  Willelmum  Taylor  Willelmum  Bartholomew 
Simonem  Simons  Leonardum  Mills  Thomam  Silvester' et  lohannem 
Hunt  et  alii  (sic)  Inhabitantes  Ville  et  Burgi  predicti  in  hac  parte 
fieri  ad  Respondendum  dicto  Domino  Regi  quo  warranto  clamant 
habere  uti  et  gaudere  libertatibus  privilegiis  et  ffranchesiis  supra 
dictis  SUPER  QUO  concordatum  est  quod  mandetur  prefatis 
Willelmo  Taylor  Willelmo  Bartholomew  Simoni  Simons  Leonardo 
Mills  Thome  Silvester  et  lohanni  Hunt  per  breve  Domini  Regis  nunc 
de  sub  sigillo  huius  de  essendi  hie  etc  ad  Respondenduih  in  premissis 
Et  hoc  sub  pena  Centum  librorum  quas  etc.  Si  non  etc  Et  predictis 
eisdem  Willelmo  Willelmo  Simon  Leonardo  Thome  et  lohanni  in 
Forma  predicta  Ita  etc  ex  die  Sancte  Trinitatis  in  tres  septimanas 
hoc  termino  Ad  quem  diem  Predicti  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus 
Bartholomew  Simo  Symons  Leonardus  Mills  Thome  Silvester  et 
lohannes  Hunt  venerunt  hie  per  Willelmum  Boucher  Attomatum 
suum  ad  hoc  ex  gracia  Curia  specialiter  admissum  Et  habito  audita 
Informacionis  predicte  iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simon  Leonardus 
Thomas  et  lohannes  protestandur  (sic)  quod  Informacio  predicta 
minus  sufficiens  in  lege  existit  ad  quam  ipsi  necesse  non  habent  nee 
per  legem  Terre  tenentur  respondere  per  placita  tamen  iidem  Willelmus 
Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et  lohannes  dicunt  quod  dictus 
Dominus  Rex  nunc  ipsos  Willelmum  Willelmum  Simonem  Leonardum 
Thomam  et  lohannem  occasione  premissorum  in  informacione  predicta 
superius  spectante  impetere  seu  ottenare  non  debet  quia  dicunt 
quod  Villa  et  Burgus  de  Burford  predictus  est  antiquus  Burgus  quod 
quidem  Inhabitantes  eiusdem  ville  sive  Burgi  a  tempore  cuius  contrarii 
memoria  hominum  non  existit  fuerunt  unum  corpus  Incorporatum 
per  nomen  Ballivorum  Aldermanni  et  Burgensium  Ville  suis  (sic) 
Burgi  de  Burford  predicti  Et  quoad  predictas  libertates  habendas 
et  ad  usus  eorundem  Ballivorum  Aldermanni  et  Burgensium  pro 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     377 

tempore  existentium  convertenda  et  disponenda  omnia  bona  et  cattalla 
felonorum  infra  villam  sive  Burgum  predictum  contingentia  et 
accidentia  iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et 
lohannes  Dicunt  quod  Dominus  Edwardus  quondam  Rex  Anglia 
(sic)  tercius  per  Litteras  suas  patentes  magno  sigillo  suo  Anglie 
sigillatas  Curieque  hie  ostensis  gerentes  datam  eisdem  die  et  anrio 
apud  Burford  predictum  dedit  et  concessit  eisdem  Ballivis  Alder- 
mannis  et  Burgensibus  ville  sive  Burgi  predicti  omnia  et  singula  bona 
et  catalla  felonorum  infra  villam  sive  Burgenses  {sic)  predictum 
quovismodo  contingentia  sive  accidentia  habenda  eisdem  Ballivis 
Aldermannis  et  Burgensibus  et  successoribus  suis  imperpetuum  virtute 
cuius  iidem  Ballivi  Aldermannus  et  Burgenses  fuerunt  et  adhuc 
sunt  de  libertate  ilia  seisiti  ut  de  ffeodo  et  iure  Et  quoad  liber- 
tates  et  firanchesie  subsequentes  in  Informacione  predicta  spectant 
superius  iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et 
lohannes  dicunt  quod  predicta  {sic)  Ballivi  Aldermannis  {sic)  et 
Burgenses  Ville  sive  Burgi  predicti  tempore  existentes  a  toto  tempore 
supradicto  cuius  contrarii  memoria  hominum  non  existit  habuerunt 
tenuerunt  et  gavisi  fuerunt  et  per  totum  idem  tempus  habere  tenere 
et  uti  consueverunt  infra  predictam  villam  sive  Burgum  de  Burford 
unum  mercatum  quolibet  die  Sabbati  non  existente  festo  die  Natalis 
Domini  in  qualibet  septimana  ac  eciam  infra  villam  et  Burgum  pre- 
dictum quolibet  anno  duas  ferias  annuatim  viz  :  unam  earundem 
feriarum  in  festo  Sancti  lohannis  Baptiste  et  aliam  earum  feriarum 
in  die  Exaltacionis  Sancte  Crucis  communitbr  vocato  Hollyroode  day 
non  existente  dies  Solis  quolibet  anno  et  in  mercato  et  feriis  illis  per 
totum  idem  tempus  cuius  contrarii  memoria  hominum  non  existit 
habere  picagium  stallagium  et  alias  lurisdictiones  et  privilegia  ad 
mercatum  et  ferias  spectantia  et  pertinentia  Ac  eciam  per  totum 
tempus  supradictum  cuius  contrarii  memoria  hominum  non  existit 
iidem  Ballivi  Aldermannus  et  Burgenses  Ville  sive  Burgi  predicti  pro 
tempore  existentes  habuerunt  et  receperunt  et  habere  et  recipere 
consueverunt  ad  usus  suos  proprios  de  qualibet  persona  existente 
forinsecto  et  minime  libera  persona  Ville  sive  Burgi  predicti  pro 
quoHbet  die  quo  talis  persona  exponit  aliqua  mercimonia  in  mercato 
illo  vendenda  unum  denarium  pro  exposicione  Anglice  showing 
mercimoniorum  suorum  in  mercato  predicto  et  pro  quolibet  sacco 
frumenti  et  grani  Jocato  Anglice  pitched  in  Dicto  mercato  vendicioni 
exponendo  unum  plenum  discum  Anglice  one  dish  full  continentem 
unam  pintam  Anglice  a  pint  huius  grani    Ac  eciam  per  totum  tempus 


378  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

supradictum  cuius  contrarii  memoria  hominum  non  existit  habuerunt 
et  habere  consueverunt  tolnetum  pro  omnibus  equis  spadonibus 
bobus  boviculis  vaccis  iuvencis  ovibus  et  porcis  quibuscunque  in 
mercato  et  feriis  emptis  et  venditis  Ac  eciam  iidem  Ballivi  Alder- 
mannus  et  Burgenses  ville  Burgi  {sic)  predicti  pro  tempore  existentes 
per  totum  predictum  tempus  cuius  contrarii  memoria  hominum  non 
existit  simihter  usi  fuerunt  et  consueverunt  habere  et  ad  usus  suos 
propriosconvertere  et  disponere  omnia  bona  et  catalla  waiveata  et 
bona  et  catalla  extrahura  infra  villam  et  Burgum  predictum  contin- 
gentia  et  accidentia  necnon  per  totum  idem  tempus  cuius  contrarii 
memoria  hominum  non  existit  usi  fuerunt  et  consueverunt  eligere 
nominare  et  constituere  unum  de  semetipsis  fore  Senescallum  Ville 
et  Burgi 'predicti  ac  ad  libita  sua  propria  quoscunque  officiarios  infra 
villam  et  Burgum  predictum  ab  officiis  suis  ibidem  amovere  necnon 
habere  et  tenere  infra  eandem  Villam  et  Burgum  unam  Curiam 
vocatam  a  Burrough  Court  de  tribus  septimanis  in  tres  septimanas 
ac  omnia  et  singula  proficua  et  emolumenta  infra  curiam  predictam 
crescentia  et  contingentia  per  totum  tempus  supradictum  ad  usus 
suos  proprios  capere  committere  et  disponere  Et  in  eadem  curia 
tenere  placita  quecunque  subter  summam  quadraginta  solidorum 
Ac  eciam  per  totum  idem  tempus  statuta  ordinaciones  Leges  et  ar- 
ticulos  ad  libita  sua  propria  infra  villam  et  Burgum  predictum  fa- 
cere  ordinare  et  constituere  pro  meliore  Gubemacione  ville  et  Burgi 
predicti  modo  non  sunt  contraria  Legibus  huius  Regni  Anglie  et 
super  omnes  qui  statutis.  ordinacionibus  Legibus  Gonstitucionibus  et 
articulis  illis  obedire  negarent  seu  eadem  non  observarent  fines  et 
amerciamenta  eis  de  causis  taxare  et  imponere  et  ea  ad  usus  suos 
proprios  levare  et  convertere  Et  iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo 
Leonardus  Thomas  et  lohannes  dicunt  quod  ipsi  iidem  Willelmus 
Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et  lohannes  sunt  et  per  totum 
predictum  spacium  trium  annorum  in  Informacione  predicta  specifica- 
tum  fuerunt  Burgenses  Ville  sive  Burgi  predicti  Et  eo  warranto 
iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et  lohannes 
predicti  libertates  privilegia  et  FFranchesie  in  Informacione  predicta 
mencionata  per  tempus  predictum  in  Informacione  predicta  superius 
specificatum  usi  fuerunt  et  adhuc  utuntur  prout  eis  bene  licuit  absque 
hoc  quod  iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et 
lohannes  predicti  libertates  privilegia  et  firanchesias  predictas  seu 
eorum  aliquum  super  predictum  Dominum  Regem  non  usurpaverunt 
seu  adhuc  usurpant  modoet  forma  prout  per  Informacionem  predictam 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS      379 

pro  dicto  Domino  Rege  nunc  superius  supponitur  Que  omnia  et 
singula  iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et 
'  Johannes  parati  sunt  verificare  prout  curia  etc  unde  petunt  Judicium 
et  quod  omnia  et  singula  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesie  predicta 
eisdem  Ballivis  Aldermanno  et  Burgensibus  ville  sive  Burgi  predict! 
et'successoribus  suis  imperpetuum  deinceps  allocentur  et  adiudicentar 
Et  quod  ipsi  quod  ilia  ab  hac  Curia  dimittentur  etc  ET  predictus 
Attomatus  Domini  Regis  Generalis  presens  hie  in  Curia  ad  eundem 
diem  in  propria  persona  sua  quoad  separales  libertates  privilegia  et 
ffranchesias  subsequentes  in  Jnformacione  predicta  superius  men- 
cionatas  et  per  predictos  Wilklmum  Taylor  Willelmum  Bartholomew 
Simonem  Simonds  L«onardum  Mills  Thomam  Silvester  et  Johannem 
Hunt  et  alios  Inhabitantes  Ville  et  Burgi  predicti  usurpari  allegatas 
vizt :  Eligere  nominare  et  constituere  unum  de  sem^tipsis  fore 
Deputatum  Aldermannum  eiusdem  Ville  et  Burgi  ac  cogere  et  com- 
pellere  quascunque  personas  eis  placuerit  lurare  et  sacramentum 
praestare  in  Curia  in  Jnformacione  predicta  mencionata  in  quibuscun- 
que  causis  et  materiis  in  eadem  curia  pendentibus  ad  libita  sua  Et 
easdem  personas  super  sacramenta  sua  in  causis  et  materiis  illis 
examinare  Ac  omnes  eos  qui  statutis  ordinacionibus  Legibus  con- 
stitucionibus  et  articulis  per  ipsos  Inhabitantes  factis  ordinatis  et 
constitutis  obedire  negarent  seu  eadem  non  observarent  Jmprisonare 
necnon  sacramentis  astringere  tot  et  tales  de  Jnhabitantibus  ville 
et  Burgi  quot  et  quales  eis  placuerit  ad  statuta  ordinaciones  L-eges 
constituciones  et  articulos  predictos  observandos  et  custodiendos 
Ex  quo  predicti  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo  l,eonardus  Thomas  et 
Johannes  per  placitum  suum  predictum  non  clamant  habere  uti  seu 
gaudere  lit)ertatibus  privilegiis  et  ffranchesiis  predictis  ultimo  men- 
cionatis  nee  usum  eorum  vel  eorum  alicuius  aliquo  modo  verificare 
pretendunt  nee  aliquid  dicunt  pro  manutenencione  eorundem  Idem 
Attomatus  Domini  Regis  pro  eodem  Domino  Rege  petit  inde  Judicium 
SUPER  QUO  visis  premissis  per  Barones  hie  habitaque  matura 
Deliberacione  inde  inter  eosdem  CONSTITUTUM  EST  per  eosdem 
Barones  quod  predicte  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesie  ultimo 
mencionate  per  Inhabitantes  predictos  sic  ut  prefertur  non  clamate 
in  manu  dicti  Domini  Regis  capiantur  seisiantur  et  de  cetero  omnino 
extinguantur  Ac  quod  prefati  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholo- 
mew Simo  Simons  L,eonardus  Mills  Thomas  Silvester  et  Johannes 
Hunt  et  omnes  alii  Burgenses  et  Inhabitantes  Ville  et  Burgi  I*redicti 
et  eorum  successores  ab  omni  usu  et  clameo  utendi  Habendi  sive 


38o  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Gaudendi  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesias  predictas  ultimo  men- 

cionatas  et  eorum  cuiuslibet  sive  alicuius  penitus  excludantur  et 

eorum    quilibet    excludatur      ET    QUOAD    predictam    libertatem 

habendam  et  ad  usus  predictorum  Ballivorum  Aldermanni  et  Bur- 

gensium  pro  tempore  existentium  convertenda  et  disponenda  bona 

et  catalla  felonorum  infra  Villam  sive  Burgum  predictum  contingentia 

et  accidentia  in  placito  predicto  supefius  specificatam  Idem  Attomatus 

Domini   Regis   Generalis  pro  eodem   Domino   Rege  petit   auditum 

Litterarum  patentium  predictarum  in  placito  predicto  placitatarum 

Et  predict!  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Simonds 

Leonardos  Mills  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  quia  ad  presens 

non  habent  Litteras  patentes  predictas  paratas  hie  in  Curia  petunt 

ex  gracia  Curiae  diem  sibi  dare  ad  proferendas  easdem  quod  eis  per 

Curiam  hie  concessum  est  et  super  hoc  et  proviso  quod  Curia  hie 

vult  advisare  de  placito  predicto  antequam  ulterius  etc  datur  dies 

hie  prefatis  Willelmo  Willelmo  Simoni  Leonardo  Thome  et  lohanni 

secundum  Statum  quo  nunc  usque  octavis  Sancti  Michaelis  ad  quem 

diem  iidem  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo  Leonardus  Thomas  et  lohannes 

venerunt  hie  ut  prius    Et  Thomas  Coventry  miles  Solicitator  dicti 

Domini  Regis  Generalis  officium  et  locum  Attomati  ipsius  Domini 

Regis  Generalis  virtute  Litterarum  Dicti  Domini  Regis  patentium 

sub  magno  sigillo  suo  Anglie  ei  inde  confectarum  exercens  qui  pro 

eodem  Domino  Rege  nunc  in  hac  parte  sequitur  presens  hie  in  Curia 

ad  eundem  diem  in  propria  persona  sua  pro  eodem  Domino  Rege 

petit  auditum  Litterarum  patentium  predictarum  in  placito  predicto 

superius  placitatarum  ut  predictus  Attomatus  Domini  Regis  prius 

petebat    Et  ei  leguntur  in  hec  verba  subscripta. 

[Note. — Here  follows  a  transcription  of  the  charter  of  Edward  III  with 
one  or  two  small  mistakes  :  the  word  episcopo  between  Andegavie  and 
Lincolnensi  at  the  opening  of  the  document  is  omitted  ;  de  Boreford  et 
de  Mora  is  transcribed  de  Bereford  de  mora  ;  and  Ricardo  de  Humet,  among 
the  witnesses,  is-  transcribed  Ricardo  de  huius.] 

Quibus   lectis   et   auditis    quoad   placitum   predictum   predictorum 

Willelmi  Taylor  Willelmi  Bartholomew  Simonis  Symons  Leonardi 

Mills  Thome  Silvester  et  lohannis  Hunt  superius  placitatum  quoad 

predictam  libertatem  habendam  et  ad  usus  predictorum  Ballivotum 

Aldermanni  et  Burgensium  pro  tempore  existentium  convertenda  et 

disponenda  omnia  bona  et  catalla  felonum  infra  Villam  et  Burgum 

predictum  contingentia  et  accidentia    Idem  Solicitator  Domini  Regis 

Generalis  protestapdo  non  connoscendo  aliquid  in  placito  predicto 

superius  placitato  fore  verum  pro  Replicacionis  pro  eodem  Domino 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     381 

Rege  dicit  quod  placitum  predictum  predictorum  Willelmi  Willelmi 
Simonis  Leonard!  Thome  et  lohannis  per  ipsos  modo  et  forma  pre- 
dictis  superius  placitatum  ac  materia  in  eoidem  contenta  quoad  predicta 
bona  et  catalla  felonum  minus  sufficifens  in  lege  existunt  ad  que  ipse 
pro  eodem  Domino  Rege  necesse  non  habet  nee  per  legem  terre  tenetur 
respondere  unde  obsufficiente  eiusdem  placiti  idem  Solicitator  Domini 
Regis  Generalis  pro  eodem  Domino  Rege  petit  inde  ludicium  ac  quod 
predicti  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Symons 
Leonardus  Mills  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  et  alii  Inhabi- 
tantes  ville  et  Burgi  predicti  de  offenso  et  usurpacione  in  Informacione 
predicta  versus  eos  allegatis  quoad  bona  et  catalla  felonum  convincan- 
tur  etc  Et  ulterius  quoad  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesias  sequentes 
vizt.  habere  tenere  et  custodire  unum  mercatum  ibidem  infram  {sic) 
villam  et  Burgum  predictum  quolibet  die  Sabbati  in  qualibet  septimana 
Ac  eciam  habere  tenere  et  custodire  ibidem  infra  Villam  et  Burgum 
predictum  quolibet  anno  duas  ferias  annuatim  viz.  unam  earundem 
feriarum  in  festo  Sancti  lohannis  Baptiste  et  aliam  earundem  feriarum 
in  die  exaltacionis  Sancte  Crucis  communiter  vocato  HoUyrood  day 
et  in  mercato  et  feriis  illis  habere  picagium  stallagium  et  alias  luris- 
dictiones  et  privilegia  ad  Mercatum  et  ferias  spectantes  et  pertinentes 
et  pro  eisdem  picagio  et  stallagio  exigere  levare  et  capere  ad  visus 
(sic)  suos  proprios  diversas  denariorum  summas  de  subditis  dicti 
Dontini  Regis  ad  mercatum  et  ferias  predictas  venientibus  et  accedenti- 
bus  ad  bona  catalla  mercimonia  et  merchandisa  sua  in  mercato  et 
feriis  illis  vendenda  seu  vendicioni  exponenda  .  .  .  etc.  etc. 

[Note. — The  ensuing  folio  is  a  repetition,  in  the  form  of  pleas  on  either 
side,  of  the  Information  and  Answer  given  above,  pp.  375-8.] 

Et  quoad  predictam  libertatem  et  privilegium  habendi  et  disponendi 
bona  et  catalla  felonum  unde  predicti  Willelmus  Willelmus  Simo 
Leonardus  Thomas  et  lohannes  superius  placitando  se  posuerunt  in 
mercia  Curiae  quia  Curia  vult  advisare  de  ludicio  inde  reddendo 
antequam  ulterius  etc  dies  datus  est  hie  eisdem  Willelmo  Willelmo 
Simoni  Leonardi  Thome  et  lohanni  eodem  statu  quo  nunc  usque 
octavis  Sancti  Hillari  Et  quoad  separales  exitus  predictos  superius 
ad  priam  iunctos  prescribitur  vicecomiti  Oxon  predicti  quod  non 
omittatur  etc  Et  veniri  faciat  hie  in  octavis  Sancti  Hillari  predictis 
xii  liberales  et  legales  homines  de  Balliva  sua  de  vicineto  Ville  et 
Burgi  de  Burford  predicti  in  comitatu  predicto  Quorum  quilibet  etc 
per  quos  etc  Et  qui  nee  etc  ad  recognitionem  noscendi  in  premissis 
Et  idem   dies  similiter  datus  est  hie  prefatis  Willelmo  Willelmo 


382  •  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Simoni  Leonardo  Thome  et  lohanni  quoad  exitus  predictos  et  quoad 
placitum  predictorum  Willelmi  Willelmi  Simonis  Leonardi  Thome  et 
lohannis  quoad  residuas  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesias  predictas 
in  placito  predicto  superius  mencionatas  ct  per  ipsos  per  placitum 
suum  predictum  modo  et  forma  predictis  clamatis  quia  Curia  hie 
vult  ulterius  advisare  de  placito .  predicto  quoad  easdem  libertates 
privilegia  et  ffranchesias  residuas  etc  antequam  ulterius  etc  datus 
est  dies  hie  prefatis  Willelmo  Willelmo  Simoni  Leonardo  Thome  et 
lohanni  eodem  statu  quo  nunc  similiter  usque  predictis  octavis 
Sancti  Hillarii  ad  quern  diem  iidem  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus 
Bartholomew  Simo  Symons  Leonardus  Milles  Thomas  Silvester  et 
lohannes  Hunt  venerunt  hie  ut  prius  Et  quoad  predictam  libertatem 
et  privilegium  habendi  et  ad  usus  predictorum  Ballivorum  Alderman- 
ni  et  Burgensium  Ville  et  Burgi  predicti  pro  tempore  existentium 
convertendi  et  disponendi  omnia  bona  et  catalla  infra  villam  et  Burgum 
predictum  contingentia  et  accidentia  visu  placito  predicto  et  litteris 
patentibus  predictis  in  eodem  placito  placitatis  et  ceteris  premissis 
per  Barones  hie  habitaque  matura  deliberacione  inde  inter  eosdem 
Quia  videtur  eisdem  Baronibus  quod  placitum  predictum  ac  materia 
in  eodem  eontenta  minus  suffieiens  in  lege  existunt  ad  manutenendum 
clameum  predictorum  Willelmi  Willelmi  Simonis  Leonardi  Thome 
et  lohannis  habendi  et  ad  usus  predictorum  Ballivorum  Aldermanni 
et  Burgensium  Ville  et  Burgi  predicti  convertendi  et  disponendi 
bpna  et  catalla  felonum  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  contin- 
gentia et  accidentia  IDEO  CONSTITUTUM  EST  per  eosdem  Barones 
quod  predicti  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Symons 
Leonardus  Milles  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  usurpacione 
super  dictum  Dominum  Regem  libertatis  et  privilegii  predicti  habendi 
et  disponendi  bona  et  catalla  felonum  infra  villam  et  Burgum  predictum 
contingentia  et  accidentia  modo  et  forma  prout  per  informaeionem 
predictam  versus  eos  superius  supponitur  convincantur  Et  quod 
eadem  libertas  et  privilegium  ultime  meneionatum  in  manu  dicti 
Domini  Regis  nunc  capiantur  et  seisiantur  Et  quod  Predicti  Willelmus 
Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Symons  Leonardus  Milles 
Thomas  Silvester  et  Idhannes  Hunt  et  predicti  Ballivi  Aldermannus 
et  Burgenses  ville  et  Burgi  predicti  pro  tempore  existentes  et  eos 
(sic)  alii  Inhabitantes  ville  et  Burgi  predicti  pro  tempore  existentes 
de  et  in  libertate  privilegio  et  ffranchesia  illis  ultime  mencionatis  de 
cetero  nuUatenus  se  intromittant  nee  eorum  aliquis  eorum  se  intro- 
mittat  sed  ab  omni  usu  et  clameo  habendi  sive  disponendi  bona  aut 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS      383 

catalla  felonum  infra  Villain  et  Bur^m  predictum  contingentia 
sive  accidentia  penitus  excludantur  et  eorum  quilibet  excludatur 
Quodque  predicti  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo 
Symons  Leonardus  Milles  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  pro 
usurpacione  libertatis  privilegii  et  ffranchesie  predictorum  ultimei 
mencionatorum  suo  {sic)  dictum  Dominum  Regem  capiantur  ubicun- 
que  etc  ac  faciendum  finem  cum  dicto  Domino  Rege  pro  usurpacione 
predicta  etc    Et  quoad  separales  exitus  superius  iunctos  .  .  .  etc. 

[Note. — ^The  following  folio  is  occupied  with  the  formal  entry  in  the  shape 
of  pleas  of  the  Information  and  Answer  concerning  (i)  the  claim  to  waifs 
and  strays,  (ii)  the  election  of  a  Seneschal,  (iii)  the  removal  at  pleasure 
of  officials,  (iv)  the  holding  of  a  Borough  Court  and  the  taking  of  its  profits, 
(v)  the  making  of  by-laws  and  the  fining  of  offenders  against  them  ;  also 
with  the  formalities  of  impanelling  the  jury  and  the  appointment  of  Tuesday, 
June  5th,  following  for  the  trial.] 

Et  lurati  dicunt  super  sacramentum  suum  quod  predicti  Ballivi 
Aldermannus  et  Burgenses  Ville  sive  Burgi  de  Burford  predicti  pro 
tempore  existentes  a  toto  tempore  cuius  contrarii  memoria  hominum 
non  existit  non  habuerunt  tenerunt  et  gavisi  fuerunt  nee  per  totum 
idem  tempus  habere  tenere  et  uti  consueverunt  infra  predictam  villam 
sive  Burgum  de  Burford  predictum  unum  mercatum  quolibet  die 
Sabbati  non  existente  in  festo  natalis  Domino  {sic)  de  qualibet  septi- 
m'ana  nee  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  quolibet  anno  duas  ferias 
annuatim  . . .  nee  in  mercato  et  feriis  . . .  habere  picagium  et  stallagium 
et  alias  lurisdictiones  .  .  . 

Et  lurati  predicti  super  sacramentum  suum  predictum  ulterius 
dicunt  quod  predicti  Ballivi , . .  non  habuerunt  et  receperunt . . .  unum 
denarium  pro  exposicione  ... 

Et  ulterius  lurati  predicti  super  sacramentum  suum  predictum 
dicunt  quod  predicti  Ballivi . . .  non  habuerunt  nee  habere  consueverunt 
tolnetum  pro  omnibus  equis  .  .  . 

Et  super  hoc  predictus  Attornatus  Domini  Regis  Generalis  pro 
eodem  Domino  Rege  petit  Judicium  set  quia  Curia  vult  advisare  de 
ludicio  suo  de  et  super  veredicto  predicto  reddendo  antequam  ulterius 
etc  datus  est  dies  his  prefatis  Willelmo  Willelmo  Simoni  Leonardo 
Thome  et  lohanni  eodem  statu  quo  nunc  usque  diem  Sabbati  16  diem 
predicti  mensls  lunii  ...  ad  quem  diem  .  .  .  visb  veredicto  predicto 
et  ceteris  premissis  per  Barones  hie  habitaque  matura  deliberacione 
inde  inter  eosdem  CONSTITUTUM  EST  per  eosdem  Barones  quod 
omnia  et  singula  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesie  ilia  in  manu  dicti 
Domini  Regis,  capiantur  et  seisiantur  ac  quod  predicti  Willelmus 


384      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Symons  Leonardus  Milles 
Thomas  Silvester  et  lohamies  Hunt  et  predicti  Ballivi  Aldermannus 
et  Burgenses  ville  et  Burgi  predicti  pro  tempore  existentes  de  et  in 
libertatibus  privilegiis  et  ffranchesiis  illis  de  cetero  nullatenus  se 
intromittant  nee  eorum  aliquis  se  intromittat  sed  ab  omni  usu  et 
clameo  eorundem  libertatum  privilegiorum  et  ffranchesiarum  et 
eorum  cuiuslibet  penitus  excludantur  et  eorum  quilibet  excludatur 
Quodque  predicti  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo 
Symons  Leonardus  Milles  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  pro 
usurpacione  libertatum  privilegiorum  et  ffranchesiarum  illorum  super 
dictum  Dominum  Regem  capiantur  ubicunque  etc  ad  faciendum 
finem  cum  dicto  Domino  Rege  pro  usurpacione  predicta  Et  quoad 
residuas  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesias  predictas  in  placito 
predictorum  Willelmi  Willelmi  Simonis  Leonardi  Thome  et  lohannis 
superius  mencionato  per  placitum  suum  modo  et  forma  predictis 
clamata  viz.  habere  et  tenere  et  ad  usus  predictorum  Ballivorum 
Aldermanni  et  Burgensium  pro  tempore  existentium  convertere  et 
disponere  omnia  bona  et  catalla  waviata  et  bona  et  catalla  extrahura 
infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  contingentia  et  accidentia  et 
eligere  nominare  et  constituere  unum  de  semetipsis  fore  Senescallum 
ville  et  Burgi  predicti  ac  ad  libita  sua  propria  quoscunque  officiarios 
infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  ab  officiis  suis  amovere  necnon 
habere  et  tenere  infra  eandem  villam  et  Burgum  unam  Curiam  vocatam 
a  Burrough  Court  de  tribus  septimanis  in  tres  septimanas  ac  omnia 
et  singula  proficua  et  emolumenta  infra  curiam  predictam  crescentia 
et  contingentia  ad  usus  suos  proprios  capere  convertere  et  disponere 
et  in  eadem  curia  tenere  placita  quecunque  subter  summam  quadra- 
ginta  solidorum  ac  statuta  ordinaciones  leges  et  articulos  ad  libita  sua 
propria  infra  Villam  et  Burgum  predictum  facere  ordinare  et  constituere 
pro  meliore  Gubemacione  ville  et  Burgi  predicti  modo  non  sunt 
contraria  legibus  huius  Regni  Anglie  et  super  omnes  eos  qui  statutis 
ordinacionibus  legibus  constitucionibus  et  articulis  illis  obedire 
negarent  seu  eadem  non  observarent  fines  et  amerciamenta  eis  de 
causis  taxare  et  imponere  et  ea  ad  usus  suos  proprios  levare  et  conver- 
tere predicti  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Symonds 
Leonardus  Milles  Thomas  Silvester  et  lohannes  Hunt  nihil  dicunt  in 
Barram  predicte  replicacionis  predicti  Attomati  Domini  Regis 
Generalis  per  ipsum  quoad  predicta  libertates  privilegia  et  ffranchesias 
ulterius  mencionata  modo  et  forma  predictis  replicate  IDEO  CON- 
STITUTUM  EST  per  eosdem  Barones  quod  predicti  Willelmus  Taylor 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     385 

Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Simonds  Leonardus  Milles  Thomas 
Silvester  et  Johannes  Hunt  de  usurpacione  super  dictum  Dominum 
Regem  predictorum  libertatufn  privilegiorum  et  flEranchesiarum  ultime 
mencionatorum  modo  et  forma  prout  per  Informacionem  predictam 
versus  eos  superius  allegatur  convincarttur  Et  quod  eadem  libertates 
privilegia  et  ffranchesie  ultime  mencionate  in  manu  Dicti  Domini 
Regis  nunc  capiantur  et  seisiantur  Ac  quod  predicti  Willelmus  Tayler 
Willelmus  Bartholomew  Simo  Simonds  Leonardus  .Milles  Thomas 
Silvester  et  Johannes  Hunt  et  predicti  Ballivi  Aldermannus  et  Bur- 
genses  Ville  et  Burgi  predicti  pro  tempore  existentes  de  et  in  libertati- 
bus  privilegiis  et  ffranchesiis  illis  ultime  mencionatis  de  cetero  nulla- 
tenus  se  intromittant  nee  eorum  aliquis  se  intromittat  sed  ab  omni  usu 
et  clameo  eorundem  et  eorum  cuiusHbet  penitus  excludantur  et  eorum 
quihbet  excludatur  Quodque  predicti  Willelmus  Taylor  Willelmus 
Bartholomew  Simo  Simons  Leonardus  Milles  Thomas  Silvester  et 
Johannes  Hunt  pro  usurpacione  libertatum  privilegiorum  et  ffran- 
chesiarum  predictorum  ultime  mencionatorum  super  dictum  Dominum 
Regem  capiantur  ubicunque  etc  ad  faciendum  finem  cum  Dicto 
Domino  Rege  pro  usurpacione  predicta  etc. 

20  February,  14  James  J,  161 7. 

Orders  made  at  Oxford  by  the  Commissioners  for  Charitable  Uses 
for  the  County  of  Oxford,  John  Doyly,  Esquire,  Anthony  Blincoe, 
Chancellor  of  the  Diocese,  Rowland  Searchfield,  D.D.,  and  John 
Hawlie,  D.C.L. 

An  inquiry  had  been  held  into  a  gift,  bearing  date  19  March,  5  James  J, 
1608,  by  Leonard  Willmott  of  Clanfield,  of  various  annuities  out  of 
his  farm  and  chief  manor  and  lands  at  Clanfield  to  different  parishes. 
Burford  appeared  on  the  list  for  a  gift  of  £4  a  year  for  relief  of  poor 
inhabitants  living  by  their  own  labour  and  not  relieved  by  the  Poor 
Law. 

The  inquiry  was  held  in  the  presence  of  William  Willmott  '  who 
pretendeth  title  unto  the  inheritance  ',  and  had  apparently  not  paid 
the  sums  in  question  regularly.  The  Commissioners  found  that  the 
sums  were  to  be  paid  after  the  death  of  L,eonard  Willmott,  William 
Willmott  his  brother,  and  Katharine  wife  of  William  Willmott. 

Three  documents  annexed,  viz. 

i.  Evidence  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Wilmott  of  Clanfield,  *  Mr.  Holmes, 
vicar,  sayetfi  that  Mr.  Wilmott  died  the  2Sth  of  June  1608  in  June 
next  nine  years  '. 

3304  C  c 


386 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


ii.  List  of  recipients  of  Willmott's  charity  in  Burford  on  Good 
Friday  1617. 

iii.  *  It  is  ordered  by  the  Comyssioners  appointed  for  charitable 
uses  whose  names  are  hereunder  subscribed  That  the  Towns  and 
Villages  hereafter  mencioned  shall  paye  unto  the  bearer  Bilson  towards 
the  chardges  of  the  Comyssion  the  Jurye  and  drawing  the  decrees 
and  for  other  chardges  theis  somes  followinge  .  .  .  '  (Each  place  was 
adjudged  to  pay  the  amount  of  its  annual  receipt  from  the  charity.) 

The  following  is  the  list  of  recipients  of  the  charity  in  Burford  on 
Good  Friday  161 7  : 


Margaret  Daniell  widow 
Alexander  Grynder 
William  Eve 
Peter  Lyfolly 
Widow  Kynborowe 
Widow  Hewes 
Widow  Renconde 
Widow  Greenaway 
Thomas  Horwood 
Anne  Evans 
John  Templer 
William  Jones 
John  Read 
William  Hedges 
Widow  Elmes 
Anne  Jenkins 
Thomas  Haynes 
Edward  Clarke 
Margary  Parre 
Widow  Wisdom 
Jone  Hiett 
Mary  Allen 

Margery  Hiett  &  daughter 
William  Wyninge 
Widow  Gladden 
Andrew  Hibbard 
John  Legge 
Richard  Sowthe 
Widow  Abram 
William  Horsman 
Richard  Levett 
Edward  Marshall's  wife 
Widow  PooUen 
Anne  Jacobb 
Henry  Wylkins 
Nicholas  Franklen 


William  Phelpps 
Thomas  Hayward 
Edmund  Ryles 
John  Ludlowe 
Thomas  Jacobb 
Richard  Berry 
Henry  Hill 
John  Brande 
William  Haynes 
John  Baker 
John  Osmond 
Thomas  Bayly 
Widow  Collyns 
John  Massye 
Thomas  Prickevance 
Anne  Smart 
Thomas  Rowe 
John  Mare 

Christopher  Hayward 
Thomas  Daniell 
Widow  Leonard 
Robert  Harper 
Thomas  Cossom 
John  Cowper 
Widow  Clarke's  children 
John  Ympe 
Robert  Parsons 
George  Sw€e 
William  Joyner 
Richard  Hiatt 
Margett  Jones 
Wilham  Poole 
Thomas  Smyth 
John  Mason  glover 
Mary  Warde 
Olyver  Monday 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     387 


Edward  Carter 
Widow  Wye's  children 
Susan  Long 
I      Robert  Bedall 
George  Sudeley 
Thomas  Hughe 
Thomas  Lovering 
Hugh  Jones 
Tiiomas  Cockerell 
Thomas  Finche 
Simon  Walbye 
Gryfiin  Hewes 
William  Hart 
William  Nealle 
Richard  Cowper 
Richard  Coock  ruggemaker 
Robert  Perry 
John  Wheeler 
Edmund  Hynton 
Thomas  Russbee 
John  Burford 
Thomas  Sudeley 
Widow  Pattrick 
Robert  Somner 
Thomas  Graunger 
Widow  Waller 
Edmund  Apleton 
John  Greenaway 
Tho.  Tuncke's  children 
Richard  Holding 
Thomas  Bolton 
Robert  Dallam 
Edward  Taylor's  wife 
William  Jones  Coock 
John  Greyven 
Henry  Hayter 
William  Fowler  baker 
Widow  Cowlinge 
Richard  Smyth  taylor 
Humphrey  Nunney 
Elizabeth  Winterley 
Widow  Gorram 
Alice  Joyner 
Widow  Nearle 
John  Berry 
Thomas  Ley 
John  Saunders 
William  Overbury 


Henry  Sudeley 
Joseph  Boyse 
William  Fairefall 
Widow  More 
Widow  Warde 
Jone  Jollyman 
John  Symson 
Robert  Hemynge 
Walter  Phillipps 
Widow  Lovett 
Thomas  Marshall 
Wyllyam's  children 
William  Hall 
Richard  Hewer 
Edmund  Revett   . 
Widow  Day 
William  Tull 
Katharine  Whiter 
Thomas  Pattrick 
James  Stransford 
Jone  Greene 
Richard  Taylor 
Edith  Holloway 
Thomas  Dixe 
Thomas  Elmes 
Alex.  Warde's  wife 
Widow  Clark 
Widow  Reade 
William  Veysey  son 
John  Colbome 
Richard  Buston 
Thomas  Bignell 
George  Halfepeny 
John  Wynterbome 
Symon  Smyth 
William  Foster 
Richard  Andrewes 
Thomas  Hewes 
William  Speeke 
Peter  Wyrer 
Stephen  Hincke's  wife 
George  Peisley 
William  Potter 
George  Grenehill 
Robert  Prickyvans 
John  Wyllyams 
John  Cripps 
Widow  Wettmore 


cc  2 


388  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Mawrice  Waters  Anne  Rosen 

Widow  Duffen  &  daughter  Elizabeth  Launchebery 

Widow  Hamlen  John  Pattrick 

John  Savage  collarmaker  John  Coock 

Richard  Callire  Mary  Potter 

Thomas  Sheaphard  Widow  Harding 

Morgan  Powell  Walter  Prickyvans 

The  sums  given  vary  from  2d.  to  a  shilling.  The  list  is  signed  by 
William  Webbe  and  William  Huntt,  Bailiffs  ;  and  by  John  Huntt, 
William  Jurden,  Thomas  Joyner,  and  Simon  Ward,  Churchwardens. 

26  November,  1631. 

Order  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer. 

Concerning  the  concealed  lands.  Recites  the  arrears  as  in  the 
Constat  (Tolsey  Collection,  Bundle  .K,  no.  3)  and  records  that 
Mr.  Lenthall,  being  of  counsel  with  the  feoffees  for  the  poor  claimed 
that  the  lands  were  not  concealed,  but  were  heretofore  given  for  the 
poor  and  were  so  administered  as  by  the  Decrees  of  the  Royal  Com- 
mission of  1628,  and  that  the  title  to  the  lands  was  not  claimed  under 
the  transaction  with  Typper  and  Dawe.  It  was  ordered  that,  if  the 
title  were  not  so  claimed,  and  if  affidavit  were  made  to  that  effect, 
the  tenants  and  occupiers  should  be  discharged  of  the  arrears,  the 
Crown  auditor  having  laid  his  claim  on  the  Typper  and  Dawe  grant. 
William  Bartholomew,  one  of  the  Burgesses,  having  made  the  necessary 
affidavit  (Tolsey  Collection,  Bundle  K,  no.  2),  the  Court  discharged 
the  tenants  and  occupiers  of  the  lands,  and  laid  the  arrears  on  Typper 
and  Dawe  their  executors  and  assigns. 

5  February,  1640. 

Deposition  by  Leonard  Yate  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer  with  regard 
to  charges  in  the  Ministers'  Accounts  for  £18  135.  4d.  for  arrears  of 
a  rent  of  135.  ^d.  issuing  out  of  a  tenement  in  Burford  in  the  tenure 
of  Thomas  Heminge,  given  for  an  obitt,  and  £g  upon  the  occupiers  of 
another  tenement  called  the  Bull  in  the  tenure  of  John  Cooke,  given 
for  an  obitt. 

That  £18  135.  4d.  had  been  paid  to  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield  and  Dame 
Elizabeth  Tanfield  his  wife  for  the  period  between  Michaelmas  161 1 
and  May  1627.  The  Court  ordered  that  the  Lord  Falkland,  as  executor 
of  the  Tanfields,  should  be  given  a  week  to  show  cause  why  he  should 
not  pay  this  sum,  the  tenants  and  occupiers  to  pay  the  other  sum  in 
arrear. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     389 

Michaelmas  Term,  20  Charles  I  (1644). 

Order  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer. 

The  order  demands  payment  of  a  sum  of  £18  135.  4^.  charged  in 
the  Ministers'  Accounts  for  the  county  of  Oxon,  being  arrears  of  the 
following  rents  due  to  the  Crown  : 

A  rent  of  135.  ^d.  a  year  from  a  tenement  late  in  the  tenure  of 
Thomas  Hemminge  heretofore  given  for  the  maintenance  of  an  obit, 
now  in  arrear  for  18  years  ended  Michaelmas  14  Charles  I  (1638)  and 
charged  upon  Robert  Serrill,  Thomas  Silvester,  William  Hunt,  William 
Bartholomew,  John  Ward,  and  Robert  Jordan  ; 

A  rent  of  105.  a  year  upon  the  tenants  and  occupiers  of  a  tenement 
called  the  Bull,  now  in  the  tenure  of  John  Cooke,  also  given  to  maintain 
an  obit,  now  in  arrear  for  the  same  period  as  the  foregoing. 

The  parties  named  pleaded  at  the  Court  that  they,  in  trust  for  the 
Church  of  Burford,  by  the  Statute  of  Charitable  Uses,  had  paid  the 
greatest  part  of  these  rents  to  Sir  Lawrence*Tanfeild,  late  lord  of  the 
manor,  and  after  his  death  to  Dame  Elizabeth  Tanfeild  his  executrix, 
now  deceased,  and  after  her  death  to  Lucius  Lord  Viscount  Falkland, 
her  executor  and  owner  of  the  manor  ;  and  that  they  held  the  remain- 
ing portion  of  the  arrears  in  their  hands  and  were  ready  to  pay  the 
same. 

The  present  order  gives  them  time  to  look  up  their  acquittances 
and  notes  of  the  transactions. 

Lent  Assizes,  1651.  , 

Presentation  by  the  Jurors  to  the  Keepers  of  the  Liberty  of  England 

concerning  the  ruinolis  condition  of  that  part  of  Burford^  Bridge 

lying  in  the  parish  of  Fulbrook,  and  asserting  the  duty  of  the  parish 

of  Fulbrook  to  r^air  that  portion. 

1686. 

Affidavit  by  William  Rogers  of  Burford,  clothier, 

That  the  ancient  custom  for  the  appointment  of  Bailiffs  of  Burford 
was  for  four  persons  to  be  nominated  by  the  former  Bailiffs  and  the 
Burgesses  and  presented  to  the  Steward  at  the  Court  Leet  within 
a  month  from  Michaelmas  in  each  year  for  the  appointment  of  two 
out  of  the  four  to  be  Bailiffs  for  the  ensuing  twelve  months  : 

that  no  Court  Leet  was  held  within  a  month  from  the  Michaelmas 
last  past : 

that  at  a  Court  Leet  held  on  November  2  four  persons,  viz.  John 
Price,  Thomas  Silvester,  John  Haynes,  and  John  Castle,  were  presented 


390  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

to  the  Steward,  John  Jordan,  but  that  he  appointed  only  one  of  them, 
John  Haynes,  and  appointed  to  act  with  him  John  Payton  : 

that  there  were  certain  stocks  of  money  and  trust  funds  administered 
by  the  Baihffs  and  therefore  it  was  essential  that  they  should  be  elected 
in  the  ancient  manner. 

An  Opinion  of  Counsel,  Judge  Levinz,  on  a  case  concerning  the 
above,^  submitted  by  the  Countess  of  Abercom. .  A  Mandamus  had 
been  taken  out.  The  contention  of  the  Lady  of  the  Manor  was  that 
the  presentation  of  four  persons  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  was  only 
a  survival  from  days  when  the  Steward  was  a '  stranger  '  and  ignorant 
of  suitable  persons  to  appoint,  and  did  not  remain  good  when  the 
Steward  was  acquainted  with  the  town.  • 

i8  February,  6  Anne  (1708). 

Warrant  addressed  to  John  Sindrey  and  Henry  Peacock. 

John  Sindrey,  of  Bedford,  merchant,  is  ordered  to  pay  the  sum  of 
£20  bequeathed  by  his  grandfather  in  1660,  which  had  not  been  paid 
either  by  his  widow  or  by  his  son. 

Henry  Peacock,  executor  of  the  will  of  Henry  Heyling,  gentleman, 
of  Minster  Lovell,  is  ordered  to  pay  the  sum  of  £200  given  by  that  will. 

The  money  to  be  paid  at  Burford  on  25  June  next. 

Note. — This  warrant  gives  the  names  of  the  Commissioners  who  held 
the  inquiry  at  Witney  in  1702.  They  were  Sir  Robert  Jenkinson,  Sir 
Bdmund  Warcupp,  Manwaryng  Hamond,  D.D.,  Henry  Cole,  Daniel 
Warwick,  Matthew  Prior,  Thomas  Abell,  and  Nicholas  Marshall. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS.    II  AND  III 
Eighteenth  Century 

Cheatle  Collection,  Bundles  NN  and  00 

1.  7  June,  I  George  II,  1728. 

Indenture  of  Agreement  between  Richard  Whitehall  and  James 
Partridge,  Bailiffs,  Charles  Perfott,  Alderman,  George  Hart,.Chamber- 
lain,  William  Bowles,  Robert  Taylor,  Matthew  Underwood,  Paul 
Silvester,  John  Green,  and  Daniel  Dicks,  Burgesses,  of  the  one  part, 
and  Richard  Griffiths  of  the  other  part. 

The  Agreement  sets  forth  that  the  Lords  of  the  Manor  had  by 
pretence  of  a  judgement  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer  seized  upon  the 
profits  of  the  markets.  A  judgement  had  been  obtained  against  the 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses,  in  their  private  capacity.'  No  Execution  of 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     391 

the  judgement  was  ever  taken,  and  the  Burgesses'  franchises  had  not 
been  seized  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown.  But  the  Lord  of  the  Manor 
had  used  the  judgement  to  intimi'date  the  BaiUSs  and  Burgesses, 
in  order  to  possess  himself  of  the  franchises. 

The  Bailiffs  had  been  advised  to  sue  out  a  writ  of  error  to  reverse 
the  judgement.  The  rents  of  Poole's  Lands  were  held  on  such  terms 
as  to  admit  of  their  being  used  for  such  purposes  (the  protection  of 
the  toN^-n's  franchises),  but  they  only  produced  clear  £25  a  year. 

The  present  Agreement  therefore  is  to  the  effect  that  Richard 
Griffiths  is  to  receive  this  £25  a  year  in  trust,  and  also,  if  necessary, 
a  sum  of  £10  a'  piece  from  the  other  parties  to  the  Agreement,  and 
an  attempt  is  to  be  made  to  mortgage  Poole's  Lands  for  raising  the 
moneys  needed  to  proceed  at  once. 

Witnesses  :   William  Perrott,  George  Hart  junior. 

2.  Two  pieces  of  paper  containing  notes  as  to  the  ancient  franchises 
of  Burford,  dated  1727,  and  evidently  connected  with  the  project 
outlined  in  the  above  Agreement. 

8.  The  Royal  Commission  of  1738 

Not  dated. 

Verdict  and  Decrees  of  the  Royal  Commission  of  1738. 

i.  William  Lenthall's  will.  This  had  bestowed  a  sum  of  £50  to  be 
added  to  £150  given  to  the  town  in  his  lifetime,  the  money  to  be  lent 
out  to  poor  tradesmen.    He  died  in  1662. 

The  Commission  found  that  the  will  was  not  proved  till  1695. 
£100  of  the  whole  sum  had  been  put  out  on  the  security  of  land  at 
Standlake  and  interest  of  £5  a  year  had  been  paid.  The  other  £ioo 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  and  no  part  of 
the  money  had  ever  been  lent  to  poor  tradesmen.  • 

ii.  Lady  Tanfield's  bequest  of  a  house  in  Sheep  Street  of  the  yearly 
value  of  £4  for  keeping  the  Tanfield  tomb  and  aisle  clean  and  in  repair, 
20s.  of  the  money  to  be  paid  to  a  supervisor  to  see  that  this  was  properly 
done.  Also  a  gift  of  £40  to  bind  poor  lads  apprentice  at  £10  each, 
the  sum  to  be  returned  by  the  master  at  the  end  of  the  apprenticeship. 
Lady  Tanfield  died  in  1628. 

The  Commission  found  that  only  £2  2s.  6d.  had  ever  been  spent  on 
the  care  of  the  tomb,  which  was  then  in  such  disrepair  that  it  would 
cost  £36  gs.  2d.  to  put  it  in  proper  condition.  The  rent  of  the  house 
had  nevertheless  been  received  by  the  Bailiffs  all  the  time.  None 
of  the  sum  of  £40  had  ever  been  used  to  bind  apprentices. 


392      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

iii.  Richard  Hayter's  charity,  1666  ;  a  sum  of  85.  a  year  out  of 
a  house  called  Riches  College  on  west  side  of  the  High  Street,  then 
occupied  by  John  Robins,  and  a  sum  of  45.  a  year  out  of  a  house  ad- 
joining then  occupied  by  Thomas  Miles  ;  the  former  sum  to  be  given 
to  8  of  the  almspeople  and  the  latter  sum  to  4  poor  widows. 

The  Commission  found  that  this  charity  had  been  regularly  ad- 
ministered. 

Also  a  sum  of  65.  Sd.,  interest  on  a  sum  of  20  nobles  (£6  135.  ^d.), 
the  capital  to  be  lent  out  and  the  interest  paid  to  a  Minister  for  a  sermon 
on  New  Year's  Day. 

The  Commission  found  that  this  also  had  been  regularly  carried 
out  as  regards  the  interest  although  no  one  had  ever  applied  for  the 
loan  of  the  principal. 

iv.  John  Harris's  will  (see  W 13,  p.  369). 

The  Commission  found  that  the  £100  to  be  lent  to  tradesmen  had 
been  administered  properly  except  that  the  churchwardens  had  not 
been  associated  with  the  management  of  it.  The  second  £100  for 
binding  apprentices  had  been  lent  out,  £50  to  Alexander  Ready  and 
£50  to  Richard  Winsmore  on  his  note  of  hand  alone,  and  he  dying 
insolvent  the  sum  had  been  lost.  One  of  the  Burgesses  to  whom  the 
note  of  hand  was  made  out  was  a  churchwarden,  and  should,  the 
Commission  held,  have  been  more  careful.  The  Corporation  had 
themselves  kept  up  the  interest  of  £5  a  year  on  the  lost  sum. 

v.  Alexander  Ready's  gift,  1616  (see  W 10,  p.  368). 

The  Commission  found  that  a  sum  of  £13  6s.  Sd.  had  been  lent  to 
John  Price,  when  Bailiff,  and  had  been  lost  by  his  failure.  The  Minister 
had  received  no  part  of  the  Ss.  bestpwed  on  him  by  the  will,  and  the 
charity  had  been  administered  at  the  Town  Hall  instead  of  at  the 
Church  as  directed  by  the  will. 

vi.  Cobb  Hall. 

The  Commission  had  no  comment  to  jnake,  except  that  the  premises 
were  worth  more  than  the  existing  rent  of  £13  a  year.  They  put  on 
record  that  Joseph  Flexney  had  spent  upon  repairs  more  than  was 
actually  necessary. 

vii.  Gift  of  James  Frotham,  1663,  of  a  sum  of  40s.  a  year  from  lands 
in  Langford  and  Grafton,  to  be  given  to  a  maid-servant  of  six  years' 
service,  or  failing  that  to  be  used  to  put  out  a  boy  or  girl  of  Burford 
to  service. 

The  Commission  found  that  there  was  no  complaint  to  be  made, 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     393 

except  that  six  years  previously  one  of  the  BaihJSs^  in  bestowing 
the  money,  insisted  that  the  recipient,  a  servant  named  Eliza  Home, 
should  spend  at  his  shop  20s.  on  things  she  did  not  want. 

viii.  Gift  of  Walwin  Hopton  of  £50  to  be  lent  to  tradesmen  in  sums 
of  £10. 

The  Commission  found  that  the  charity  had  been  administered, 
but  the  accounts  had  not  been  read  out  in  Church  as  they  should 
have  been. 

ix.  The  School. 

The  Commission  found  that  since  1717,  when  Richard  Griffiths 
became  schoolmaster,  no  usher  had  been  appointed,  the  *  petties  ' 
(junior  boys)  had  not  been  taught  their  ABC;  no  scholars  had  been 
registered.  Griffiths  had  received  all  the  rents,  including  that  part 
which  should  have  gone  to  the  payment  of  an  usher.  The  school- 
master had  not  been  elected  annually,  as  Simon  Wisdom's  constitu- 
tions ordered. 

x.  Poole's  Lands  and  Church  Lands. 

The  Commission  seemed  chiefly  occupied  to  prove  that  the  22  acres 
of  arable  land  belonged  to  the  Church,  and  maintained  that  this  was 
proved  by  the  Corporation  and  Church  books  from  1600  to  1689, 
and  by  a  terrier  of  Church  Lands  deposited  with  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 
about  1635  by  the  churchwardens ;  also  by  the  book  drawn  up  by 
Symon  Symons  in  1600. 

xi.   Gift  by  Henry  Heylin  of  £200. 

The  Commission  found  this  duly  administered. 

xii.  The  Commission  found  that  £30  of  the  gift  of  £40  by  Lady 
Tanfield  had  been  laid  out  in  the  purchase  of  a  house  in  Mollynder's 
Lane,  and  the  rent  had  been  used  for  binding  apprentices,  but  not 
according  to  the  will. 

xiii.  Robert  Veysey's  gift  of  £20,  the  interest  to  be  given  to  12  poor 
widows. 

In  1705  the  Baihffs'  books  display  £10  laid  out  in  church  repairs  at 
interest,  but  no  such  payment  appears  in  the  churchwardens'  books. 
Three  or  four  widows,  the  Commission  found,  had  received  some 
money  in  sums  of  25.  6d.  at  a  time.  There  had  been  no  other  payments 
between  1704  and  1727.  Between  1727  and  1736  the  whole  interest 
had  been  disposed  of  according  to  the  will,  except  that  the  church- 
wardens had  not  been  consulted. 


394  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

xiv.  Gift  by  Thomas  CoUyer,  25  October,  16  Charles  II  (1664),  of 
£2  125.,  the  interest  to  be  laid  out  by  the  BailifiEs  in  bread  for  distribu- 
tion to  the  poor. 

The  Commission  found  that  this  had  been  administered,  but  the 
overseers  of  the  will  had  not  been  properly  consulted. 

XV.  Gift  by  Robert  Gilkes  of  Burford  of  £10,  to  be  lent  out. 
The  Commission  had  no  complaint  to  make, 
xvi.  Willmott's  charity  (see  p.  385). 

The  Commission  found  that  this  had  been  administered,  but  not 
strictly,  and  no  account  had  been  delivered. 

xvii.  Edmund  Harman's  charity  (see  W  4,  p.  367). 
The  Commission  had  no  complaint  to  make. 

xviii.  Gift  by  John  Castle,  1720,  of  105.  a  year  out  of  a  close  in 
Bampton  for  a  yearly  sermon  on  Good  Friday. 

The  Commission  had  no  complaint  to  make. 

xix.  Gift  by  John  Lloyd  of  6s.  2d.  (see  W  7,  p.  368). 
The  Commission  had  no  comment  to  make  except  that  an  additional 
sum  of  2,s.  4d.  promised  by  the  son  of  John  Lloyd  had  never  been  paid. 

XX.  Gift  by  Ambrose  Aston,  1722,  of  a  messuage  producing  £3 
a  year,  to  be  used  for  apprenticing  poor  boys. 

The  Commission  found  that  this  had  been  done  up  to  1724.  Then 
a  year  had  been  missed.  From  1724  to  1738  the  rents  had  been  received 
by  John  Jordan,  and  £25  had  been  paid  oiit ;  the  remainder  he  held 
ready  to  apprentice  a  boy  when  required. 

xxi.  Castle's  Charity,  1726,  of  four  houses  in  Gildenford  Lane  lying 
together,  called  Castle's  Yard,  to  house  four  poor  widows,  and  two 
messuages  in  Witney  Street,  and  his  garden,  and  two  other  houses 
in  Gildenford  Lane  for  maintenance  of  the  widows. 

The  Commission  found  that  this  had  been  properly  administered. 

xxii.  Gift  by  John  Palmer  of  Bampton  of  £50,  the  interest  to  be 
given  to  the  poor. 

The  Commission  found  that  the  money  had  been  laid  out  in  buying 
four  houses  in  Mullender's  Lane  and  the  interest  had  been  properly 
used. 

xxiii.  All  Sorts  of  Money.  Under  this  head  came  the  following 
gifts  :  Timothy  Stampe,  £40 ;  George  Thomson,  £30  (£20  of  which 
had  been  lost) ;  Alexander  Ready,  £40 ;  William  Edgeley,  £10 ; 
Philip  Mariner,  £20 ;  Edmund  Silvester,  £20 ;  Attwell,  305. ;  Ralph 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     395 

Willett's  cow  sold  for  305.,  made  up  to  405.  by  Simon  Wisdom, 
Reynolds,  and  Simon  Symons.    The  total  was  given  as  £173  los. 

The  Commission  found  that  £29  165.  &d.  had  been  lost  by  being 
lent  to  John  Price,  who  was  one  of  the  Corporation  at  the  time.  By 
the  inquiry  of  1702  the  whole  sum  under  the  head  of  All  Sorts  of  Money 
was  ordered  to  be  lent  out  in  sums  of  £10  at  a  time,  to  be  paid  back 
by  205.  a  year  without  interest.    £125  was  now  out  on  22  bonds. 

xxiv.  Gift  by  Elizabeth  Meady  of  17  acres  to  the  overseers  of  her 
will ;  apparently  invalidated  by  her  failing  to  mention  the  heirs  of 
these  overseers. 

XXV.  Gift  by  John  Hillary  of  £200,  the  interest  to  be  laid  out  in 
bread  for  the  poor. 

The  Commission  found  that  £100  had  been  laid  out  in  the  purchase 
of  land  at  Standlake  and  the  interest  properly  used  except  in  1737, 
when  George  Hunt  received  the  interest  and  had  not  accounted  for  it. 

xxvi.  Cleveley's  Charity. 

The  Commission  found  this  duly  administered. 

xxvii.  The  Almshouse  and  capital  messuage  adjoining. 

The  Commission  found  that  the  Corporation  had  spent  between 
1702  and  1738  a  sum  of  £61  odd  more  than  they  had  received.  It 
did  not  appear  to  the  Commissioners  that  the  Corporation  had  any 
right  to  appoint  widows  to  the  Almshouses  or  to  spend  money  on  repairs. 

Various  minor  points  were  also  dealt  with.  The  Church  authorities 
complained  that  the  Corporation  had  let  a  house  belonging  to  the 
Church  to  William  Bowles,  one  of  their  number ;  he  had  done  no 
repairs,  and  after  he  left  the  house  the  Corporation  put  in  an  unskilful 
carpenter,  so  that  it  ultimately  cost  the  Church  £52  is.  iid.  to  put 
the  house  in  good  condition. 

A  complaint  was  made  that  the  Bailiffs  had  taken  the  rents  of  the 
houses  of  the  Bridge  instead  of  the  trustees.  Mr.  Underwood  was 
said  to  have  received  money  for  repairs  to  the  bridge,  but  had  not 
repaired  it.  By  decree  of  the  Commission  of  1702  the  Corporation 
should  have  received  £2  los.  a  year  out  of  the  Bridge  Lands  for 
repayment  of  a  sum  of  £60  spent  by  them  on  the  bridge.  It  did  not 
appear  to  the  Commission  that  they  ever  received  this  sum. 

There  was  also  an  accusation  of  fresh  entries  having  been  made  in 
the  Corporation  books  after  complaints  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Lenthall 
of  the  administration  of  the  Lenthall  charity. 


396  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

The  Judgement  of  the  Commission  was  as  follows  : 

LenthalVs  Charity :  The  Bailijffs  and  Burgesses  were  ordered  to 
refund  the  £ioo  spent  in  buying  land,  with  £5  interest,  and  to  produce 
within  a  twelvemonth  the  other  sum  of  £100.  They  were  also  ordered 
to  pay  £135  damages,  partly  to  Mr.  Lenthall  for  their  misuse  of  the 
money,  and  partly  for  the  expenses  of  the  Commission. 

Lady  Tanfield's  Bequest :  The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  were  ordered 
to  pay  the  sum  of  £38  95.  2d.  required  for  the  repair  of  the  Tanfield 
Chapel,  and  to  pay  £10  damages  towards  the  costs.  In  future  the 
sum  of  £40  was  to  be  administered  by  the  Minister,  the  churchwardens, 
and  the  Bailiffs. 

John  Harris's  Bequest :  The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  were  to  recover 
the  £50  lent  to  Alexander  Ready,  to  refund  the  £50  lost  by  Winsmore, 
and  to  pay  £10  damages  towards  the  costs. 

Alexander  Ready's  Bequest :  The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  were  to' 
produce  the  full  sum  of  £40,  refunding  the  sum  of  £13  6s.  Sd.  lost  by 
John  Price,  and  in  future  the  Minister  was  to  be  summoned  to  share 
in  the  distribution. 

Cobb  Hall :  Flexney's  present  lease  was  to  be  void  and  cancelled, 
a  new  lease  being  offered  to  him  at  a  higher  rent.  The  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  were  to  pay  £20  damages  towards  the  costs. 

Frotham's  Bequest :  Alatthew  Underwood,  the  individual  who  had 
taken  the  20s.  from  the  servant  girl,  was  to  pay  405.  damages  towards 
the  costs. 

The  School :  The  rents,  which  in  1688  had  been  fixed  at  £21  125.  Sd., 
were  now  found  to  be  £52  los.  An  usher  was  ordered  to  be  appointed 
at  £13  a  year  out  of  these  rents.  Richard  Griffiths  was  to  pay  £30 
damages  towards  the  costs.  There  being  now  no  Alderman  or  Steward, 
the  School  wardens  were  to  be  supervised  by  the  trustees,  the  Minister, 
the  Bailiffs,  the  churchwardens,  and  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  and 
these  officers  were  to  elect  the  schoolmaster. 

Poole's  Lands  :  The  rents,  after  allowing  for  the  payment  of  £2  125. 
a  year  to  the  poor,  were  found  to  amount  to  £25  iSs.  Half  of  this 
sum  was  to  be  paid  in  future  to  the  Vicar,  the  Vicarage,  exclusive  of 
Fulbrook,  being  of  the  value  of  only  £6  a  year.  The  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  were  to  pay  £20  damages  towards  the  costs. 

All  Sorts  of  Money  :  The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  were  to  refund  the 
lost  sum  of  £29  165.  Sd.,  and  to  pay  £15  115.  y^d.  due  to  the  Church. 
In  general  for  the  future  these  moneys  were  to  be  administered  by 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     397 

* 
the  Bailiffs  and  the  churchwardens,  and  not  as  hitherto  by  the  Bailiffs 

alone  or  by  the  Baihffs  and  Burgesses. 

Bowles's  Hotise  :  The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  were  to  refund  to  the 
Church  the  sum  of  £52  is.  i  id.  spent  in  repairs  and  to  pay  £io  damages 
towards  the  costs» 

Bridge  Lands  :  It  was  adjudged  that  the  sum  due  to  the  Corporation 
had  been  paid  though  not  entered  on  the  Corporation  books.*  The 
Bailiffs  were  to  pay  £2  Ss.  "jd.  due  on  the  Bridge  Account. 

The  Almshouse  :  In  future  the  widows  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
trustees. 

The  petitioners  and  defendants  were  to  share  the  cost  of  entertaining 
the  jury  and  paying  the  clerk,  John  Martin  (the  defendants,  the 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses,  said  they  would  refuse  to  bear  a  share  of  this 
cost). 

Since  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses,  by  taking  to  themselves  the  sole 
management  of  the  charities,  had  rendered  this  inquiry  necessary, 
and  since  they  had  done  everything  in  their  power  to  delay  it,  they 
were  adjudged  to  pay  £163  damages  over  and  above  those  already 
specified. 

The  following  new  trustees  were  appointed  by  the  Commission  : 
Sir  Thomas  Read  of  Shipton,  Sir  George  Fettiplace,  Sir  John  Dutton, 
William  Lenthall,  Esquire,  Robert  Stevens  of  Kelmscott,  William 
Wanly  the  younger  of  Ayford,  Francis  Potter  of  Burford,  clerk, 
Thomas  Godfrey  of  Milton,  gentleman,  Henry  Walker,  maltster, 
Thomas  Hunt,  ironmonger,  Robert  Castle,  mercer,  Samuel  Patrick 
jimior,  clothier,  Thomas  Clare,  innholder,  William  Lawrence,  maltster, 
James  Faulkner,  yeoman,  and  Richard  Willett,  joiner — all  of  Burford. 

It  was  ordered  that  in  future,  when  leases  of  town  lands  were 
within  twelve  months  of  determining,  notice  of  the  same  was  to  be 
given  in  church. 

The  document  is  signed  : 

Harcourt  Tho.* Martin  Tho.  Snell 

John  Cope  Sam.  Adams  Jno.  Goodenough 

H.  Pye  John  Coxwell  Jam.  Chaunler 
Henry  Beeston 

4.  Another  copy  of  part  of  the  same  inquiry,  but  containing  the 
Decrees  alone  without  the  recital  of  the  charities. 

5.  A  bundle  of  correspondence  concerning  the  Royal  Commission 
of*  1738,  especially  concerning  the  attitude  it  would  be  wise  for  the 


398  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Corporation  to  take  and  the  degree  to  which  they  should  recognize 
the  authority  of  the  Commission.  The  Corporation  were  evidently 
in  the  dark  as  to  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Lenthall  was  proceeding 
and  the  charges  that  would  be  alleged  against  them  as  a  ground  for 
the  issue  of  the  Commission, 

6.  A  bundle  of  portions  of  Bailiffs'  Accounts  for  various  years 
between  1698  and  1734,  possibly  produced  before  the  Royal  Commis- 
sion of  1738. 

7.  A  copy  of  counsel's  opinion,  dated  1732,  with  regard  to  Cleaveley's 
Charity,  a  difficulty  having  arisen  in  connexion  with  the  new  appoint- 
ment of  new  Trustees. 

8.  9  May,  16  George  II  (1743). 

Copy  of  the  judgement  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  in  the  case  Bailiffs 
and  Burgesses  of  Burford  exceptants  v.  Lenthall  and  others  respondents. 

The  judgement  will  be  found  in  full  among  the  documents  of  the 
Tolsey  Collection  {infra,  p.  486). 

9  and  10.  Two  small  quarto  volumes  (damaged  by  damp)  containing 
copies  of  the  judgement,  exactly  similar  to  the  volumes  in  the  Tolsey 
Collection  (see  p.  486). 

11.  Copy  of  the  petition  of  the  Corporation  to  the  Court  of  Chancery 
concerning  the  Royal  Commission  of  1738,  and  also  some  fragments 
of  the  depositions  of  witnesses  in  the  suit  of  1742-3. 

12.  A  bundle  of  bills  of  the  costs  of  the  Corporation  in  the  suit  of 
1742-3- 

13.  29  November,  16  George  II  (1742). 

Writ  to  Mr.  Ingles,  solicitor  to  the  Corporation,  ordering  him  to 
produce  his  books,  &c.,  before  the  Master  in  Chancery  to  have  his 
costs  taxed,  and  also  for  examination  as  to  payments  on  account  alleged 
to  have  been  made  by  the  exceptants  in  the  suit  of  1742-3. 

14.  A  portion  (folios  i  to  30)  of  the  pleadings  in  the  suit  of  1742-3. 
Folios  I  to  4 :    Lenthall's  bequest.     Exceptants'  case  was  that 

there  was  no  evidence  of  deliberate  misapplication  of  the  money. 
Respondents'  case  was  that  there  was  such  evidence,  the  copy  of  the 
will  had  been  lost  or  concealed  by  the  exceptants,  and  accounts  not 
properly  kept. 

Folios  4  to  8  :  Tanfield  Bequest.  Exceptants'  case  was  that  the 
money  had  been  properly  applied.  Respondents'  case  that  the  money 
had  been  received,  but  no  work  had  been  done  on  the  tomb  or  aisle 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     399 

The  exceptants  replied  that  they  only  had  the  management  of  the 
trust  because  the  Trustees  appointed  by  the  donol*  had  neglected  their 
trust. 

Folios  20  and  21  (sic) :  Harris's  Charity.  Exceptants'  case  was  that 
the  Commission  had  no  power  to  condemn  them  in  costs,  and  that  the 
loans  improperly  made  were  not  so  made  by  the  whole  Corporation. 
Respondents'  case  was  that  this  could  not  be  maintained,  and  they 
alleged  that  the  books  of  accounts  had  been  altered  by  the  exceptants 
to  bolster  up  their  plea. 

Folios  13  to  19  :  Cobb  Hall.  Exceptants*  case  was  that  th?y  had 
let  the  premises  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  and  that  the  Commission 
had  no  power  to  condemn  them  in  costs.  A  considerable  mass  of 
depositions  as  to  the  letting  of  the  premises  and  the  repairs  done  on 
them. 

Folio  22 :  Fretham's  Charity.  Underwood  pleaded  that  the 
Commission  had  no  power  to  order  him  to  refund  the  40s. 

Folios  22  to  30  :  The  Grammar  School.  Exceptants'  case  was  that 
the  Commission  had  no  power  to  alter  the  constitutions  of  the  School. 
Griffiths  pleaded  that  he  was  not  summoned  by  the  Commission  which 
therefore  could  not  order  him  to  pay  damages.  Respondents'  case  was 
that  the  constitutions  had  already 'been  altered  by  the  Commission 
of  1628  and  could  therefore  be  altered  again.  As  for  Griffiths  he 
*  did  privately  withdraw  himself  from  Burford  and  conceal  himself 
in  London  until  after  the  Return  or  Close  of  the  said  Commission ', 
and  the  damages  against  him  were  reasonable. 

Note. — The  above  document  is  not  exactly  the  missing  portion  of  the 
pleadings  in  the  Tolsey  Collection,  infra,  p.  509.  The  handwriting  is  differ- 
ent, and  in  this  copy  the  pleadings  with  regard  to  the  School  run  to  folio  30 
whereas  in  the  Tolsey  copy  they  end  on  folio  28.  Probably  one  is  a  portion 
of  the  copy  on  the  Respondents'  side  and  the  other  a  portion  of  that  on  the 
Exceptants'  side.  However,  practically  one  is  a  complement  of  the  other, 
and  we  have  the  pleadings  almost  complete. 

With  this  copy  in  the  Cheatle  Collection  is  one  folio  (22)  of  the  other 
copy — part  of  the  pleadings  with  regard  to  the  School. 

15.  A  few  fragmentary  documents  connected  with  the  lawsuit, 
including  a  copy  of  depositions  by  Richard  Griffiths's  son  and  his 
sister-in-law  concerning  his  mental  weakness  and  his  departure  to 
Oxford  to  the  care  of  a  physician. 

16.  A  copy  of  Counsel's  opinion  dated  20  September  1790,  concerning 
the  responsibility  for  repairing  the  Bridge. 


400  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

MISCELLANEA.    I 
1397  TO  1741 

Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  PP 

1.  Michaelmas  Term,  21  Richard  II  (1397). 

Copy  of  a  fine  between  William  Rosen  of  Fifhide  plaintiff  and  John 
Cardygan  and  Alice  his  wife  deforciants,  for  three  messuages  with 
appurtenances  in  Boreford.    For  20  marks  of  silver. 

2.  23  August,  12  Edward  IV  (1472). 

Conveyance  by  John  Mosier  of  Burford,  to  John  Pynnock  junior, 
John  Granger,  and  William  Hill.  All  his  lands,  tenements,  meadows, 
and  pastures,  with  all  appurtenances,  which  he  had  in  the  town  and 
fields  of  Burford  and  Ker^keham  by  bequest  of  his  father  John  Mosier. 

Witnesses  :  Henry  Byschop,  John  Banbury,  John  Grove,  Henry 
Stodham,  John  Boterell. 

B.    1566. 

Certificate  of  grant  of  the  Common  Seal  at  the  Herald's  Visitation. 

The  Seal  was  presented  for  confirmation  by  John  Hannes  and 
Rycharde  Charley,  Bailiffs,  Symond  Wysedom,  Alderman,  Edmunde 
Sylvester,  Steward,  Robert  Bruweton,  John  FFlude,  John  Smythe 
the  elder,  Thomas  Freere,  Thomas  Fetyplace,  Rycharde  Dalbye, 
and  Walter  Mollyner,  Burgesses  and  late  Bailiffs,  and  Henry  Parrott, 
Town  Clerk. 

The  certificate  is  signed  by  Will:  Hervy,  Clarencieux  King  of  Arms. 

Note. — ^The  arms  of  the  town  are  tricked  at  the  head  of  'the  certificate  ; 
the  lion  is  represented  gardant  to  the  dexter. 

4.    14  January,  23  Elizabeth  (1581). 

Lease  by  Simon  Wisdom,  Alderman  of  the  Borough  of  Burford, 
John  Hannes,  Steward  of  the  Fellowship  and  Corporation,  by  and  with 
the  consent  of  John  Lyme  and  John  Williams,  Bailiffs,  and  with  the 
assent  and  agreement  of  air  their  brethren  the  Burgesses,  to  Richard 
Dalby  of  Upton  in  the  parish  of  Burford  and  one  of  the  Brotherhood 
of  the  borough.  A  shop  lying  and  adjoining  to  the  Tolsey  of  Burford, 
next  unto  Sheep  Street,  now  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Parsons.  For 
21  years  at  e^s^  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  John  Lyme,  John  Williams,  Bailiffs  ;  Thomas  Phetty- 
place,  Walter  Mollynder,  William  Symondes,  William  Partridge, 
Thomas  Hewis. 

Endorsed  :  '  A  lease  of  part  of  the  Towlsey.' 


MISCELLANEA  401 

5.  25  September,  i8  James  I  (1620). 

Letter  from  the  Mayor  and  Commonalty  of  the  City  of  Oxford  to 
the  Bailiffs,  Alderman,  and  Burgesses  of  Burford. 

Wee  have  receyved  from  you  an  instrument  in  writinge  under  your 
Common  Seale  purportinge  your  request  to  bee  certified  under  our 
Common  Seale  touchinge  our  havinge  and  enjoyinge  of  waiefes,  estraies, 
felons  goods,  pickadge,  stallage  and  tallage  For  that  amongst  things 
it  is  by  Diverse  charters  expressly  graunted  unto  the  Burgesses  of 
Burford  as  yee  relate  that  they  and  the  Citizens  of  Oxon  shalbee  of 
one  and  the  selfe-same  lawe  libertie  and  custome  And  further  that 
the  saied  Burgesses  of  Burford  shall  in  case  of  Doubte  or  question 
send  unto  the  Cittie  of  Oxon  to  bee  certified  therein  Now  therefore 
for  your  satisfaccon  on  that  behalfe  and  accordinge  to  our  laudable 
custome  of  receyvinge  certificates  from  London  whereunto  wee  are 
in  like  manner  referred  and  of  advertisinge  other  places  referred  to 
us  These  are  to  lett  you  knowe  that  wee  have  and  enjoy  by  auntient 
charters  within  our  saied  Cittie  and  the  liberties  thereof  as  part  of 
that  wee  hould  by  fee  farme  and  for  which  wee  pay  the  same  both 
waiefes  estraies  fellons  goods  pickadge  stallage  and  diverse  tolles. 

6.  12  Charles  I,  1637. 

Two  copies  of  a  fine  by  William  Bartholomew  and  Thomas  Silvester 
for  the  purchase  from  Simon  Veysey  and  Anne  his  wife  and  Robert 
Veysey  and  Anne  his  wife  of  three  messuages  and  gardens  in  Burford. 
For  £100. 

Cf.  Ssi,  Bundle  CC. 

7.  19  June,  14  Charles  I  (1638). 

Lease  by  John  Wheeler  of  Woolhope,  com.  Hereford,  and  Elizabeth 
his  wife  and  Robert  Lane  of  Ewis  Harold  in  the  same  county  and 
Elizabeth  his  wife,  to  Roger  Bosworth  of  Woolhope,  gentleman. 
A  house  and  croft  called  Yeoman's  Croft  in  Woolhope. 

8.  27  May,  5  James  I  (1607). 

Indenture  of  sale  by  John  Hannes  of  Burford,  yeoman,  and  Richard 
Hannes  his  son  and  heir,  to  Richard  Merywether,  yeoman.  Alderman 
of  the  town.    For  £280. 

Capital  messuage  or  tenement  on  east  side  of  the  High  Street  over 
against  the  high  cross  there,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Bull,  now  in 
occupation  of  John  Silvester,  innholder,  abutting  upon  the  High 
Street  to  the  west,  the  tenement  of  Edmond  Silvester  the  elder  now 
occupied  by  Robert  Jurdan,  garden  and  back-sides  of  the  tenements 

2304  D  d 


402  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

occupied  by  Edmond  Serrell  and  Andrew  Ward,  and  various  tenements 
in  Witney  Street  and  Witney  Street  itself  to  the  north  ;  the  back 
lane  commonly  called  Batts  Lane  to  the  east ;  and  the  tenement  and 
back-side  of  William  Bartholomew,  sometime  part  of  the  lands  of 
Symon  Wisdom,  deceased,  to  the  south. 

Also  a  small  close  containing  by  estimation  three  acres  commonly 

called  the  Long  Bushy  Close  near  the  east  end  of  the  common  lot 

meadow  called  High  Mead,  adjoining  to  the  south  side  of  the  same 

mead,  occupied  by  John  Silvester. 

••     Also  an  acre  in  the  common  lot  mead  occupied  by  John  Silvester. 

Also  63  acres  in  the  common  fields  of  Burford  and  Signett  occupied 
by  John  Silvester.  Excepting  two  butts  of  arable  land  containing, 
by  estimation  two  acres  near  to  the  High  Mead  gate  in  the  East  Field 
of  Burford,  adjoining  to  the  spring  or  water  running  out  of  the  bank- 
side  into  the  highway  on  the  west  and  the  lands  of  Richard  Hodges 
to  the  east. 

Also  one  acre  of  arable  in  the  West  Field  in  the  fern  furlong  adjoining 
to  the  acre  belonging  to  the  Bull  on  the  west  and  copyhold  land  late 
of  John  Gy  vons  deceased  on  the  east. 

Also  an  acre  of  arable  in  West  Field  shooting  to  the  way  from 
Burford  to  Signett,  commonly  called  Dyne  Acre  way  on  the  west  side 
of  the  way  and  lying  to  the  copyhold  lands  of  John  Hannes  to  the 
north  and  the  land  of  Sir  Lawrence  Tanfield  to  the  south ;  which 
two  acres  belong  to  John  Hannes'  now  dwelling  house  and  are  sold 
in  lieu  of  the  two  butts  of  land  previously  reserved. 

Also  an  inclosed  piece  of  pasture  ground  or  Leynes  about  one  acre 
stretching  to  the  highway  leading  toward  Upton  and  lying  to  the 
arable  field  there  towards  the  west  and  ley  ground  or  lands  of  Richard 
Merywether  to  the  east,  which  piece  of  Leynes  was  sold  by  John 
Hannes  and  his  father  to  Simon  Wisdome  deceased  and  was  lately 
sold  by  one  Hughe  Maye,  gentleman,  to  Richard  Merywether.  Also 
all  the  goods  and  chattels  expressed  in  the  schedule. 

The  Schedule : 

Imprimis  in  the  soler  one  table  bord  with  a  joyned  bench  to  the 

same  borde 
Item  in  the  same  soler  one  other  bench  with  a  backe  of  wenscott 

to  the  same  adjoyning  one  barre  of  Iron  in  the  chymney  and  glasse 

in  the  windowes 
Item  one  oriall  in  the  soler  chamber  with  glasse  in  the  windowes 


MISCELLANEA  403 

Item  in  the  halle  one  benche  a  backe  of  wenscott  at  the  upper  horde 

a  barre  of  Iron  in  the  chimney  with  glasse  in  the  windowes 
Item  in  the  chambers  the  glasse  in  the  windowes 
Item  in  the  kitchin  the  dresser  bord  with  shylves  and  an  Iron  barre 

in  the  chymney 
Item  all  the  goods  and  ymplements  of  houshold  of  the  said  John 

Hannes  and  Richard  Hannes  his  son  remayning  in  or  about  the 

messuage  or  tenement  called  the  Bull 
Witnesses  :    H.  Heylyn,  Ambrose  Davis,  Edw.  Heylyn,  Anthony 
Rowles,  Thomas  Hardinge. 

9.  25  February,  1651. 

Deed  of  Exchange  between  Anne  Atkinson  of  Chadlington,  widow, 
wife  of  Richard  Osbaldeston  late  of  Burford  deceased  ;  Robert 
Taylor,  baker,  and  Anne  his  wife ;  William  Windowe  of  Gloucester, 
gentleman,  and  Grace  his  wife  ;  John  Smyth  of  Chadlington,  carpenter, 
and  Frances  his  wife — three  of  the  daughters  and  co-heirs  of  Richard 
Osbaldeston,  of  the  one  part,  and  Edward  Smyth  of  Chadlington  tailor, 
and  Judith  his  wife,  one  other  daughter  and  co-heir,  of  the  other  part. 

By  this  deed  the  latter  parties  gave  up  all  claim  to  a  house  on  east 
side  of  the  High  Street  in  Burford,  occupied  by  John  Jordan,  and 
a  close  of  pasture  occupied  by  John  Woodward  ;  and  the  former  in 
return  gave  up  all  claim  to  a  house  in  Witney  Street  between  a  tene- 
ment of  Symon  Hayter  on  east  and  a  tenement  and  back-gate  of  John 
Taylor  on  west. 

10.  15  January  1655,  26  October  1659,  and  i  November  1659. 
Conveyances  of  property  at  Alvescott,  consisting  of  the  great  close 

called  Great  Ruxell,  of  100  acres  ;  a  ground  called  the  Bam  RuxeH  J 
and  a  house  ('  new  built '  in  the  1659  deeds)  on  one  of  the  three  closes 
into  which  the  Great  Ruxell  was  divided  ;  all  being  part  of  the  demesne 
lands  of  the  manor  of  Alvescott. 

The  Property  was  conveyed  in  1655  to  John  Bicknell  of  Holwell, 
yeoman,  by  Charles  Trinder  the  elder  of  Holwell,  John  Trinder, 
gentleman,  his  son  and  heir,  Charles  Trinder,  and  Richard  Sackeville 
of  Bybury,  Esquire.  In  1659  it  was  conveyed  by  Charles  Trinder  of 
Holwell,  gentleman,  one  of  the  sons  of  Charles  Trinder  the  elder, 
deceased,  John  Bicknell  of  Yanworth,  yeoman,  and  Charles  Cooke  of 
Holwell,  yeoman,  to  Nathaniel  Brookes  of  Holwell. 

11.  14  December,  22  Charles  II,  1670. 

Certificate  by  Sir  Robert  Long,  Bart.,  Edward  Fauconberge,  and 

Dd  2 


404  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

John  Lowe,  gentlemen,  officers  under  the  Lords  Commissioners  of 
the  Treasury  and  the  Chamberlains  of  the  Treasury. 

One  measure  of  brass  containing  one.  bushel  sized  and  seased  by 
His  Majesty's  measure  and  standard  kept  in  the  Receipt  of  the 
Exchequer,  by  Thomas  Taylor,  citizen  and  founder  of  London,  for 
and  on  behalf  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford. 

The  seal  of  the  office  of  Receipt  of  the  Exchequer  attached. 

12.    1706. 

Settlement  by  John  Jordan  senior  on  the  marriage  of  his  son  John 
Jordan  with  Mary  Coo  of  Sutton  under  Brailes,  Gloucestershire,  of 
the  following  property  : 

House  now  in  occupation  of  John  Jordan  senior  on  east  side  of 
High  Street  between  a  house  in  the  occupation  of  Richard  Haynes 
on  north  and  a  house  occupied  by  Mary  Fox,  widow,  on  south,  with 
a  carriage-way  leading  from  the  back-gate  into  Witney  Street ; 

House  occupied  by  Daniel  Dumbleton  on  east  side  of  High  Street 
between  a  house  called  the  Bull,  occupied  by  William  Tash,  on  north 
and  a  tenement  of  Ann  Harding,  widow,  on  south  ; 

House  occupied  by  Robert  §mith  on  west  side  of  High  Street 
between  a  house  of  Amos  Saintsbury  occupied  by  Richard  Freeman 
on  north  and  a  tenement  called  the  Mermaid  occupied  by  Joseph 
Overbury  on  south  ; 

House  occupied  by  Joseph  Payton  on  north  side  of  Witney 
Street  between  Richard  Wallington  on  east  and  John  Randolph- 
on  west ; 

House  on  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  occupied  by  William  Partridge, 
between  three  bams  on  east  and  the  house  of  Edward  .  .  .  (illegible) 
on  west ; 

These  three  bams  and  the  ground  on  which  a  fourth  stood,  with  an 
orchard  and  back-side  adjoining  ; 

Two  closes  commonly  called  the  Barley  Closes  on  east  side  of 
Burford,  and  a  close  called  the  Lanes  on  west  side  of  Burford,  ex- 
tending from  the  arable  fields  there  on  the  south  to  the  highway  from 
Burford  to  Upton  on  the  north  ; 

One  and  a  half  acres  of  meadow  in  the  Common  lot  meadow  ; 

One  acre  of  meadow  in  Upton  near  the  river  shooting  upon  Little 
Barrington  fields ; 

One  parcel  of  arable  land  near  Whitehill,  now  enclbsed,  of  about 
7  acres  ; 

All  arable  lands  in  the  fields  of  Burford,  of  about  140  acres  ; 


MISCELLANEA  405 

Other  lands  in  East  field  amounting  to  21 J  acres,  and  in  West 
field  8i  half-yard-lands ; 

Two  closes  in  a  lane  on  the  east  of  Burford,  one  next  the  Barley 
Closes  on  east  and  one  next  Bear  Close  on  west ;  * 

One  hamme  or  ground  next  the  Water  Crooke  near  to  High  Meadow 
towards  the  east  and  the  high  .  .  .  (illegible)  towards  the  west ; 

All  which  are  accounted  four  half-yard-lands,  lately  called  BJigh- 
lords  Land. 

13.  23  December,  8  Anne,  1709. 

Deeds  of  Sale  by  Thomas  Parsons  of  Burford,  innholder,  son  and 
heir  of  Thomas  Parsons,  late  of  Burford,  chandler,  to  John  Jordan  the 
younger,  gentleman.  Close  of  pasture  called  the  Bear  Close,  of  two 
acres,  in  Batts  Lane.    For  ^^65. 

Included  with  this — formal  lease  of  this  close  for  a  year  at  55. 

Witnesses  :  Ralph  Syndrey,  John  Cobum  senior,  John  Cobum 
junior. 

Also  a  fine,  dated  morrow  of  the  Trinity,  10  Anne,  between  Richard 
Hall  and  John  Baston  and  Susanna  his  wife,  for  a  house,  a  garden, 
and  orchard,  ten  acres  of  land  and  a  pasture  in  Bampton  and  Aston. 
For  £60  sterling. 

The  whole  endorsed  :  *  My  purchase  deeds  of  the  Beare  Close  I 
Purchased  from  Parsons  in  Burford.' 

14.  12  William  III  (1700). 

Exemplification  of  a  Recovery  of  a  house  in  New  Woodstock,  the 
proceedings  being  between  William  Batt  and  John  Moulden. 

15.  2  March,  11  Anne,  17 13. 

Deed  of  Exchange  between  John  Lenthall,  Esquire,  and  Paul 
Silvester,  tanner. 

The  former  gave  up  an  end  of  a  half-acre  of  arable  lying  in  Battledge 
Field  late  of  John  Jordan,  land  of  Mr.  Silvester's  on  both  sides  ;  and 
one  acre  in  the  same  field  between  land  of  John  Jordan  on  the  east 
and  land  of  Dr.  Castle  on  the  west. 

The  latter  gave  up  one  acre  and  two  half-acre  ends  on  the  lower 
side  of  Battledge  Field,  land  late  of  Peter  Rich  and  now  of  John 
Lenthall  on  both  sides. 

Witnesses :   John  Jordan  junior,  Robert  Collins,  Ralph  Wall. 

16.  19  December,  15  George  II,  1741. 

Lease  by  Thomas,  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford,  to  Elizabeth  Pryor  of 
Burford,  widow  of  John  Pryor,  and  administratrix  of  the  will  of 


4o6  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Matthew  Pryor  of  Ducklington.  The  Rectory  and  Parish  Church  of 
Burford,  the  chapel  of  Fulbrook,  the  advowson  of  the  Church,  and  the 
Vicarage,  worth  by  estimation  £80  a  year.  For  the  Uves  of  William 
Collier  of  the  parish  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  Bermondsey,  tallow 
chandler,  son  of  Robert  Collier,  late  of  Witney,  clothier ;  and  John 
Pryor  of  Shipton-under-Wychwood,  gentleman,  son  of  Elizabeth 
Pryor  ;  and  EUzabeth  Clarke  Pryor,  daughter  of  the  said  John  Pryor 
the  elder ;  and  the  life  of  the  longest-lived  of  them ;  subject  to 
trusts  in  the  will  of  John  Pryor  and  the  will  of  Matthew  Pryor.  For 
an  annual  rent  of  £20. 

The  Bishop's  attorneys  for  delivery  of  possession  were  Paul  Silvester 
and  WilUam  Jordan,  schoolmaster. 

Witnesses  :  Francis  Potter,  William  Jordan. 
i     Endorsed  :   *  Lives  William  Collier,  John  Pryor  son  of  the  lessee, 
and  Elizabeth  Clarke  Pryor  daughter  of  the  said  John  who  died  1772. 
After  this  the  lives  were 

Mr.  Nichols  i 

then  Mr.  Jones  ii 

then  Mr.  Caswell  and  Mr.  Hayward  *  iii 
then  Mrs.  Hf'Deane  iv.' 


MISCELLANEA.    II 

Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  Centuries 

Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  RR 

1.  12  October,  1734. 

Lease  by  George  Hart  and  others,  to  William  Taylor  of  Burford, 
gardener.  A  house  and  gardeft  ground  on  the  north  side  of  Witney 
Street  between  the  tenement  of  James  Taynton  on  the  east  and  that 
of  William  Hayeley  on  the  west.    For  21  years  at  £5  a  year. 

2.  19  October,  27  George  II,  1753. 

Lease  by  Paul  Silvester  and  John  Green,  Bailiffs,  Daniel  Dicks, 
William  Chapman,  John  Collier,  and  William  Upton,  Burgesses, 
to  the  same.   The  same  property,  for  9  years  at  the  same  rent. 

Endorsed  :  *  William  Taylor  agrees  at  his  death  or  at  the  expiration 
of  the  lease  to  leave  the  fruit  trees  (except  gooseberries  and  currants) 
for  the  sole  use  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses.' 

3.  I  June,  1793. 

Lease  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford,  to  Joseph  Strafford 


MISCELLANEA  407 

V 

of  Burford,  carpenter.    Three  houses  in  Mullender's  Lane.    For  21 
years  at  £2  10s.  a  year. 

Note. — ^This  lease  evidently  belongs  to  the  set  in  the  Tolsey,  Bundle  F, 
see  p.  462. 

4  and  5.    27  August,  iSoi. 

Two  copies  of  a  lease  of  land  in  Ducklington  Fields. 

6.  6  May,  1807. 

Lease  by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis  KnoUis  and  other  Trustees, 
to  John  Tuckwell  of  Burford,  gentleman.  Charity  Land  situated  on 
the  Faringdon  Road. 

Note. — See  Burford  Enclosure  Award,  p.  694. 

7.  10  June,  181 5.  A  trust  declaration  concerning  invested  stocks 
of  money  held  for  the  town.    (Damaged  by  damp.) 

8.  A  packet  of  correspondence  concerning  the  claim  of  Robert 
Wisdom  of  Shipton-under-Wychwood  to  be  the  heir  of  Simon  Wisdom, 
and,  as  such.  Visitor  of  Burford  Grammar  School.    The  claim  failed. 

9.  A  packet  of  Bailiffs'  Accounts  for  various  years  from  1754  to  1791. 

10.  A  list,  undated,  of  the  Charity  properties  of  the  Corporation. 
It  is  identical  with  the  list  in  the  conveyance  to  new  Trustees,  Tolsey, 
Bundle  M. 

11.  A  packet  of  papers  recording  the  appointment  of  Bailiffs, 
1787-1801. 

12.  A  packet  of  papers  containing  minutes  of  the  Corporation 
concerning  the  Charity  Lands,  and  minutes  of  Easter  Vestry  meetings, 
1789-1805. 

18  and  14.  Printed  copies  of  the  Enclosure  Acts  for  Burford  (1794) 
and  Upton  (1773). 

15.  Printed  copy,  undated,  of  Rules  for  the  widows  in  the  Alms- 
house. 

16.  A  packet  of  apprenticeship  indentures,  19th  century,  made  by 
the  Trustees  of  charitable  moneys  left  for  that  purpose. 

[The  following  are  paper  copies  of  documents  of  which  the 
contents  are  recorded  elsewhere  in  this  Calendar.] 

17.  Copy  of  the  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  III,  probably  made  for 
the  purposes  of  the  Quo  Warranto  proceedings  of  1620. 

18.  Copy  of  the  will  of  Alexander  Ready  :  see  Cheatle  Collection, 
Bundle  HH,  W 10,  p.  368. 

19.  Copy  of  the  will  of  Simon  Reynolds :  see  Cheatle  Collection, 
Bundle  DD,  S51. 


4o8  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

20.  Copy  of  the  will  of  Richard  Hayter :  see  Cheatle  Collection, 
Bundle  NN,  p.  392. 

21.  Copy  and  two  translations  of  the  Survey  of  Burford  manor 
and  town  :  see  Public  Record  Extracts,  p.  624. 

22.  Copy  of  the  Upton  Enclosure  Award  :  see  p.  701. 

23.  Copy  in  manuscript  of  what  appears  to  be  a  draft  clause  intended 
for  insertion  in  the  Burford  Enclosure  Act,  enabling  the  Vicar  of  Bur- 
ford,  the  Rev.  Francis  Knollis,  to  borrow  money  for  the  purpose  of 
enclosing  lands  allotted  to  him  on  the  security  of  the  lands  so  allotted. 


MISCELLANEA.    Ill 

Cheatle  Collection,  Bundle  SS 

Parchment  on  small  roller 
This  is  a  Roll  of  High  Meade  for  Burry  Barnes  Signet  and  Burford, 
for  them  that  shall  Draw  the  Lotts  hereunder  written  the  Thirtieth 
Day  of  June  Annoq:  Domini  1729. 

1.  Imprimis  the  Serjeant  and  Reeve  have  the  first  Lay  Acre  Between 
them  in  the  first  Hide  And  then  the  nexte  Acre  in  the  first  Hide  is 
belonging  to  William  Castell  sen. 

2.  Item  there  be  four  Hides  and  in  every  Hide  Tenn  Acres,  Whereof 
there  be  two  Layne  Acres  in  every  Hide,  so  there  remains  eight  Acres 
to  be  drawn  for  by  Lott 

3.  Item  These  are  the  names  of  the  Lotts  as  followeth  First  one  of 
the  Double  Cross,  The  second  of  the  single  Cross,  The  third  of  the 
Three  Pitts,  The  fourth  of  the  Two  Pitts,  The  fifth  of  Pitt  and  Dock, 
The  sixth  of  Pitt  and  Dockseed,  The  seventh  of  Pitt  and  Stone,  The 
eighth  of  Pitt  and  Thome,  and  so  these  Lotts  are  to  serve  all  the  Meade 

4.  Item  John  Kempster  may  choose  for  Mrs  Pryor's  Land  belonging 
to  the  parsonage,  whether  He  will  take  the  Lott  of  Double  Cross,  or 
single  Cross,  for  four  Acres,  That  is  one  in  every  Hide  besides  two 
Hales  or  fEarthendales  att  the  upper  end  of  the  Meade 

5.  Item  in  the  next  Lott  Martin  Turner  may  Choose  for  Mrs  Pryor's 
Land  whether  he  will  take  the  Lotts  of  Two  Pitts  or  Three  Pitts 
Throughout  the  Meade  that  is  one  Acre  in  every  Hide 

6.  Item  John  Pearse  have  an  Acre  in  every  Hide  off  Pitt  and  Dock 
without  Drawing  for 

7.  Item  Mrs  Pryor  have  one  Layne  Acre  in  the  second  Hide, 
which  Layne  Acre  is  to  be  divided  between  Martin  Turner  and 


MISCELLANEA  409 

John  Kempster    The  other  Layne  Acre  in  the  second  Hide  belongeth 
to  Jolin  Pearse 

8.  In  the  third  Hide  there  are  two  Layhe  Acres  the  first  belongeth 
to  the  School  Land  And  the  other  belongeth  to  Edward  Castle 

9.  Item  in  the  fourth  Hide  are  two  other  Layne  Acres  The  first 
is  belonging  to  the  Town  Land  now  in  the  possession  of  William  Castle 
Chand  :  The  second  belongeth  to  John  Pearse 

10.  Item  Martin  Turner  hath  an  Acre  of  Pitt  and  Stone  in  the  first 
Hide  belonging  to  Mrs  Pryors  Land  without  Drawing  for  The  other 
Three  Acres  of  Pitt  and  Stone  are  to  be  Drawn  for  by  John  Pearse 
Clou  de  Chavasse  and  Martin  Turner  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land 

11.  Item  John  Pearse  hath  one  Acre  of  Pitt  and  Dockseed  in  the 
first  Hide  without  Drawing  for  The  other  three  Acres  of  Pitt  and  Dock- 
seed  are  to  be  drawn  for  by  Martin  Turner  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land, 
John  Pearse,  and  Martin  Turner  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land 

12.  Item  one  Acre  of  Pitt  and  Thome  in  the  first  Hide  is  between 
Martin  Turner  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land  and  William  Castle  for  Mr  Veseys 
Land  without  Drawing  for  The  other  Three  Acres  of  Pitt  and  Thome 
are  to  be  drawn  for  by  Martin  Tumer  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land,  John 
Pearse,  and  Martin  Tumer  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land 

13.  Item  one  Acre  of  Two  Pitts  or  Three  Pitts  after  Martin  Tumer 
have  chosen  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land  is  Edward  Castle's  without  Drawing 
for  in  the  first  Hide  The  other  three  Acres  of  Two  Pitts  and  Three 
Pitts  after  Martin  Tumer  have  chosen  to  be  Drawn  for  by  Martin 
Tumer  for  Mrs  Pryors  Land  Paul  Sylvester  for  the  School  Land  called 
St  Katherine's  and  Edward  Castle 

14.  Item  For  the  Lotts  of  Double  Cross  or  Single  Cross  after  the 
parson  have  chosen  there  is  one  Acre  belonging  to  John  Pearse  in  the 
first  Hide  of  Double  Cross  or  Single  Cross  without  Drawing  for  The 
other  Three  Acres  of  Double  Cross  or  Single  Cross  William  Castle  for 
Mr  Veseys  Land  Daniel  Dicks  for  the  Town  Land  and  Henry  Tash 
for  Mr  Aston 's  Land  One  of  these  Three  to  be  divided  between  William 
Castell  sen  and  Daniel  Dicks  for  the  Town  Land  Memorandum  The 
Serjeant  and  Reeves  Acre  was  at  the  Upper  End  of  the  Meade  this 
present  year  1729 

John  Pearse  has  without  Drawing 
Pitt  and  Dockseed  in  the  first  Hide 
Pitt  and  Dock  throughout  the  Mead 
The  second  Layne  Acre  in  the  second  Hide 
The  second  Layne  Acre  in  the  fourth  Hide. 


410  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Parchment  on  smaU  roller 

Burford,  1693.  *A  rent  roll  of  the  lands  and  tenements  belonging 

to  the  Free  School  of  Burford. 

Note. — ^The  names  of  tenants  are  as  in  the  contemporary  documents 
transcribed  among  the  School  leases. 

In  this  bundle  have  been  placed  also  the  Almshouse  document 
bearing  the  Warwick  signature,  A  4 ;  and  the  Memorandum  Book 
numbered  i  below ;  these  two  documents  being  most  frequently 
wanted  for  exhibition,  it  seemed  better  to  put  them  apart. 

MEMORANDUM  AND  ACCOUNT  BOOKS 

Cheatle  Collection 

1.    Thin  folio  volume,  bound  in  vellum,  marked  *  ffor  matterys 

concemyng  the  Towne  off  Burfiorde  '. 

[Note. — This  volume  is  a  mixed  record  of  accounts  and  memoranda. 
It  appears  to  have  been  started  and  kept  by  Simon  Wisdom,  who  was 
proctor  of  Poole's  Lands  as  well  as  Alderman  during  a  great  part  of  the 
time  covered  by  the  volume.  The  accounts,  therefore,  consist  for  the  most 
part  of  the  receipts  and  disbursements  (principally  chief  rent  and  wages 
for  the  Serjeant  and  town  clerk)  of  those  lands.  The  following  extracts 
give  the  items  of  interest  among  the  entries  apart  from  those  accounts.] 

fol.  I.  Thys  boke  made  and  Begon  at  the  Fest  of  Sent  Mychaell 
the  arkangell  in  the  yere  of  our  lord  god  a  mvliii  and  in  the  Reyne 
of  oijr  Sovereyn  lord  Kyng  phylyppe  and  queue  mary  Kyng  and  queue 
of  england  fraunce  naples  and  Jerusalem  and  in  the  first  and  second 
for  the  Remembrance  of  acowmptes  and  thyngs  belongyng  to  the 
Bretherhedde  and  Burgesses  of  the  towne  of  Burfford  they  Beyng 
burgesses  ther  as  folowythe  by  ther  namys 

Rychard  Monyngton  Alderman  of  the  same  Burgesses 

Symon  Wysdom  Steward  of  the  same  felowship 

Robert  Jonson 

WyUiam  Hewys  alias  Calkott 

Robert  Ennysdale 

Thomas  Fawler 

Robert  Bruton 

Edmunde  Sylvester 

John  Hewys  alias  Floyd 

Thomas  Prykevans 

John  Smythear 

John  Hannys 


MEMORANDUM  AND  ACCOUNT  BOOKS        411 

Robert  browne 

Rychard  Dawby 

Wyllyam  Colyns 

John  Hayter 

fol.  I  rev.  A  memorandum  as  to  the  custody  of  the  keys  :  the  small 
keys  of  '  the  deske  wherein  remaynethe  our  charter '  kept  by  the 
Steward ;  the  keys  of  the  chest  kept  by  W.  Hewys  and  T.  Fawler ; 
the  keys  of  *  the  dore  where  those  thynges  remayne'  kept  by  Edmund 
Sylvester. 

fol.  2.  Names  of  Burgesses  in  1559,  Simon  Wisdom  being  then 
Alderman. 

The  charges  of  the  confirmacyon  of  our  charter  at  the  comyng  of 
quene  mary  an^  1553. 

payd  for  the  fyne  taxed  by  my  Lord  chancellor  iii  It. 

pd  for  the  Schynne  floryschyng  x  R. 

pd  for  the  wrytyng  and  InRollement  xwis.  yniid. 

payd  for  the  examynacon  thereof  iii  R. 

payd  for  the  grett  Scale  xx  R.  iiiiti. 

payd  for  wex  and  lace  iii  R.  iiiii. 

payd  to  Mr  Smythe  for  hys  paynes  iiis.  iuid. 
sma  vii  It.  vii  R.  vuid. 

fol.  2  rev.  1559.  wherof  payd  in  ano  1559  for  the  renuynge  and 
coriffirmacyon  of  our  charter  in  ano  primo  EUzabethe  viii  It.  ixs. 

fol.  3  rev.  1561.  a  carpett  cloth  for  the  ToUysend  vis.  vuid.  and 
canvas  to  line  the  same  and  the  doynge  thereof  ii* . 

To  the  mynstrelles  viiid. 

[Note. — A  frequent  entry  is  for  '  our  dener '  ;  also  there  are  frequent 
payments  for  '  dedes  of  infeoffment ' — for  conveyance  of  Poole's  and  other 
charity  lands  ;  '  wyne  and  sugar  '  is  bought  for  the  Judges  at  the  Assizes, 
and  also  constantly  for  the  visits  of  Sir  Edward  Unton,  who  had  married 
Anne  Countess  of  Warwick  and  so  become  lord  of  the  manor.] 

payd  mr  plowden  at  London  for  perusyng  ower  charter  xs. 

Resevyd  more  of  xiii  of  the  new  bretheme  xiii  It. 

fol.  7.    payd  to  mr  dyke  for  the  last  nisi  prius  over  that  he  resevyd  ' 
of  mr  Fryers  viLs.  iid. 

pd  at  oxfEor  to  the  clerk  of  the  Syse  for  brekyng  the  last  nisi  prius 
xls.  viiid. 

payd  more  to  mr  Fryers  at  London  in  money  for  ower  law  matters 
iiii  It. 

Note. — These  Nisi  Prius  and  other  '  law  matters  '  would  be  the  pro- 
ceedings in  connexion  with  the  Charity  Lands  alleged  to  have  been  '  con- 
cealed '  ;  cf.  Bundle  MM,  no.  i,  p.  373. 


412  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS     . 

fol.  8.  ano  1569.  yt  ys  agreyd  by  the  consent  of  all  the  bretherne 
that  Rychard  Dawby  schall  pay  for  hys  fyne  for  Reffusyng  the  baylyffe 
weke  thys  last  yere  xs.  apon  the  condicon  that  he  schalle  not  Reffuse 
the  same  the  next  yere  or  otherwyse  to  pay  the  whole  sum  wyche  ys 
x\s. 

fol.  9  rev.  ano  1570.  as  also  that  bartylmewe  canon  ys  admytted  to 
be  towne  clarke  and  to  hd.ve  the  acostomed  fee  of  the  bay  lis  xiiis. 
inid.  a  yere  with  the  proflEyttes  of  the  courtes  as  ys  now  apoynted. 

fol.  10  rev.  wherof  I  have  payd  to  Edmunde  Sylvester  towarde 
the  byldyng  of  the  schole  howse  x  li. 

fol.  II  rev.   A  payment  of  105.  to  the  Herald  for  the  Town  seal. 

more  payd  to  Symon  AlMett  smythe  the  xii  daye  of  Februarie  for 
too  casements  for  the  scholehowse  wyndowes  at  iis.  a  peece  iiii^. 

m<i  at  the  accompte  made  the  daye  above  written  there  Rema3meth 
to  me  Symon  Wysdom  that  I  have  layed  owte  of  my  purse  in  Redye 
money  for  the  schole  howse  and  other  wayes  as  it  aperethe  by  the 
generall  accompte  thereof  made  the  some  of  iiii  li.  xiiis.  iid. 

fol.  12.  1575.  Item  more  paid  to  Mr  Bayliff  Tanner  for  charges 
at  wittney  aboute  thrf  Alhieshouse  and  poole's  lands  vi^.  yid. 

Receyvd  more  of  mr  henry  Bamarde  of  Create  Risington  by  the 
handes  of  Richarde  Reynolds  of  Burforde  towards  the  Buyldynge  of 
the  freschole  xs. 

fol.  12  rev.  payde  to  Symon  Wisdome  by  John  Hanns  at  the  laste 
churche  accompte  in  parte  of  paymente  of  the  some  of  the  some  {sic) 
of  iiii  li.  xiii^.  iid.  due  to  him  at  the  last  acompte  xx5. 

.pd  to  Edmund  Silvester  for  money  layde  oute  for  ye  free  schole  xxs. 

pd  more  unto  him  in  parte  of  payment  of  ye  some  of  xxviii^.  layde 
oute  at  London  for  suinge  owte  the  copye  of  our  charter  xs. 

fol.  13.  1576.  A  further  payment  of  20s.  to  Simon  Wisdom  for 
•  money  laid  out  on  the  school  house. 

fol.  14  rev.  1579.  A  payment  of  22^.  for  repairing  the  pillars  and 
stairs  of  the  Tolsey. 

Remember  at  the  same  Accompte  there  was  receavid  of  Richard 
Chadwell  and  Richard  Dalbie  being  Bailieffs  this  last  yere  for  the  fee 
of  their  ofice  which  was  paid  to  Richard  Reynolds  for  the  matters  in 
lawe   x\s. 

fol.  18.  1583.  paid  to  Robert  Silvester  for  obtayninge  of  counsell 
at  Abington  for  the  Towne  matter  xs. 

yt  is  agreed  with  the  whole  consentes  of  the  felowshipe  at  this 
accompte  that  the  Bailifies  that  nowe  ys  and  the  Bailiffes  wch  shalbee 


MEMORANDUM  AND  ACCOUNT  BOOKS        413 

here  after  eny  yere  shall  paye  alwayse  uppon  the  countye  daye  the 
some  of  vs.  of  lawfull  money  of  Englande  towards  the  Reparinge  of 
the  Stockes  Pillary  and  couckinge  stowle  and  otheres. 

fol.  20  rev.  1585.  paied  to  Symon  Symons  for  ye  reparacons  of 
the  Tolsend  and  other  things  xxxiii^.  viiii.  more  towards  the  building 
of  ye  pillory  viii^.  ixd. 

fol.  22.  1586.  paied  to  mr  Alderman  mr  Chadwell  and  Richard 
Dalby  for  the  makinge  of  the  pillory  and  for  a  payer  of  stocks  in  the 
same   iiii  It.  xs.  \d. 

fol.  22  rev.    1587.    Richard  Chadwell  entered  as  Alderman. 

fol.  23.  1587.  payed  to  William  Symons  and  John  Lyme  for 
repayringe  of  the  stocks  vs.  viaf. 

Reed  of  John  Tailor,  John  Roffe,  John  Woode,  Raphe  Wysdome, 

Rychard  Merywether,  and    Symon    Starre  elected  Burgesses    xx5. 

a  peece  the  some  vi  li. 

Note. — From  this  folio  onwards  the  entries  are  nearly  all  memoranda. 
It  looks  as  if  when  the  book  was  started  the  early  part  was  intended  for 
accounts  and  the  later  for  other  entries  ;  but  the  distinction  has  not  been 
entirely  kept.  However,  this  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  later  part 
is  full  of  entries  of  dates  as  early  as^  or  earlier  than,  those  in  the  firstjpart. 

fol.  23  rev.  ano  1568.  The  othe  for  the  Stewarde  of  the  Burgesses 
of  the  boroughe  of  Burforde  made  by  Symon  Wisdome  Alderman 
mynystered  to  John  Hannes  Senior  beinge  elected  steward  the  xith 
day  of  Marche  in  anno  1568  as  followithe 

ye  shall  take  upon  youe  the  office  to  be  the  steward  of  the  Cor- 
poracon  of  the  Burgesses  of  this  towne  of  burforde  the  articles  of  your 
othe  and  charge  are  these 

Firste  ye  shall  to  the  best  of  your  power  wytte  and  discretion 
mayntayne  and  kepe  and  see  to  be  mayntayned  and  kepte  to  the 
best  of  your  power  all  suche  frauncheses  Lyberties  and  customes  wch 
are  graunted  to  this  Corporacyon  and  conffirmed  by  our  Soveraigne 
ladye  the  queues  maiestie  that  nowe  is  as  allso  by  her  noble  pro- 
genytors  kinges  of  this  Realme 

Seconderly  ye  shall  assiste  the  Baylyffs  of  this  towne  in  the  execucon 
of  their  office  to  see  Justice  mynystered  yf  any  of  them  do  Require 
youe  upon  lawfull  admonyssyon  or  waminge  havinge  nott  Lawfull 
cause  to  the  contrarye 

Thirdly  ye  shall  be  allweyes  assistaunte  with  the  Alderman  to  see 
that  all  suche  ordynaunces  constitucyons  and  articles  wch  are  made 
or  shall  be  made  by  the  assent  and  consent  of  the  whole  Corporatyon 
of  the  Burgesses  or  the  more  parte  of  them  for  the  unyte  and  concorde 


414  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  the  same  Fellowshyppe  as  also  for  the  common  welthe  of  the  same 
towne  to  be  allwayes  observed  and  kepte  and  not  to  be  infringed  or 
broken  by  any  of  the  saide  Burgesses  As  also  yf  any  of  the  saide 
Burgesses  doe  infringe  or  breake  any  of  the  said  orders  artycles  or 
constytucons  as  is  aforesaid  that  then  youe  as  much  as  may  come  to 
your  knowledge  to  bringe  the  same  defawts  in  wrightinge  at  the  day 
of  accompte  once  or  twise  in  the  yere  whereby  Reformacion  or 
punyshmente  may  be  hadd  by  Amercyments  penaltyes  or  otherweys 
accordinge  to  the  constitucions  and  orders  prescribed  under  our 
scales 

fol.  24.  Fourthley  ye  shall  allweys  be  assystaunte  with  the  said 
Alderman  at  such  tyme  or  tymes  as  shall  be  Requysyte  to  see  that 
all  suche  Deedes  evidences  charters  Infeaments  wyllis  cownterpanes 
of  Leaces  artycles  constytucions  and  orders  in  Avrightinge  and  all 
other  escrypttes  or  menuments  appertayninge  to  our  Corporacion 
or  to  any  parte  therof  be  orderly  kepte  so  that  they  be  nott  Imbesellyd 
or  taken  awaye  to  any  prevat  use  and  to  see  once  in  the  yere  a  trew 
accompte  of  all  suche  things  as  do  appertayne  or  belonge  to  the  said 
corporacyon. 

Thus  and  all  other  things  appertayninge  to  the  office  of  the  steward 
of  this  corporacyon  beinge  of  ould  antyquytye  and  custome  ye  shall 
well  and  trewly  do  and  observe  to  the  moste  of  your  wytte  power 
and  dischressyon  as  god  shall  helpe  youe  and  the  holly  contents  of 
this  booke 

fol.  25,  1555.  A  list  of  the  BailifEs,  starting  from  24  Henry  VII 
(1508),  commences  on  this  folio. 

fol.  30  rev.  Thes  be  the  effecte  of  the  words  conteyned  in  owr 
charter  of  Burfford  the  furste  yere  of  queue  Elysabethe  perused  by 
lemed  men  as  folowythe  i  Soke  ys  sewte  of  men  in  your  courte  affter 
the  costome  of  the  reame  2  Sacke  that  ys  plee  and  amends  of  tresspace 
to  be  hadde  of  men  in  yowr  courte  ther  kepte  3  And  Sake  ys  seyd 
also  for  forfeture  4  Tolle  ys  that  ye  and  the  men  of  yowr  homake 
schall  be  quytt  of  all  maner  tolle  in  all  merkattes  of  thynges  to  be 
bowght  and  solde  5  Theme  ys  that  ye  schall  have  the  hole  generacon 
of  the  villayns  with  ther  sewtes  and  chattellis  where  so  ever  they  be 
fownde  in  England  6  Excepte  yff  any  bondman  have  dwellyd  in  any 
prevelaged  towne  by  a  yere  and  a  day  quyettlye  so  as  he  be  fownde 
on  of  them  in  the  communalte  or  gylde  therin  he  ys  delyvered  of  hys 
vyllanage  7  Infangtheflfe  ys  that  theffes  takene  within  yowr  lorde- 
schyppe  or  fee  of  thefiEtes  commytted  within  yowr  lordshippe  schall 


MEMORANDUM  AND  ACCOUNT  BOOKS        415 

be  jugged  8  Outfangthef  ys  that  theflEte  of  your  land  or  fee  taken 
withowt  yowr  land  or  fee  with  haste  {Note — ^This  last  word  has  been 
altered  to  *  thefte  ')  schall  be  recovered  agayne  and  ther  jugged. 

fol.  31  (In  the  list  of  Bailiffs)  1561.  Symon  Wysdom  beyng  then 
Alderman  Thomas  ffryeres  baylis  for  that  yere. 

{Note  in  margin)  Thys  presydent  hadde  never  byn  sene  beffore  that 
any  affter  beyng  elected  Alderlmari  {sic)  to  have  the  ofiyc  any  more 
of  the  baylyffe. 

fol.  32.  1565  (Election  of  Burgesses).  The  same  day  above  wrytten 
ther  whas  apoynted  to  be  elected  Edmunde  Sylvester  the  yonger 
and  John  Gest  and  for  that  they  dyd  mysselyke  one  mr  Fylyppes 
then  elected  in  to  the  same  Felowshyppe  at  the  very  day  and  howre 
of  the  eleccyon  they  wolde  nott  consent  excepte  the  seyd  Mr  Phylyppes 
and  one  other  schulde  be  dysmyssed  and  so  apon  ther  obstynace  they 
departed  no  thyng  to  ther  commendacyon  {erased  and  muche  lesse 
to  ther  honeste). 

fol.  32  rev.  1566.  The  Thewysday  then  next  folowyng  beyng  the 
Qth  day  of  October  Sir  Edward  Unton  whas  chosen  knyght  for  the 
parlement  of  Oxffordeschere  with  suche  a  voyce  of  the  countie  the 
lyke  hathe  not  byn  sene. 

Remember  the  gthe  day  of  August  in  an^  1570  yong  Edmunde 
Sylvester  the  sonne  of  Edmunde  Sylvester  decessed  whas  elected 
burges  of  BurfiEord  by  Symon  Wysdom  Alderman  and  John  Hans 
Steward  with  the  assent  and  consent  of  the  burgesses  ther  and  for 
and  in  consideracon  of  hys  towardnes  was  placed  in  Senyoryte  next 
to  John  Lymme  then  beyng  one  of  the  baylyffes  of  the  towne. 

fol.  33  rev.  1574.  The  Thewsday  being  the  iii  day  of  August  the 
queens  maiestye  came  from  Langeley  throughe  the  towne  of  Burfforde 
where  shee  was  resevyd  at  the  bridge  by  the  Baylyffes  then  beinge 
Rycharde  Reynoldes  and  Rychard  Chadwell  and  Symon  Wysdome 
Aldermane  with  all  the  Burgesses  of  the  same  towne  presentinge  her 
grace  with  a  purse  of  gowlde  and  xx*'  Aungells  in  the  same  purse 
Offycers  feys  gyven  at  the  charges  of  the  whole  towne  as  foUowethe 

To  the  Clarke  of  the  Markett  xxvi^.  iiiiJ. 

To  the  Sergeaunte  of  the  Armes  xiii^.  iind. 

To  the  queues  footmen  xx5. 

To  the  Trumpeters  xiii^.  inid. 

To  the  Yeoman  of  the  bottells  vi^.  viiid. 

God  save  the  Queue. 

fol.  34.    1577.    A  troblehus  yere  and  grett  charges  with  Mr  Dutton. 


4i6  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

fol.  37.  A  copy  (unfinished)  of  Queen  Mary's  Letters  Patent 
confirming  the  Charters. 

fol.  38.  The  eleccyon  of  the  cunstabuUis  of  Burfford  from  tyme  and 
accordyng  to  the  olde  auncient  costome  out  of  mans  memory  That  ys 
to  say  the  Alderman  and  Steward  to  commaund  their  bretheme  the 
Burgesses  to  assemble  together  in  ther  counsell  howse  and  ther  with 
the  hole  assent  to  electe  and  apoynte  within  the  towne  iiii  honest 
Inhabiters  whyche  eleccyon  to  be  putte  to  the  Steward  at  the  Lawe 
day  and  the  seyd  Steward  to  apoynte  ii  of  the  same  iiii  to  the  ofifyce 
of  the  cunstabuUis  for  the  yere  foUowyng 

The  eleccyon  for  the  wardes  men 

Ther  be  within  the  towne  iiii  wards  and  for  every  warde  a  wardsman 
wyche  wardesmen  schalle  at  every  lawe  day  bryng  in  wrytyng.  to  the 
Stewarde  all  suche  deffawtys  as  hathe  byn  commyttyd  within  hys 
warde  that  yere  past  as  also  schalle  nomynate  and  apoynte  one  within 
hys  sayd  warde  most  meete  to  succede  hym  in  hys  offyce 

1560. 

The  same  yere  was  the  pownde  for  the  pygges  made  at  the  west 
ende  of  Scheppe  Streete  at  the  charges  of  the  towne. 

fol.  41.    1574.    The  yere  above  written  the  Syse  and  galedelyverye 
holden  and  kepte  at  Burfford  beginninge  the  xiiii  daye  of  Jullye  and 
soe  contynewed  tyll  the  xviiith  daye  of  the  same  monethe  and  there 
condempned  to  dye  vii  men  and  one  woman  that  is  to  saye 
.«  John  Sturdye 

Robte  Franc  kelyn  ■  executed 
John  Kyrbye 
John  Peppure  beinge  on  the  Lader  and  the  Halter  abowte  his  necke 
was  commaunded  downe  and  Repried  till  a  further  tyme. 

And  iiii  other  were  executed  whose  names  I  know  nott. 

fol.  44.  an"  1562.  The  yerely  f3nies  of  the  Inhabytants  of  Scheppe 
strete  to  be  payd  yerely  to  the  baylyffs  off  burford  for  ever  taxed  and 
Rated  by  Symon  Wysdom  and  thomas  Fryeres  baylyffs  in  the  yere 
of  our  lorde  god  1562  and  so  to  contynewe  for  ever  and  not  to  be 
Raysed  as  yt  ys  agreyd  by  and  with  the  hole  consent  of  all  the  bur- 
gesses that  tyme  beyng 

To  be  payd  alweys  at  mychelmas  as  folowythe  for  ther  scheppe 
pennes 

John  Geste  tenand  to  the  crowne  by  the  yere  xiii. 

Item  the  tenement  late  in  the  tenure  of  mr  phylyppes  mid. 

Item  wm  dawbe  for  medeltons  tenement  iiiU. 


MEMORANDUM  AND  ACCOUNT  BOOKS        417 

Wm  wylcocks  for  mr  Sylvesters  tenement         ,  vid. 

Wm  Smythear  for  phylippe  barretts  tenement  uud. 

Wm  Smy the  for  mr  bray es  tenement  vid. 

John  Wyllyams  for  colyns  tenement  xiii. 

Roger  tunges  vii. 

wm  grene  iiiirf. 

Agnes  Jaxson                                                     ,  mid. 

Symon  Wysdom  for  the  colver  close  walle  ,imd. 

Thomas  Honybum  for  mr  bans  tenement  iiiirf. 

Rychard  tayler  for  peter  payns  tenement  iiiirf. 
Thomas  Jenkyns  for  scheppe  pennes  afore  hys  dore  and  Symon 

Wysdoms  bames  walle  virf. 

Thomas  Devys  for  lamberts  tenement  imd. 

Alexander  newbery  for  iii  of  fawlers  tenements  mid. . 

Rychard  yonge  for  another  of  fawlers  tenements  iuid. 

hew  worsalle  for  hys  scheppe  pehnes  iiiii. 

gma  yiii^ 

fol.  44  rev.     Money  resevyd  by  Symon  Wysdom  Alderman  for 
ordynary  fees  of  our  boke  of  Recorde  begon  an  1557. 
xiirf.     Item  resevyd  of  Walter  Rose  jun  for  the,  Rec6rde  of  hys 

tenement  •  xiirf. 

xiid.    Resevyd  of  John  Hyett  of  mylton  for  the  Recorde  of  hys 

dede  of  iii  Tenements  at  the  brygge  xiiJ. 

xiid.     Resevyd  of  Symon  Hyett  for  the  Recorde  of  hys  dede         xiid. 
xiii.     Resevyd  of  Rycharde  Sewell  of  mylton  for  the  Recorde  of 

hys  dede  made  by  John  Hyett  his  father  in  lawe  xiid. 

laid.     Resevyd  of  Thomas  Rycardes  for  the  Recordyng  oflE  hys 

dede  xiiS. 

xxd.     Resevyd   of  thomas  Fetyplace  of   Langford   for  the 

Recordyng  off  hys  dede  for  hys  tenement  bowght  of 

John  Jenyvere  xxd. 

i2d.     Resevyd  of  phylyppe  barett  of  mylton  for  Recordyng  of 

hys  ii  tenements  in  owr  boke  of  Record  xiid. 

2.  Quarto  Book,  bound  vellum,  containing  accounts  of  the  Bailiffs 
from  1602  to  1658.  Prefixed  to  the  volume  is  a  list  dated  1600  of  the 
lands  purchased  from  Typper  and  Dawe  by  Symon  Greene,  Richard 
Merywether,  and  Toby  Dallam,  '  whoe  were*  putt  in  trust  for  the 
purchase  thereof  Amountinge  to  the  some  of  fower  score  pounds  '. 
There  is  a  gap  in  the  accounts  from  1618  to  1625,  covering  the  period 
of  the  Quo  Warranto  proceedings. 
3304  E  e 


4i8  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

fol.  i6.  1630.  At  this  account  Thomas  Silvester  William  Bartholo- 
mew and  Richard  Tailor  doe  acknowledge  themselves  satisfied  for 
charges  laid  out  concerning  the  decree. 

[According  to  an  entry  on  fol.  15  rev.  it  would  appear  that  there  had 
been  a  subscription  among  the  Burgesses  amounting  to  £S  15s.,  perhaps 
for  this  purpose.] 

3.  Folio  book,  bound  vellum,  marked  '  A  Booke  for  Schoole  Ac- 
counts'.  The  accounts  run  from  1644  to  1735.  After  the  beginning 
of- the  eighteenth  century  no  disbursements  are  entered  ;  the  whole 
of  the  rents  seem  to  have  been  paid  to  the  schoolmaster  Griffiths. 

4.  Small  duodecimo  volume,  bound  in  black,  with  brass  clasps 
containing  the  names  of  Bailiffs  and  of  those  returned  from  Burford  to 
serve  on  Grand  Juries,  1664  to  1720.  Also  some  notes  of  the  names 
of  recipients  of  the  Tanfield  and  Vesey  Charities. 

5.  Folio  book,  bound  vellum,  containing  assessments  for  the  poor, 
1658  to  1676.  The  names  are  arranged  as  follows  c  i.  The  Bailiffs 
and  Burgesses  J  ii.  Mr.  Lenthall  and  one  or  two  other  residents  ; 
iii.  East  Ward ;  iv.  Church  Ward ;  v.  West  Ward ;  vi.  St.  John's 
Ward. 

6.  A  narrow  folio  volume,  fcound  vellum,  containing  Charity  Ac- 
counts, 1656  to  1737. 

7.  Folio  volume,  bound  vellum,  containing  Charity  Accounts, 
1698  to  1737. 

8.  A  small'  book,  bound  in  brown  paper,  containing  a  summary  of 
the  charitable  gifts,  undated,  but  apparently  about  1700. 

9.  One  sheet  of  a  Church  tax,  1738. 

^10.  Folio  volume,  bound  vellum,  containing  Charity  Accounts, 
1739  to  1753. 

11.  A  few  leaves  of  an  account  book,  folio,  containing  BaiHffs' 
accounts  for  1743-4;  several  entries  record  payments  to  Ingles, 
Ashfield,  &c.,  solicitors  engaged  in  the  Chancery  suit  of  1742. 

12.  Two  small  quarto  volumes  containing  partial  copies  of  the 
judgement  in  the  suit  of  1742. 

13.  Folio,  unbound,  containing  Charity  Accounts,  1765  to  1776. 

14.  Folio  volume,  bound  brown  paper,  containing  Charity  Accounts, 
1776  to  1784. 

15.  Folio,  unbound,  containing  Charity  Accounts  for  1790,  John 
Lenthall  treasurer. 

16.  A  copy  bound  in  marbled  paper  boards  of  the  Charity  Com- 
missioners' Report  of  1822. 


MEMORANDUM  AND  ACCOUNT  BOOKS        419 

17.  A  small  book,  bound  in  marbled  paper  boards,  containing 
names  of  recipients  of  the  Tradesmen's  Fund  money,  1828  to 
1857. 

18.  A  quarto  book,  bound  marbled  paper  boards,  containing  records 
of  the  Church  Rate,  1831  to  1836. 

19.  Folio  book,  bound  marbled  paper  boards,  with  records  of  the 
Poor  Rate  for  1838. 

20.  A  small  book,  bound  marbled  paper  boards,  marked  '  Widows' 
Book',  1840. 

21.  Small  book,  unbound,  containing  Charity  Accounts,  1840  to 
1847. 

22.  Some  loose  leaves  of  a  ledger  with  accounts  from  1841  to  1859. 


II.     THE  TOLSEY  COLLECTION 

Bundle 

A  Church  Lands  I 1378-1544 

B  Church  Lands  II 1567-1731 

C  Bridge  Lands  I  ......     1312-1601 

D  Bridge  Lands  II         .       ,  .         .         .         .         .     1629-1723 

E  Two  Burgage  Rent  Rolls    ....        1652  and  1685 

F  MuUender's  Lane  Property  ....     1649-1692 

G  Lenthall  and  Holloway  Charities  .  1677-1732 

H  Miscellanea  I 

I  Miscellanea  II 

K  Commissions  and  Legal  Proceedings      .         .  17th  century 

L  Commissions  and  Legal  Proceedings      .         .  1 8th  century 

M  Appointments  of  New  Trustees    ....     1 745-1 856 

N  IJifineteenth  Century  Documents  I 

0  Nineteenth  Century  Documents  II 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS 
Tolsey,  Bundles  A  and  B 

CH  1.    23  May,  i  Richard  ll  (1378). 

Conveyance  by  William  Coteswolde  of  Boreford,  to  John  Dyre  of 
the  same,  cerveser.  One  acre  and  a  half-acre  of  arable  in  the  Eastfield 
of  Burford  ;  the  one  acre  lies  *  desuper  heygate  in  Monstyfoilong  ' 
near  the  land  of  Blessed  Mary  on  one  side  and  the  land  once  of  Henry 
le  Spicer  on  the  other  side  ;  the  half-acre  lies  in  the  same  furlong  near 

E  e  2 


420  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

.  the  land  of  John  Cakebred  on  one  side  and  the  land  of  John  Knyte 
on. the  other  side. 

Witnesses  :  John  Wynrich,  John  Crosson,  Robert  Coteler,  William 
Nailer,  Thomas  Spicer,  John  Sclatter,  William  Kokerell,  John  Alott  (?), 
William  Bemes,  clerk. 

CH  2.  Sunday  before  the  Feast  of  St.  Peter  in  Cathedra,  8  Richard  II 

(1385)- 

Conveyance  by  John  Cakebred,  Burgess  of  Boreford,  to  John  Dyer 
of  the  same,  corveser.  Two  acres  of  common  land  in  the  Eastfield 
of  Burford  in  Henacres  furlong  near  the  land  of  Blessed  Mary  on 
one  side  and  the  land  late  of  Simon  Haym  on  the  other  side. 

Witnesses  :  John  Crosson,  Robert  Coteler,  Thomas  Spicer,  William 
Ponter,  William  Nailer,  John  Stowe,  William  Shulton,  WiUiam 
Bemes,  clerk. 

CHS.  Sunday  after  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel, 
17  Richard  II  (1393). 

Conveyance  by  William  Purser  of  Borfford,  to  Henry  Coteler  of 
the  same.  A  tenement  in  Burford  in  '  Wyteney  stret ',  between 
the  tenement  of  Roger  Hall  on  one  side  and  the  tenement  of  John 
Salamon  on  the  other  side. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Spyser,  John  Adynet  (?),  John  Hayer,  William 
Taylur,  John  Lye,  Thomas  Catelyn. 

CH  4.    Tuesday  before  the  Feast  of  St.  John  Baptist,  1396. 

In  Dei  nomine  Amen  Die  Martis  proxima  ante  festum  Sti.  lohannis 
Baptiste  Anno  Domini  mill'"°  ccC""  Nonogesimo  vi'°  Ego 
lohannes  Cakebred  de  Borefford  Burgensis  sanus  mente  et  eger 
corpore  condo  testamentum  meum  in  hunc  modum  In  primis  lego 
animam  meam  domino  deo  et  beate  marie  corpus  que  meum  cemiterio 
ecclesie  Sti.  lohannis  Baptiste  de  Borefford  Item  Lincoln  xiid. 
Item  domino  vicario  pro  decimis  meis  oblitis  vis.  viid.  Item  Thome 
Cussone  capellano  ii^.  Item  Thome  Benet  capellano  xiid.  Item 
Nicholao  Chaloner  capellano  xiid.  Item  duobus  clericis  xiid.  Item 
Galfrido  Bemstere  fratri  minori  iix'M.  Item  lohanni  LussuUe 
ratri  augustineo  iix^d.  Item  cuilibet  ordini  fratrum  oxon.  iix'^d. 
Item  alicui  bono  libro  habendo  et  emendo  in  ecclesiam  nostram  xs. 
Item  campanili  nostro  emendando  xs.  Item  pauperibus  distribuendos 
die  mee  sepulture  vi^.  wiiid.  et  ii  dosen  de  russeto  Item  Petro  Webbe 
ix5.  Item  lohanni  Shulton  clerico  xviiirf.  Item  dedi  et  concessi 
lohanni  Faulor  et  Petro  Webbe  de  Borefford  et  Matilde  uxori  mee 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS  421 

unum  messuagium  cum  curtilagio  in  Wytteneystrete  iuxta  messuagium 
Willelmi  Purser  ex  parte  orientali  et  messuagium  Willelmi  Brampton 
ex  parte  occidentali  habendum  et  tenendum  predictum  messuagium 
cum  curtilagio  et  omnibus  aliis  pertinenciis  suis  prefatis  lohanni 
Petro  et  Matilde  heredibus  ac  assignatis  suis  in  perpetuum  De 
capitalibus  Dominis  feodi  illius  pro  serviciis  inde  debitis  et  con- 
suetis  Dedi  et  dionisie  Ynge  de  Borefford  duas  acras  terre  arabilis 
quorum  una  iacet  in  campo  orientali  de  Borefford  iuxta  terram  dame 
le  Spenser  Altera  acra  iacet  in  campo  occidentali  in  vytulworth  et 
extendit  se  super  Foreram  lohannis  Knyte  habendas  et  tenendas  pre- 
dictas  duas  acras  prefate  Dionisie  heredibus  ac  assignatis  suis  in 
perpetuum  De  capitalibus  dominis  feodi  illius  pro  serviciis  inde 
debitis  etc  Item  dedi  et  concessi  Matilde  uxori  mee  {inserted  above 
the  line  et  petro  Wcbbe)  unam  dimidiam  acram  prati  in  communi 
prato  sicut  per  sortem  accident  habenda  et  tenenda  dicta  dimidia 
acra  prati  prefate  Matilde  {inserted  above  the  line  et  petro)  heredibus 
ac  assignatis  in  perpetuum  De  capitalibus  dominis  feodi  illius  pro 
serviciis  inde  debitis  etc  Residuum  vero  omnium  bonorum  meorum 
do  et  lego  Matilde  uxori  mee  Et  ad  istud  testamentum  bene  et 
fideliter  exequendum  constituo  Matildam  uxorem  meam  capitalem 
executorem  et  Petrum  Webbe  capitalem  supervisorem  ut  ipsi  disponant 
pro  salute  anime  mee  secundum  quod  eis  melius  videbitur  expedite 
Datum  die  et  anno  supradictis. 

Endorsed  as  proved  before  the  officer  of  the  Archdeacon  of  Oxford, 
I  September  in  the  same  year. 

CH5.  21  May,  i  Henry  VI  (1423),  (Paper  copy  of  a  feoffment, 
endorsed  '  a  coppie  of  ye  crowne  '.) 

Conveyance  by  William  More  of  Henley-on-Thames,  to  Thomas 
Spycer  of  Burford  and  Christiana  his  wife.  A  burgage  called  Novum 
Hospitium  Angulare,  with  a  close  adjacent,  and  18  acres  of  arable 
land  and  two  half-acres  of  meadow  : 

'  quod  quidem  burgagium  situatum  est  in  Burford  predicto  ex  parte 
occidentali  inter  tenementum  Henrici  Cotelere  et  vicum  nuncupatum 
Sheepestreete  ex  altera  parte  et  extendit  se  ab  alta  strata  iuxta  vicum 
predictum  usque  ad  tenementum  lohannis  Ferts  ex  parte  occidentali : 

'  Predicte  vero  due  dimidie  acre  prati  iacent  in  communi  prato 
ibidem  sicut  in  sorte  Abbatis  et  sorte  de  Whitemeyes  accident.* 

All  which  premises  the  said  William  More  had  of  Alicia,  executrix 
of  Thomas  Attome. 

To  be  held  by  Thomas  Spycer  and  Cristiana  his  wife  for  the  term 


422      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  their  lives  and  the  longer  lived  of  them  ;  after  their  death  the  whole 
to  remain  to  Johanna,  daughter  of  the  said  T^iomas  and  Cristiana ; 
after  her  death  to  William,  son  of  Thomas  and  Cristiana :  and  they 
are  to  maintain  the  premises  in  good  repair  '  sine  vasto  faciendo  ' ; 
after  the  death  of  Johanna  and  William  the  premises  to  remain  to 
Thomas,  son  of  Thomas  and  Cristiana.  If  Thomas  dies  without  heirs 
the  property  to  pass  to  the  heirs  of  WilUam ;  and  if  William  dies 
without  heirs  then  to  the  heirs  of  Johanna ;  and  if  she  dies  without 
.  heirs  then  to  the  proctors  of  the  Church  of  Burford  and  their  successors. 

'  Tamen  volo  super  omnia  quod  omnes  predicti  Thomas  Spycer  et 
Cristiana  uxor  eius  lohanna  Willelmus  et  Thomas  filii  eorum  et  heredes 
eorum  inveniant  et  renovent  bis  in  anno  annuatim  et  in  perpetuum 
quoddam  lumen  quod  est  coram  altare  predicti  Thome  Spycer  in 
ecclesia  parochiali  de  Borford  et  quod  predicti  procuratores  et  succes- 
sores  sui  onerentur  ad  predictum  lumen  in  forma  predicta  sustinendum 
et  innovandum  sub  pena  censurarum  ecclesiasticarum.' 

After  the  death  of  all  the  heirs  the  rents  of  the  property  to  be  divided 
into  three  portions  for  three  objects  '  post  lumen  in  forma  predicta 
reparatum ' : 

(i)  to  the  sustentation  of  the  parish  church  ; 

(ii)  to  the  chapel  of  Blessed  Mary  in  the  churchyard,  belonging  to 
the  Burgfesses  ;  ^ 

(iii)  to  the  relief  of  the  poor. 

Witnesses:  William  Brampton,  William  Coteler,  John  Spyser, 
John  Punter,  Edward  Dyer,  Richard  Lavyngton,  Henry  Blont, 
Simon  Hosier,  John  Iremonger. 

CH  6.    Feast  of  St.  Edmund,  Abbot,  14  Henry  VI  (1435). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Feyster  of  Northelecche,  to  Thomas  Send, 
clericus,  of  Borford.  One  messuage  *  in  villa  de  Borford  inter  tene- 
mentum  Abbatis  de  Keynsam  ex  parte  una  et  vicariam  ex  parte 
altera '. 

Witnesses :  William  Bramton,  William  Coteler,  Richard  Colis, 
Richard  Lavyngton,  John  Ponter. 

Endorsed  :  ' ...  of  the  tenement  in  which  now  Henry  Walker 
dwellyth.' 

CH  7.    20  August,  14  Henry  VI  (1436). 

Conveyance  by  Edward  Dyer  of  Borford,  to  Robert  Bond,  clericus, 
and  ThomaS  Barber,  '  custodibus  ecclesie  de  Borford '  and  their 

*  '  capelle  beate  marie  in  eodem  cimeterio  que  est  burgL' 


THE  CHURCH  LAljIDS  423 

successors.  A  garden  in  the  town  *  ex  parte  boriali  venelle  que 
ducit  ad  ecclesiam  de  Borford  inter  gardinum  lohannis  Russel  tanner 
ex  parte  occidentali  ex  una  parte  et  terram  vocatam  cherchegrene  ex 
parte  orientali  ex  altera  parte  et  abuttat  se.super  gardinum  quondam 
Thome  Spicer  ex  parte  boriali '. 

Witnesses :  William  Coteler,  Richard  Lavyntoh,  '  tunc  ballivis 
yille  ',  John  Ponter,  John  Mosierf  Simon  Hosier,  Henry  Blont,  John 
Pynnock. 

CHS.    17  Henry  VI  (1438). 

Conveyance  by  Henry  Spycer,  capellanus  de  Borford,  to  Robert 
Bond,  clericus,  and  Thomas  Barbor,  '  custodibus  ecclesie  parochialis 
de  Borford  '  and  their  successors.  One  acre  of  arable  land  *  ad  opus 
ecclesie  in  perpetuum  ',  lying  in  the  Westfield  upon  Bunslade  and 
extending  into  Denacre  between  the  land  of  Thomas  Hawker  of 
Seynat  on  the  south,  and  the  land  of  William  Spycer,  son  and  heir 
of  Thomas  Spycer,  on  the  north. 

Witnesses :  William  Coteler,  Richard  Lavynton,  Bailiffs,  John 
Mosyer,  John  Punter,  John  Pynnok. 

CH9.    10  November,  23  Henry  VII  (1507).* 

Conveyance  by  Richard  Chaunceler,  John  Hill  alias  Prior,  and 
Thomas  Jenyvere,  to  John  Bisshope,  Richard  Bisshope,  Thomas 
Pynnoke,  Robert  Rile,  Richard  Harris,  and  Peter  Eynysdale.  '  Unum 
hospicium  vocatum  le  Crowne  '  with  appurtenances,  in  the  High 
Street  of  Burford  ;  which  the  first-named  parties  had  by  gift  and 
feoffment  of  Thomas  Smyth,  clericus,  Richard  Brame,  and  others 
now  defunct. 

*  Thentent  of  this  feoffament  is  this  That  the  beforenamyd  feoffees 
theyr  heyrs  and  assignys  schall  suffre  the  procuratours  of  the  chirch 
of  Burford  for  the  tyme  beyng  yerely  for  ever  to  take  and  receve  all 
the  Issues  and  profettes  of  the  seid  Inne  callyd  the  Crowne  and  of  all 
thereto  belongyng  provided  allwey  that  the  seid  procuratours  and 
their  successours  schal  kepe  performe  observe  and  fulfyll  the  laste 
wylle  and  testament  of  oon  Thomas  Spycer  late  Burgess  of  Burford 
aforeseid  yerely  for  evyr  as  by  the  laste  w^ylle  and  testament  remayning 
of  the  same  Thomas  Spycer  in  the  custodye  and  kepyng  of  Richard 
Brame*  Richard  Harris  Perys  Eynysdale  and  John  Hedgis  nowe 
beyng  procuratours  more  playnly  hit  aperith  and  shewith.' 

^  This  document  has  been  misplaced  in  the  series,  owing  to  the  contrac- 
tion '  septi '  in  the  regnal  date  being  misread  as  '  sexti '. 


424  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Witnesses :  John  Tanner,  Robert  Osmonde,  Nicholas  Butler, 
Nicholas  Clerck,  William  Burrell. 

OHIO.  Monday  after  the  Feast  of  the  Ascension  of  the  Lord, 
24  Henry  VI  {1446). 

Conveyance  by  William  Symonds  of  Boreford,  to  Thomas  Sende 
and  Robert  Bond,  clerici.  One  messuage  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford 
on  the  west  side  *  inter  messuagia  Abbatis  de  Keynsham  ex  utraque 
parte '. 

Witnesses :  William  Coteler,  Richard  Lavynton,  Bailiffs,  John 
Pynnoke  senior,  John  Mosyer  senior,  Henry  Byschoppe. 

CH 11.    26  February,  35  Henry  VI  (1457). 

Conveyance  by  Walter  Mareys  and  Robert  Bond,  clerici,  of  Borford, 
and  Henry  Hull  of  Swell,  in  Com.  Glocestr.,  to  Richard  Sterre  of 
Burford  and  Johanna  his  wife,  for  the  term  of  their  Uves  and  the 
longer  lived  of  them  and  the  heirs  of  their  bodies  lawfully  begotten. 
Lands  and  tenements  which  the  first-named  parties  had  by  gift  and 
feoffment  of  the  said  Richard  and  which  were  of  the  gift  and  legacy 
of  William  Sterre,  father  of  the  said  Richard.  If  there  are  no  heirs 
the  property  to  follow  the  testamentary  disposition  of  William  Sterre. 

Witnesses  :  Henry  Bishope,  John  Pynnok  junior,  Richard  Leveryche 
WiUiam  Spiciour. 

Endorsed  :   '  feoffment  deeds  for  ye  house  next  ye  Vicaridge.' 

CH  12.    Penultimate  day  of  October,  37  Henry  VI  (1458). 

Release  and  quit-claim  by  John  Lawyngton  and  Thomas  Brampton 
of  Borford,  to  Johanna  Osbaston,  late  wife  of  Hamlet  Osbaston  of 
Hatherope.  Lands  and  tenements,  rents  and  reversions,  meadows, 
pastures,  and  all  appurtenances  in  Burford  which  recently  belonged 
to  John  Dorset  and  once  to  Clement,  son  and  heir  of  John  Pryde, 
and  are  situated  between  the  tenement  of  John  Longe  on  the  north 
and  the  tenement  of  William  WoUynge  on  the  south. 

Witnesses :  Robert  Harecowrte,  knight,  Richard  Harecowrte, 
armiger,  Henry  Byschop,  John  Pynnock  junior,  Bailiffs,  William 
Stodam,  John  Pynnock  senior. 

CH  13.    15  October,  37  Henry  VI  (1458). 

Conveyance  by  the  same,  to  the  same.    The  same  premises. 

Witnesses  : .  The  same,  with  the  addition  of  John  Granger. 

CH14.  Feast  of  the  Purification  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
39  Henry  VI  (1461). 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS  425 

Conveyance  by  Johanna  Hamelet,  widow  of  John  Hamelet  of 
Hathrope,  *  in  pura  viduetate  et  legitima  potestate ',  to  William 
Freman  of  Teynton  and  Alice  his  wife.  Half  a  burgage  with  appur- 
tenances in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  on  the  west  side,  between  the 
tenement  of  John  Longe  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of  William 
Wollyng  on  the  south,  which  the  first-named  party  had  of  Richard 
Lavyngton  of  Burford. 

Witnesses  :  John  Pynnock  junior,  Robert  Coberle,  Bailiffs,  Thomas 
Brampton,  Henry  Byschop,  Richard  Leveryche. 

CH 15.    Feast  of  St.  Leonard,  Abbot,  4  Edward  IV  (1464). 

Conveyance  and  release  and  quit-claim  (fastened  together  by  the 
seal-tags)  by  Thomas  Mayowe,  capellanus,  John  Pynnok  senior, 
and  John  Pynnok  junior,  of  Burford  '  supra  le  Wold ',  to  Robert 
Bond  and  Thomas  Smyth,  capellani.  A  burgage  called  Novum 
Hospicium  Angulare,  with  a  close  and  eighteen  acres  of  arable  land 
and  two  half-acres  of  meadow ;  the  burgage  situate  in  Burford 
'  ex  parte  orientali  (sic)  inter  tenementum  lohannis  Pynnok  iunioris 
et  vicum  nuncupatum  schepe  street  et  extendit  se  ad  tenementum 
lohannis  Ferror ' ;  the  two  half-acres  of  meadow  as  they  shall  fall 
'  in  sorte  Abbatis  et  sorte  de  Whitemays  '.  Which  premises  the  first- 
named  parties  had  by  gift  and  feoffment  of  John  Tylynger  '  consan- 
guinei  et  heredis  Willelmi  Spicer  «t  sibi  de  iure  hereditario  descendebat 
sicut  per  cartam  inde  confectam  cuius  datum  est  vicesimo  primo 
die  mensis  martii  anno  regni  regis  Henrici  sexti  post  conquestum 
Anghe  primo  plenius  apparet '. 

Witnesses :  John  Granger,  John  Lavyngton,  Bailiffs,  William 
Spicer,  John  Dauby,  John  Hosier. 

CH  16.    6  January,  4  Edward  IV  (1465). 

Conveyance  by  Robert  Bond  and  Thomas  Smyth,  capellani,  to 
Thomas  Mayowe  '  tunc  vicario  ecclesie  parochialis  de  Burford  '> 
John  Pynnok  senior,  John  Pynnok  junior,  Henry  Bysshope,  John 
Granger,  John  Lavyngton,  John  Grove,  John  Banbury,  William 
Spycer,  William  Punter,  Robert  Mundy,  and  John  Eyrys.  The  premises 
as  described  in  CH  15. 

Witnesses  :  Robert  Harecourt,  knight, '  tunc  senescallo  de  Burford  ', 
Richard  Harecourt,  William  Bekyngham,  armiger,  John  Mosyer, 
Richard  Sterr,  John  Bele,  John  Orwell. 

CH  17.  Release  and  quit-claim  by  the  same,  to  the  same.  The 
premises  as  described  in  CH  15. 


426      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Witnesses  :  Robert  Harecourt,  knight,  Richard  Harecourt,  William 
Bekyngham,  armiger,  John  Granger,  John  Lavyngton  '  prioratus  ', 
BailiSs,  John  Mosyer. 

CH 18.    II  October,  12  Edward  IV  (1472). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Mayowe,  clericus,  vicar  of  the  parish  church 
of  Burford  *  supra  le  Wode  ',  to  John  Twynyho  '  de  Circetr.  Recorda- 
tori  ville  BristoU  ',  John  Mores,  Geojfrey  Hewys,  John  Wellys.  '  Omnes 
terras  et  tenementa  mea  Redditus  servicia  prata  pascua  et  pasturas 
cum  omnibus  suis  pertinenciis  que  habeo  in  villis  et  campis  de  Burford 
predicto  Upton  Teynton  et  Fulbroke.' 

Witnesses :  John  Pynnok  junior,  John  Granger,  *  tunc  ballivis 
ville  et  burgi  de  Burford ',  William  Flodyatte,  sergeant,  Henry 
Bysshopp,  John  Banbury,  John  Boterell,  William  Spycer. 

CH  19.    22  July,  2  Richard  III  (1484). 

Release  and  quit-claim  by  Richard  Harecourt,  knight,  to  William 
Bray  and  Elena  his  wife,  daughter  and  heir  of  Robert  Solas,  formerly 
of  Shipton  Solas  in  com.  Gloucest.  A  tenement  in  Burford  on  the 
west  side  of  the  High  Stre'et,  *  inter  vicariam  eiusdem  ville  ex  parte 
boriali  et  tenementum  abbatis  de  Keynesham  ex  parte  australi',  which 
the  first-named  party  had  with  William  Gamon  by  gift  and  feoffment 
of  Thomas  Sende,  formerly  vicar  of  Burford. 

No  witnesses. 

CH  20.  Another  copy  on  paper  of  the  will  of  William  More,  identical 
with  CH  5,  except  that  the  phrase  *  que  est  burgi '  is  omitted  in  the 
reference  to  the  chapel  of  Blessed  Mary. 

CH  21.    6  August,  2  Henry  VII  (1487). 

Conveyance  by  William  Spicer  and  William  Punter  of  Burford, 
to  Thomas  Smyth,  capellanus,  and  Richard  Brame  of  Burford.  A 
burgage  called  Novum  Hospicium  Angulare,  with  a  close  adjacent, 
eighteen  acres  of  arable,  and  two  half-acres  of  meadow ;  which  the 
first-named  parties  had  by  gift  and  feoffment  of  Robert  Bond,  capel- 
lanus, and  the  aforesaid  Thomas. 

Witnesses :  Robert  Leverich,  William  Flodyatte,  John  Bisshopp, 
Thomas  Send,  John  Bottrell. 

CH  22.    6  October,  3  Henry  VII  (1487). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Smyth,  capellanus,  and  Richard  Brame  of 
Burford,  to  Robert  Leverich,  William  Flodeyate,  John  Bishopp, 
Thomas   Send,   John    Bottrell,   William   Spicer,  Thomas   Umfray, 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS  427 

William  Punter,  John  Legger,  John  Lambert  of  Upton,  William  Kempe, 
and  William  Smythiar  of  Burford.  The  same  premises,  described  as 
in  CH  15,  except  that  *  ex  parte  orientali '  is  corrected  to  '  ex  parte 
occidentali '. 

Witnesses :  William  Nores,  knight,  William  Harecourt,  armiger, 
Henry  Stodham,  John  Hille,  William  Smythe. 

CH  23.    5  August',  7  Henry  VH  (1492). 

Conveyance  by  Walter  Tyckeford  and  Elena  his  wife,  late  the  wife 
of  Henry  Howchyn  of  Burford,  to  Thomas  Dodd,  William  Bryce, 
Robert  Mayowe,  William  Lambarde,  *  custodibus  ecclesie  parochialis 
de  Burford  ',  and  their  successors.  A  messuage  with  appurtenances 
in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  between  a  tenement  of  the  Abbot  of 
Keynsham  on  one  side  and  the  Vicarage  on  the  other ;  and  one  acre 
of  meadow  lying'in  the  meadow  of  Taynton  *  iuxta  Westbreve  '. 

Withesses :  William  Fludyate,  Richard  Brame,  Bailiffs,  Thomas 
Eward,  John  Byschopp. 

CH24.    18  January,  29  Henry  Vin  (1538).     ' 

Conveyance  by  Peter  Eynesdall  to  Richard  Monington,  armiger, 
John  Scharp,  Robert  Payn,  Thomas  Faller,  Robert  Brown,  and 
John  Jurdan.  *  Unum  hospicium  vocatum  le  Crown  cum  suis  perti- 
nenciis  '  lying  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  ;  which  the  first-named 
party  had  by  gift  and  feoffment  of  Richard  Chaunselar,  John  Prior 
alias  Hyll,  and  Thomas  Janiver,  now  deceased. 

*  Thintent  of  this  feoffament  ys  this  thatt  the  fomamid  feoffees 
theyr  heyres  and  assignes  schall  suffer  the  procurators  off  the  chirche 
off  Burford  for  the  tyme  being  yerly  for  ever  to  take  and  receyv  all 
thyssues  and  prefects  off  the  sayd  Inne  callyd  the  Crown  and  off  all 
therunto  belongyng  provided  allwey  thatt  the  sayd  procurators  and 
ther  successours  schall  kepe  perform  observe  and  fulfyll  the  last  wyll 
and  testament  off  the  same  Thomas  Spicer  remayninge  in  the  hands 
and  custodye  off  Richard  Brame  Richard  Harris  the  sayd  Peter 
Eynesdall  and  John  Hedgs  than  being  chyrche  procurators  more 
playnly  ytt  apperythe  and  shewythe.' 

CH  26.    20  August,  36  Henr}'  VHI  (1544)- 

Lease  by  Robert  Payne,  Thomas-  Faller,  Hewe  Colbome,  and 
John  Browne,  churchwardens  of  the  parish  church  of  St.  John  Baptist, 
*  with  the  holle  ascent  and  condiscent  of  all  the  parishioners  of  the 
same  towne  ',  to  Thomas  West  of  the  same  town, '  sclatter  '.  A  house 
on  the  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  with  a  garden  ground  attached. 


428  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Lease  for  41  years  at  65.  Sd.  a  year.  *  And  the  seid  Thomas  doth 
bynde  hymsellffe  by  these  presents  to  make  or  cause  to  be  made  the 
seid  tenemente  and  eny  parcell  thereof  sufficiently  to  be  repayred  and 
Teynauntable  within  the  space  of  ii  yeres  next  ensuynge  the  date 
hereof  at  his  propere  costis  and  expencis  ',  and  thereafter  to  keep  the 
same  in  repair. 

CH  27.    5  July,  lo  Elizabeth  (1568). 

Exemplification  out  of  the  Exchequer. 

Information  had  been  laid  by  the  Attorney-General  Gilbert  Gerrard 
concerning :  Sixteen  acres  of  arable  land  in  Burford  now  or  lately 
in  the  occupation  of  Thomas  Offlytt ;  a  tenement  now  or  lately  in 
the  occupation  of  Philip  Glover,  lately  given  by  Thomas  Hynde  for 
an  anniversary ;  a  piece  of  a  tenement  with  appurtenances  now  or 
lately  in  the  occupation  of  John  Impe ;  a  piece  of  meadow  in  Bury 
Orchard  now  or  lately  in  the  occupation  of  Thomas  Fryer ;  and  four 
messuages  in  Burford  and  a  bam  now  or  lately  in  the  occupation  of 
the  churchwardens ;  all  of  which  were  alleged  to  have  been  given 
for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  anniversaries  within  five  years  before 
I  Edward  VI ;  and  that  William  Harryson  and  John  Hunt,  church- 
wardens, were  trespassing  thereupon  in  contempt  of  the  rights  of  the 
Crown  under  the  Statute  of  i  Edward  VI,  as  appears  by  the  inquisition 
taken  at  Chipping  Norton,  3  September,  7  Elizabeth. 

The  Churchwardens  replied  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer  by  their 
attorney,  John  Marwood,  that  the  premises  were  not  given  as  alleged, 
and  that  the  rents  were  not  being  used  for  any  such  purpose. 

Inquisition  taken  at  Oxford,  Tuesday,  18  February,  10  Elizabeth, 
before  Sir  Edward  Saunders,  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  and 
Thomas  Cams,  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas. 

,  The  jury  foimd  that  the  premises  were  not  given  to  maintaining 
anniversaries  within  five  years  before  4  November,  i  Edward  VI, 
and  that  the  churchwardens  therefore  were  not  trespassing,  and 
were  acquitted. 

CH  28.    20  August,  19  Elizabeth  (1577). 

Lease  by  Thomas  Hewys,  Robert  Silvester,  John  Wedde,  and  Symon 
Greene,  churchwardens,  with  the  assent  of  the  parishioners,  to  Richard 
Dalbye  the  younger  of  Burford,  butcher.  A  messuage  on  the  east 
side  of  the  High  Street  of  Burford  between  a  tenement  or  inn  called 
*  the  signe  of  the  Angell '  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  of  Robert 
Silvester  on  the  south.    Lease  for  41  years  at  40*.  a  year. 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS  429 

Witnesses  :  Symon  Wysdom,  William  Symons,  Thomas  Fetiplace, 
Robert  Bruton  (?),  Thomas  Sylvester,  Thomas  Plome,  John  Wodde, 
John  .  .  .  {iUegibU),  Bartholomew  .  . ,  (ilUgtbU),  the  writer  hereof. 

Endorsed  :  *  Lease  of  the  Bull  to  Dalby.' 

•   CH29.    29  June,  32  Elizabeth  (1590). 

Lease  by  John  Tailor,  Symon  Starre,  Toby  Dallam,  and  Henry 
Reddy,  churchwardens,  with  the  assent  of  the  j)arishioners,  to  Symon 
Allflett  of  Burford,  clerk.  Eleven  acres  and  one  '  farendelle ' 
of  arable  land  called  the  Churchlands,  as  set  out  in  a  terrier  annexed 
to  these  presents  {NoU. — ^Terrier  missing).  Lease  for  21  years  at 
35.  a  year. 

'  For  and  in  Consideracon  that  the  said  Symon  Allflett  hath  usually 
on  the  week  daies  for  the  sj)ace  of  twenty  years  past  said  and  readde 
morning  prayer  in  the  parish  church  of  Burford  aforesaid.' 

Witnesses :  John  Roffe,  John  Huntt,  Benedic  Fawller,  Raphe 
Wisdom,  Thomas  Mynchori. 

Note. — Besides  the  a.ssent  of  the  parishioners,  the  assent  is  also  recorded 
of  Richard  Dalby  and  Richard  Meryweather.  Bailiffs,  Richard  Chadwell. 
Alderman,  and  William  Symons,  Steward,  of  Burford. 

CH30.    29  June,  32  Elizabeth  (1590). 

Lease  by  the  same  churchwardens,  with  the  same  assents,  to  Richard 
Tailor  of  Burford,  chandeler.  Ten  acres  and  three  *  farendells '  of 
arable  land  called  the  Churchlands,  late  in  the  tenure  of  Robert 
Scarborough,  shoemaker.    Lease  for  ii  years  at  5^.  a  year. 

Witnesses :  Richard  Dalby,  Richard  Merywether,  John  Roffe, 
John  Huntte,  Raphe  Wisdom,  Thomas  M)Tichon. 

CH81.    14  Februar}',  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  John  Lyme  alias  Jenk>Tis,  John  Roffe,  William  Webbe, 
John  Huntt,  John  Gryffith  alias  Phillippes,  and  Thomas  Parsons  of 
Burford,  yeomen.  Burgesses  of  Burford,  to  Andrew  Warde  of  Burford, 
yeoman,  one  other  of  the  Burgesses.  A  tenement  on  the  east  side 
of  the  High  Street,  between  a  tenement  of  Rychard  Hodges  called 
the  Aungell  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  of  Edward  Reynolds  now 
occupied  by  Edmond  Serrell  on  the  south.  Lease  for  80  years  at  41^. 
a  year. 

Witnesses :  John  Yate,  Bailiff,  Symon  Symons,  Steward  of  the 
Fellowship,  Walter  Hayter. 

This  lease  was  granted  in  consideration  of  the  payment  of  a  fine 
of  £20  and  the  surrender  of  a  term  of  20  years  or  thereabouts  of  a  lease 


430  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  the  said  premises  which  Andrew  Warde  had  acquired  by  marriage 
with  Margaret,  late  the  wife  of  Richard  Dalby,  deceased.  In  the  course 
of  the  lease  it  is  recited  that  the  premises  were  purchased  by  the 
lessors  of  Merywether  and  Dallam  in  the  previous  December,  they 
having  purchased  of  Typper  and  Dawe,  38  Elizabeth,  and  they  of 
the  Crown,  32  Elizabeth.  For  the  more  effectual  performance  of  the 
indenture  the  common  seal  of  the  Fellowship  or  Brotherhood  of  the 
Burgesses  of  Burford  is  affixed. 

CH32.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease,  by  the  same  Burgesses,  to  Robert  Serrell,  one  other  of  the 
Burgesses,  haberdasher.  A  messuage  late  in  the  occupation  of  John 
Weast,  slater,  in  Sheep  Street  between  a  garden  ground  belonging  to 
a  comer  messuage  heretofore  called  the  Crown  on  the  east  and  a  tene- 
ment of  Richard  Chad  well,  gentleman,  on  the  west.  Lease  for  80  years 
at  135.  a  year.    In  consideration  of  a  fine  of  £3. 

The  same  account  of  the  purchase  of  the  premises  as  in  CH31. 
The  common  seal  of  the  Fellowship  attached  as  in  CH  31. 

CH33.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease,  by  the  same  Burgesses  (counterpart),  to  Thomas  Hemynge 
of  Burford,  *  Barber  Chirirgion '.  Messuage  on  the  east  side  of  the 
High  Street  between  a  tenement  occupied  by  Frauncis  Perks  on  the 
south  and  a  tenement  of  Henry  Hayter  on  the  north.  Lease  for  80 
years  at  215.  a  year.  In  consideration  of  a  fine  of  £5  and  the  surrender 
of  a  term  of  36  years  of  a  lease  of  the  same  premises. 

The  same  account  of  the  purchase  of  the  premises  as  in  CH  31, 
and  the  same  attachment  of  the  common  seal. 

Witnesses :  John  Yate,  Richard  Merywether,  Symon  Symons, 
Raphe  Wisdom,  John  Templer,  Edmond  Serrell,  Walter  Sessions, 
Walter  Hayter,  *  the  wryter  hereof '. 

Endorsed  with  an  assignment  of  the  lease  after  the  death  of  Thomas 
Hemynge  to  Edmund  his  son,  Elizabeth  Alexander,  spinster,  and- 
.their  issue:  dated  10  April  1627.   Witnesses:  Thomas  CoUer,  Thomas 
Rous,  Walter  Hayter  senior. 

CH34.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease,  by  the  same  Burgesses,  to  Rychard  Meryweather  of  Burford, 
yeoman.  Alderman  of  Burford.  Two  parts  of  all  that  capital  messuage 
with  the  appurtenances  called  the  Crown  now  or  late  in  the  occupation 
of  Alice  Reynolds,  widow,  lying  between  a  tenement  of  the  co-heirs 
of  Agnes  Brewton  on  the  north  and  the  highway  leading  into  Sheep 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS  431 

Street  on  the  south  ;  also  all  shops,  cellars,  sollars,  courts,  &c.,  recently 
by  agreement  between  Richard  Meryweather,  Alice  Reynolds,  and 
the  lessors  marked  out  as  belonging  to  the  two  parts  of  the  Crown  now 
leased ;  also  a  little  close  containing  the  third  part  of  an  acre  lying 
in  or  near  to  Witney  Street ;  and  one  acre  of  meadow  in  High  Mead. 
Lease  for  90  years  at  2(Ss.  a  year. 

The  same  account  of  the  purchase  of  the  premises  as  in  CH  31,  and 
the  same  attachment  of  the  common  seal. 

Witnesses :  As  in  CH  33,  with  the  exception  of  Richard  Mery- 
weather. 

CH  35.    10  June,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Indenture  of  agreement  between  the  same  Burgesses  and  Alice 
Reynoldes  of  Burford,  widow.  Sets  forth  that  Typper  and  Dawe  had 
bought  and  resold  (as  stated  in  CH  31,  &c.)  two  parts  of  the  premises 
called  the  Crown  ;  and  that  John  Maynard  and  Richard  Venables, 
esquires,  had  bought  and  resold  to  Richard  Hodges  of  Burford,  natural 
father  of  Alice  Reynoldes,  a  third  part  of  the  premises.  There  had 
been  'suytes  and  controversyes  '  about  the  several  holdings.  It  was 
therefore  agreed,  in  order  to  stay  these  suits,  that  the  premises  should 
be  divided  as  follows  : 

The  two  parts  belonging  to  the  Burgesses  were  to  consist  of  :  *  All 
the  hall  next  to  the  High  Street,  the  Inward  parlour  next  to  the 
Kytchin,  also  the  Kytchin  next  to  the  same  parlour,  all  the  entre 
and  comyng  forth  of  the  courte  into  the  streete,  the  chamber  over  the 
said  hall,  the  chamber  next  over  the  entrye,  the  chamber  over  the 
said  parlour  called  the  apple  chamber,  also  the  cellar  or  kaveme  under 
the  said  hall,  the  lyttle  stable  called  the  Wolhouse  next  to  the  high 
raunge  of  howsinge,  the  stable  next  to  the  same  lyttle  stable,  also 
the  heyloftes  over  the  sajd  stables,  the  tymber  howse  nexte  Bruton's 
house,  also  the  haytallett  or  strawe  lofte  over  the  same  howse,  also 
all  the  waste  of  the  inward  courte  and  entrye  aforesaid,  and  also  the 
Wolhouse  and  pyggestyes,  bame,  backsyde,  and  garden  <  one  lyttle 
close  beinge  at  Wytney  streete's  ende,  one  acre  of  meadow  grounde 
beinge  in  the  lott  meade  alias  the  highe  meade  in  the  paryshc  of 
Burford  aforesaid.' 

Alice  Reynoldes  for  her  part  of  the  premises  was  to  have :  *  Alle 
the  shoppe  nexte  unto  the  highe  streete,  the  warehowse  next  adioyning 
to  the  same  shoppe,  the  lyttle  enclosed  roome  adioyninge  to  the  same 
warehowse  and  used  for  a  buttrey  in  the  inwarde  entrye  there,  the 
chamber  over  the  said  shoppe  called  the  Matte  chamber,  the  chamber 


432  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

next  adioyninge  to  the  same  matte  chamber  being  parcell  thereof 
and  devyded  with  a  partycon  of  waynescotte,  the  chamber  next 
adioyninge  to  the  said  partycon  chamber,  one  other  chamber  to  the 
said  last  wryted  chamber  adioyninge,  one  other  chamber  adioyninge 
and  being  over  the  yeldinge  howse,  one  other  chamber  next  thereunto 
adioyninge  and  being  over  the  inwarde  courte  gatehowse,  one  other 
chamber  in  the  gallerye  called  the  come  lofte,  one  other  lower  roome 
next  the  inward  entrye  dore  called  the  mylhowse,  and  all  the  inward 
courte  gatehowse  with  all  the  roomes  on  both  sydes  thereof  both  over 
and  under  tendynge  and  abowndynge  soe  farre  as  the  highest  raunge 
of  howsinge  over  and  beyond  the  said  inward  gatehowse  towarde 
*  Shepestreete.  And  also  three  score  and  eighte  foote  in  lengthe  oi  the 
sayde  inward  courte  of  the  same  syde  thereof  nexte  to  the  said  roomes 
and  inward  gatehowse  aforesaid  which  bredthe  takethe  begynnynge 
by  measure  from  the  Inwarde  entrey  dore  next  the  said  Mylhowse 
and  endynge  at  the  furthest  parte  of  the  hyghe  rawnge  of  howsinge 
towards  Shepe  streete  aforesaid  And  also  sixe  foote  in  bredethe  of 
the  same  inwarde  courte  of  the  same  syde  thereof  nexte  to  the  same 
roomes  and  inwar^  gatehowse  aforesaide  which  bredthe  taketh 
begynnynge  by  measure  from  the  said  inward  entrey  dore  next  the 
Mylhowse  giforesayd  and  endynge  at  the  Hether  parte  of  the  inwarde 
gatehowse  aforesaid  tendynge  towards  the  highe  streete  dore  And 
also  twelve  foote  and  a  halfe  in  bredthe  of  the  same  inwarde  courte 
to  begynne  from  the  said  hether  parte  of  the  inward  gatehowse  afore- 
said dyrectlie  over  againste  and  towarde  Bru ton's  tenemente  And 
also  f owerteene  foote  in  bredethe  of  the  same  inwarde  courte  to  begynne 
from  the  furthest  syde  of  the  sayd  inward  gatehowse  nexte  the  back- 
side towardes  the  sheepe  streete  and  dyrectly  over  against  and  towarde 
Bruton's  tenemente  aforesaide  and  in  lengthe  over  against  the  said 
Bruton's  tenemente  twentye  foote  to  begynne  from  warde  the  kytchin 
in  Hughe  Owen's  tenure  towards  the  backside  of  the  holle  tene- 
ment.' 

Witnesses  :  Toby  Dallam,  Andrew  Ward,  Edmond  Serrell,  Robarte 
Jackson,  George  Hodges. 

CH  36.    26  September,  43  EHzabeth  (1601). 

Lease  by  Richard  Merryweather,  yeoman,  to  Hughe  Owen  of 
Burford,  yebman.    Two  parts  of  the  Crown  late  in  the  tenure  of  Alice- 
Reynolds,  widow,  deceased,  between  a  tenement  of  the  co-heirs  of 
Agnes  Bruton  on  the  north  and  the  other  third  part  of  the  said  messuage 
now  in  the  occupation  of  Robert  Jackson  on  the  south;  j  also  the  little 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS  433 

close  and  the  acre  in  High  Mead.    Lease  for  91  years  at  £6  a  year. 
In  consideration  of  a  fine  not  specified. 
Witnesses  :  John  Griffith,  Thomas  Harding,  Walter  Hayter  junior. 

CH37.    23  February,  5  Charles  I,  1630. 

Conveyance  by  Robert  Walbridge  of  Chipping  Norton,  chirurgien, 
to  Sir  John  Lacy  and  the  other  feoffees  named  by  the  Royal  Com- 
mission of  1628.  (By  order  of  the  Commission,  Robert  Walbridge 
being  son  and  heir  of  John  Walbridge,  surviving  feoffee  of  the  Church 
Lands.)  A  messuage  being  an  Inn  called  the  Crown  with  a  garden 
belonging  to  it  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  Street ;  a  httle  close  at 
the  furthest  end  of  Witney  Street  between  .a  garden  in  the  tenure 
of  William  Tayler  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  Nicholas  Francklyn 
on  the  west ;  one  acre  of  meadow  in  High  Mead  j — these  three 
properties  now  in  the  tenure  of  Suzan  Scott,  widow ;  a  messuage 
now  or  late  in  the  tenure  of  Anthony  Steward  on  the  north  side  of 
Sheep  Street  between  the  garden  of  Suzan  Scott  on  the  east  and 
a  tenement  of  Anne  Levett  on  the  west ;  a  messuage  being  an  Inn 
called  the  Bull  now  or  late  in  the  tenure  of  John  Cooke  on  the  east  side 
of  the  High  Street  between  the  land  of  Edmond  Serrell  on  the  south 
and  an  Inn  called  the  Angell  on  the  north  ;  a  messuage  on  the  east 
side  of  the  High  Street  in  the  occupation  of  Edmund  Hemynge 
between  a  tenement  of  Henry  Hayter  on  the  north  and  a  tenement 
of  Richard  Heminge  on  the  south  ;  and  35.  4d.  rent  issuing  out  of 
a  tenement  next  the  church  in  the  occupation  of  Mary  Templar, 
widow. 

Witnesses  :  William  Webbe  junior,  Walter  Hayter,  clerck,  Richard 
Alflet,  William  Kempster. 

Endorsed  :  *  Noe  land  conveyd  but  what  belonged  to  ye  church.' 

CH38.    25  September,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  John  Woodward  of  Burford,  gentleman. 
The  Crown  and  garden  *  together  with  ground  heretofore  purchased 
of  one  Hedges  lying  at  the  furthest  end  of  Witney  Street '.  Lease 
for  31  years  at  £6  a  year.  In  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  a  previous 
lease. 

Witnesses :  William  Tayler,  Edmund  Heming,  David  Berry, 
John  Cole. 

CH  89.    18  October,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  John  Silvester  of  Burford,  yeoman.    The 
Bull,  in  the  tenure  of  John  Cooke.    Lease  for  31  years  at  £6  a  year. 
3304  Ff 


434  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

In  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  John  Silvester's  interest  under 
the  previous  lease  to  Andrew  Ward  (see  CH  31). 
Witnesses  :  Richard  Barnard,  William  Silvester,  Leonard  Yate. 

CH  40.    18  October,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  David  Berrye  of  Burford,  mercer.  A 
messuage  on  the  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  between  the  garden  of 
Suzan  Scott,  widow,  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  Anne  Levett  on 
the  west.  Lease  for  31  years  at  205.  a  year.  It  is  noted  that  the 
premises  had  previously  been  granted  under  the  common  seal  to 
Robert  Serrell  for  80  years  (see  CH  32). 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Richards,  Edmund  Heming,  William  Symons, 
William  Kempster,  William  Tayler. 

CH41.    13  October,  1658. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Edmund  Heminge  the  younger  of  Burford, 
chirurgien.  The  Bull  now  in  his  tenure,  between  the  land  of  John 
Jordan  on  the  south  and  an  Inn  called  the  Angell  on  the  north.  Lease 
for  21  years  from  18  October,  1 661,  at  £14  a  year. 

Witnesses :     Leonard   Mills,  Thomas   Hughes,   John   Widdowes, 

John  Payton,  John  Sindrey,  Paul  Silvester,  Thomas  Castle,  Symon 

Randolph. 

Note. — It  is  specified  in  the  lease  that  the  tenant  binds  himself  to  pay, 
over  and  above  the  rent,  the  sum  of  four  shillings  for  chief  rent  issuing 
out  of  the  premises  to  the  Lord  of  the  Manor. 

CH  42.    18  March,  1658. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Lawrence  Yeate  of  Burford,  '  maulter '. 
A  tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street  late  in  the  occupation 
of  Edmund  Heming  between  a  tenement  in  the  occupation  of  Richard 
Hayter  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  of  Thomas  Hughes  on  the  south. 
Lease  for  21  years  at  £6  65.  M.  a  year. 

Witnesses :   Richard  Vey§ey,  John  Jordan  junior,  Robert  Jordan. 

CH43.    17  June,  1659. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  David  Berry  of  Burford,  yeoman.  A 
tenement  on  the  north  side  of  Sheep  Street  between  a  garden  ground 
late  of  Susane  Scott,  widow,  now  in  the  occupation  of  John  Syndrey, 
mercer,  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  in  the  occupation  of  Richard 
Levett  on  the  west.    Lease  for  21  years  at  355.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  David  Hughes  junior,  Samuell  Minty,  Symon  Randolph. 

CH  44.    (No  date),  25  Charles  II  (1673). 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Humfry  Nunney  of  Burford,  broadweaver. 


THE  CHURCH  LANDS  435 

A  cottage  now  in  his  occupation  on  the  south  side  of  the  highway  from 
Burford  to  Witney  between  a  tenement  of  Samuel  Ferriman  on  the 
east  and  a  tenement  known  by  the  name  of  the  Kingshead  on  the  west. 
Lease  for  21  years  at  245.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  Symon  Randolph,  Thomas  Randolph. 

CH  46.    25  February,  30  Charles  II,  1678. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  EHnor  Heming  of  Burford,  widow.    The 
Bull,  described  as  in  CH  41.    Lease  for  21  years  at  £14  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  Symon  Randolph,  Thomas  Randolph. 

CH46.    25  March,  36  Charles  II  (1684). 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  William  Bowles  of  Burford,  collermaker. 
A  tenement  with  garden  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street,  late  in 
the  tenure  of  Lawrence  Kemble,  between  a  tenement  in  the  occupation 
of  Henry  Hayter  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  Jacob 
Marsh  on  the  south.   Lease  for  21  years  at  £6  6^.  Sd.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   William  Holland,  Symon  Randolph. 

CH47.    26  April,  9  William  III,  1697. 

Counterpart  lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Robert  Aston  of  Burford, 
innholder.  The  Bull,  described  as  in  CH41.  Lease  for  21  years 
at  £14  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Richard  Smith,  Richard  Mathewes,  George  Hawes. 

GH4f8.    18  November,  2  Anne,  1703. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Henry  Hayter,  in  trust  for  William  Bowles. 
The  tenement  described  in  CH  46,  except  that  the  tenement  to  the 
south  is  now  described  as  of  Mr.  Richard  Jordan.  Lease  for  21  years 
at  £6  6s.  Sd.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  John  Jordan,  Ceaser  Harris. 

CH  40.    26  August,  6  Aimfi,  1707.    • 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  George  Hart  of  Burford,  brazier,  in  trust 
for  John  Castle,  now  in  occupation  of  the  premises.  The  Crown  Inn, 
on  the  west  side  of  the  High  Street,  with  a  garden  ;  one  little  close  at 
the  further  end  of  Witney  Street,  between  a  close  in  the  occupation 
of  Tristram  Wilton  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  in  the  occupation  of 
Humphry  Nunny  and  John  Nunny  on  the  west ;  and  one  acre  of 
meadow  in  High  Mead.    Lease  for  21  years  at  £14  a  year. 

Witnesses  :   Richard  Whitehall,  Joseph  Pay  ton. 

CH50.    29  September,  3  George  I,  1716. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Humphry  Nunny  and  John  Nunny  of 

Ff  2 


436  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Burford,  broad  weavers.    A  tenement  now  in  their  occupation  at  the 
end  of  Witney  Street  between  a  tenement  of  Tristram  Wilton  on  the 
east  and  a  messuage  formerly  known  as  the  King's  Head  on  the  west. 
Lease  for  21  years  at  365.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :   George  Hart,  William  Castell. 

CH  51.    20  May,  5  George  1, 1719. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  William  Castle  of  Burford,  chandler. 
The  Crown  Inn  and  other  properties  described  as  in  CH  49.  Lease 
for  21  years  at  £14  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  R.  Griffiths,  Phil.  Birt. 

CH52.    29  May,  5  George  I,  1719. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Henry  Tash  of  Burford,  innholder.    The 
Bull,  described  as  in  CH  41.    Lease  for  21  years  at  £14  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  R.  Griffiths,  Phil.  Birt. 

CH53.    29  December,  4  George  II,  1730. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  John  Tomlin  of  Burford,  woolcomber. 
A  tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street,  late  in  the  occupation 
of  William  Bowles,  between  a  tenement  of  Benjamin  Faulkner  on  the 
north  and  a  tenement  of  John  Jordan  on  the  south.  Lease  for  21  years 
at  £8  los.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  John  Hall,  Henry  Walker. 


THE  BRIDGE  LANDS 
1312  to  1607 

Tolsey,  Bundles  C  and  D 

B  1.  Paper  copy,  dated  1650,  of  an  extract  from  the  Patent  Roll 
of  1322. 

Ex  Rotulo  patencium  de  anno  Regni  Regis  Edwardi  secundi  decimo 
sexto  ps2  mi. 

Rex  probis  hominibus  ville  de  Bureford  Salutem  Sciatis  quod  ad 
requisicionem  dilecti  et  fideli  (sic)  nostri  Hugonis  le  Despenser  lunioris 
et  ad  auxilium  reparationis  et  sustentacionis  pontis  ville  predicte 
concessimus  vobis  quod  a  die  confeccionis  presencium  usque  ad  finem 
trium  annorum  proxime  sequentium  plenarie  completorum  capiatis 
de  rebus  venalibus  ultra  pontem  predictum  transeuntibus  consue- 
tudines  subscriptas  videlicet  de  qualibet  summa  bladi  venali  unum 


THE  BRIDGE  LANDS  437- 

obolum  de  quolibet  equo  et  equa  bove  et  vacca  venali  unum  obolum 
de  quolibet  corio  equi  et  eque  bovis  etTvacce  frisco  salito  aut  taniato 
venali  unum  quadrantem  de  qualibet  carecta  ferente  cames  salitas 
vel  friscas  venales  tres  obolos  de  quinque  baconibus  venalibus  unum 
obolum  de  quolibet  salmone  frisco  vel  salito  venali  unum  quadrantem 
de  qualibet  centena  mulewellorum  congrorum  et  fricarum  anguillarum 
salitarum  venali  unum  dcnarium  de  decem  ovibus  capris  vel  porcis 
venalibus  unum  denarium  de  decem  velleribus  venalibus  unum 
denarium  de  qualibet  centena  pellium  omnimodi  lanutarum  caprarum 
cervorum  bissarum  damorum  et  damarum  venali  unum  obolum  de 
qualibet  centena  pellium  agnorum  capricolarum  leporum  cuniclorum 
vulpium  catorum  et  squirrellorum  unum  obolum  de  quolibet  sumagio 
pannorum  venalium  unum  obolum  de  quolibet  panno  integro  venali 
unum  obolum  de  qualibet  centena  linee  tele  Carenacii  pannorum 
hibemie  Galewyth  et  Woostede  venali  unum  denarium  de  quolibet 
panno  de  serico  cum  auro  de  samite  diaspre  et  baudekyn  venali 
unum  obolum  de  quolibet  panno  de  serico  sine  auro  et  chiefe  de  seuro 
dallo  afforciato  venali  unufti  quadrantem  de  qualibet  lampreda 
venali  unum  obolum  de  quolibet  dolio  vini  et  Cudrus  venali  tres 
obolos  de  quolibet  sumagio  cudrus  venalis  unum  obolum  de  quolibet 
sumagio  mellis  venali  unum  denarium  de  quolibet  dolio  mellis  venali 
duos  denarios  de  quolibet  sacto  lane  venali  duos  denarios  de  quolibet 
trussello  pannorum  ducto  per  carectam  venali  duos  denarios  de 
quolibet  sumagio  panni  vel  aliarum  rerum  diversarum  et  munetarum 
transeuncium  ultra  pontem  predictum  venali  unum  obolum  de  qualibet 
carectata  ferri  venalis  unum  denarium  de  qualibet  carectata  plumbi 
venalis  duos  denarios  de  qualibet  carectata  tanni  venalis  unum 
denarium  de  quolibet  quarterio  wayde  venali  duos  denarios  de  duobus 
miliaribus  ceparum  venali  unum  quadi'antem  de  octo  shavis  alei 
venalis  unum  quadrantem  de  quolibet  miliari  allecis  venalis  unum 
obolum  de  quolibet  sumagio  piscis  marini  venali  unum  obolum  de 
qualibet  centena  ordi  venali  unum  obolum  de  quolibet  quarterio  salis 
venali  unum  quadrantem  de  qualibet  pisa  casei  et  butiri  venali  unum 
obolum  de  qualibet  carectata  busce  vel  carbonum  venali  unum  obolum^ 
de  quolibet  miliari  fagottorum  venali  unum  denarium  de  quolibet 
ihiliari  turbarum  venali  unum  denarium  de  averio  de  pondere  scilicet 
centena  venali  unum  denarium  de  qualibet  pisa  cepi  et  uncti  venali 
unum  denarium  de  qualibet  centena  de  alinu)  cepose  argayl  et  verte- 
grece  venali  unum  obolum  de  duobus  miliaribus  ceparum  venalibus 
unum  quadrantem  de  quolibet  miliari  clavorum  ad  cumulum  domus 


438      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

venali  unum  quadrantem  de  duobus  miliaribus  omnimodorum  clavorum 
exceptis  clavis  ad  carectas  et  ad  cumulum  domus  venalibus  unum 
quadrantem  de  qualibet  centena  ferrorum  ad  equos  et  cliccorum  ad 
carectas  venali  unum  obolum  de  quolibet  quarterio  tanni  venali 
unum  quadrantem  de  quolibet  quarterio  farine  fabarum  et  pisarum 
venali  unum  quadrantem  de  qualibet  mola  venali  unum  obolum  de 
quolibet  trussello  cuiuscunque  mercimonii  transeunte  ultra  pontem 
ilium  et  excedente  valorem  duorum  solidorum  venali  unum  qua- 
drantem de  qualibet  centena  stagni  eris  et  cupri  venali  duos  denarios 
de  qualibet  centena  gaddorum  aceri  venali  unum  obolum  de  qualibet 
centena  piscis  de  Aberden  venali  unum  denarium  de  qualibet  centena 
de  stokfissh  venali  unum  obolum  de  decem  potys  canoebi  venalibus 
unum  quadrantem  de  decem  lagenis  olei  venalibus  unum  obolum  de 
decem  pnis  venalibus  unum  obolum  de  quolibet  calderio  et  plumbo  ad 
braciandum  venali  unum  obolum  de  qualibet  alia  mercandisa  hie 
non  specificata  et  excedente  valorem  quinque  solidorum  unum  qua- 
drantem Et  ideo  vobis  mandamus  quod  predictas  consuetudines 
usque  ad  finem  dictorum  trium  annorum  capiatis  et  denarios  inde 
provenientes  in  reparationem  et  sustentacionem  pontis  illius  et  non 
in  usus  alios  poni  facialis  complete  autem  termino  dictorum  trium 
annorum  dicte  consuetudines  penitus  cessent  et  deleantur  In  cuius 
etc.  per  predictos  tres  annos  durantes  Teste  Rege  apud  Eboracum 
quarto  die  lulii  per  ipsum  Regem 

Convenit  cum  Recordo 
Gulielmus  Ryley 
2^°  lulii 
1650 

B2.    26  March,  6  Edward  IV  (1466). 

Release  and  quit-claim  by  Richard  Harecourt,  knight,  to  Nicholas 
Spaldyng  of  Borford.  One  tenement  with  the  appurtenances  in 
Burford  '  in  alta  strata  ex  part'e  orientali  in  le  cokerew  inter  tene- 
mentum  lohannis  Egle  ex  parte  australi  et  tenementum  Henrici 
Byschop  ex  parte  boriali '. 

Witnesses  :  John  Pynnock  junior,  John  Grove  '  tunc  ballivis  de 
Borford  ',  Henry  Byschop,  John  Banbery,  John  Granger. 

B  3.    3  August,  21  Edward  IV  (1481). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Herte  of  Gloucester,  to  William  Kemf)e 
of  Borford,  *  corveser '.    Tenement  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  on 


THE  BRIDGE  LANDS  439 

the  east  side,  between  the  tenement  of  William  Bisschopp  on  the 
north  and  the  tenement  of  the  aforesaid  William  Kempe  on  the 
south,  '  quod  quidem  tenementum  cum  suis  pertinenciis  nuper  habui 
ex  dono  et  feoffamento  Nicolai  Spaldynge  et  Isabelle  uxoris  sue  *. 

Witnesses  :  John  Pynnock,  Robert  Leveriche  *  tunc  ballivis  burgi 
de  Borford  predicti ',  William  Bisschopp,  John  Boterell.  John  Granger. 

B4.    8  September,  21  Edward  IV  (1481). 

Power  of  attorney  by  Thomas  Herte,  Burgess  of  Gloucester,  to 
William  Marshall  of  Gloucester,  tanner,  to  take  seisin  of  his  tenement 
'  infra  villam  de  Burford  in  Com.  Oxon.  in  alto  vico  ibidem  ex  parte 
orientaH  de  le  Coke  rewe  inter  tenementum  Willelmi  Byshope  ex 
parte  boriali  et  tenementum  Willelmi  Kympe  corveser  ex  parte 
australi ' ;  and  to  give  seisin  to  William  Kympe. 

No  witnesses. 

Endorsed  :  '  The  gift  of  Spalding  and  his  wife  * ;  and  in  another 
hand  *  a  feoffment  of  the  Bridge  lands '. 

B  5.   23  October,  8  Henry  VIII  (151.6). 

Conveyance  by  Johanna  Kempe  of  Burford,  to  John  Chadwell 
of  the  same.*  Two  tenements  with  appurtenances  *  in  parte  orientali 
alte  strate  de  Burford  predicti  videlicet  inter  tenementum  Ricardi 
Byschup  ex  parte  boriali  et  tenementum  lohannis  Huggyns  ex  parte 
australi '. 

Witnesses  :  Robert  Osmund,  Robert  Payne,  then  bailiffs  of  Burford^ 
John  Bischup,  Thomas  Staunton,  John  Lane. 

B  6.    II  March,  9  Henry  VIII  (1518). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Pynnok  of  Burford,  gentleman,  to  Richard 
Hannys,  Thomas  Clerck,  William  Hedgis,  (Robert  Silvester  erased), 
John  Scharpe,  and  Robert  Wigpitt.  Two  cottages  lying  together  in 
the  Cokerewe  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford,  '  que  nuper  fuepunt 
Willelmi  Kempe  et  que  nuper  habui  simul  cum  Edmundo  Harrison 
clerico  per  dimissionem  testamenti  ac  ultime  voluntatis  predicti 
Willelmi  Kempe  prout  mos  in  Burford  predicto  est  et  de  tempore 
memoria  cuius  hominum  non  existit  fuit '. 

(In  English)  '  Thentent  of  this  feoffament  i^  this  that  the  before- 
namyd  Richard  Thomas  William  John  and  Richard  and  their  heyrs 
for  evyr  schall  suffer  the  proctours  of  Seynt  Thomas  Chapell  in  the 
chirch  of  Burford  aforeseid  yerely  to  receve  the  issues  Rents  and  pro- 
fettes  growyng  and  goyng  oute  of  the  seid  ii  messuages  to  the  use  and 


440  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

behoff  e  of  the  servyce  of  god  in  the  seid  chapell  and  to  the  sustentation 

and  mayntenance  of  the  same  chapell  in  Reparations.' 

Witnesses  :.  Peter  Eynesdale,  bailiff  of  the  town  of  Burford,  John 

Bisshope,  Robert  Rile,  Nicholas  Clerck,  John  ffrancklin. 

Note. — Seal  in  good  preservation — a  shield  of  arms  bearing  two  bars, 
in  chief  a  lion  passant  guardant. 

B  7.    12  March,  9  Henry  VIII  (1518). 

Release  and  quit-claim  by  Johanna  Kempe  *  filia  et  heres  Willelmi 
Kempe  de  Burford  ',  to  the  parties  as  in  B  6.   The  same  premises. 

Witnesses :  Thomas  Pynnok,  Peter  Eynesdalej  bailiffs,  Robert 
Osemonde,  William  Smythe,  John  Chadewelle. 

B8.    13  March,  9  Henry  VIII  (1518). 

Release  and  quit-claim  by  William  Sabyn  of  Burford,  to  the  same 
parties.    The  same  premises. 

Witnesses  :  Peter  Eynesdale,  John  Bisshope,  Robert  Rile,  Nicholas 
Butler,  John  Lane. 

B9.    12  October,  2  Elizabeth  (1560). 

Conveyance  by  John  Hannes,  one  of  the  Burgesses,  to  Richard 
Chawrleye,  Richard  Dalbye,  Burgesses,  John  Geaste,  John  Dallam, 
Edmund  Sylvester  junior,  Benedict  Fawler,  of  Burford,  yeomen. 
Two  messuages  in  the  High  Street  between  the  tenement  of  Robert 
Eynesdale,  late  of  Burford,  woollen  draper,  on  the  north,  and  the 
tenement  of  Simon  Wisdpm,  mercer,  on  the  south  ;  now  in  the  tenure 
of  William  Partridge,  smith ;  and  also  one  acre  of  meadow  in  the 
common  meadow  of  Burford  called  le  highe  meade,  now  in  the  tenure 
of  Simon  Wisdom  ;  and  one  acre  of  arable  in  the  Eastfield  of  Burford 
now  in  the  tenure  of  Simon  Wisdom  ;  and  another  acre  of  meadow  in 
High  Mead  now  in  the  tenure  of  WilUam  Hughes  alias  Calcott,  yeoman  ; 
and  a  half-acre  of  meadow  in  the  same  called  '  Cakebredd's '  now  in 
the  tenure  of  Thomas  Fears,  yeoman  ;  all  which  premises  the  conveyer 
had  '  by  gift  and  feoffment  of  Richard  Hannes  my  father,  defunct, 
Thomas  Clerck,  William  Hodgis,  John  Sharpe,  and  Robert  Wygpitt, 
all  now  defunct ',  *  ad  usus  et  intenciones  in  anglicis  verbis  subscriptas 
videlicet  That  theye  thabove  named  feoffees  and  their  heires  shall 
permytt  and  suffer  all  and  eny  suche  proctours  or  pronotours  beinge 
admitted  nominated  and  appoynted  from  tyme  to  tyme  by  the 
Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses  of  the  Boroughe  of  Burford  afore- 
said speciallye  to  receave  perceave  collect  gather  and  take  all  and 
singular  those  yssues  rentes  revenewes  and  profitts  comynge  renewinge 


THE  BRIDGE  LANDS  441 

and  growinge  of  all  thabove  saide  lands  and  tenementes  and  their 
appurtenances  at  eny  suche  daye  and  tyme  whiche  are  or  hereafter 
shall  be  appoynted  lymyted  and  assigned  for  the  payments  of  the 
same  or  of  any  parte  thereof  Quyetlye  without  contradiction  or  gayne 
sayinge  of  the  saide  feoffees  or  their  heires  or  of  any  other  person  or 
persons  by  their  comandyment  or  assente  And  that  the  saide  proctours 
or  pronotours  and  their  successours  shall  from  tyme  to  tyme  and  at 
all  tymes  for  ever  hereafter  Diligentlye  see  that  the  saide  lan(js  and 
tenements  be  well  and  sufficientlye  mayntayned  and  kepte  in  good 
reparation  And  whatsoever  shall  yerely  remayne  of  the  said  Rentes 
Yssues  Revenewes  and  prpfitts  of  the  said  lands  and  tenements  Over 
and  above  the  Reparations  aforesaid  Shall  yerely  and  for  ever  be 
employed  and  bestowed  in  and  upon  the  Repayringe  maynteyninge 
and  kepynge  of  the  Common  Bridge  apperteyninge  to  the  towne 
and  Boroughe  of  Burford  aforesaid  and  for  the  amendinge  of  the 
common  highe  wayes  next  adioyninge  to  the  same  towne  Or  otherwise 
as  theye  the  forsaid  Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses  for  the  tyme 
beinge  and  their  successours  or  the  more  parte  of  them  shall  by  their 
discression  thinke  moste  necessarie  expedient  and  profitable  for  the 
common  welthe  of  the  same  towne.' 

Clause  that  the  proctors  are  to  render  account  upon  reasonable 
warning  '  before  the  said  Alderman  Steward  and  their  Bretheme  the 
Burgesses  and  other  the  parishioners  of  Burford  at  their  yerely  and 
common  accompte  holden  and  made  for  the  churche  of  the  same 
towne ' :  clause  also  providing  for  the  making  of  a  new  feoffment  by 
the  present  feoffees  or  the  longest  lived  of  them  upon  requirement 
'  as  well  by  thassente  and  agrements  of  the  Alderman  and  Steward 
of  the  saide  towne  and  Bouroughe  of  Burford  aforesaid  as  by  the 
common  assente  of  the  more  number  the  Burgesses  and  parishioners 
of  the  same  bouroughe  ',  to  such  persons  *  as  theye  the  said  Alderman 
Steward  and  the  more  parte  of  the  saide  Burgesses  for  the  tyme  beinge 
shall  name  and  appoyncte  *. 

Witnesses :    Simon   Wisdom,   William   Hughes,  Thomas   Freers, 
William  Grene,  John  Taylor,  Henry  Perrott. 
B  10.   6  May,  13  Elizabeth,  1571. 

Conveyance  by  Richard  Dalby  and  Edmond  Silvester  *  Balivi 
Liberatis  {sic)  Ville  de  Burford ',  Benedict  Fawler,  one  of  the  Bur- 
gesses, and  John  Gest,  mercer,  to  Thomas  Freers,  William  Symons, 
John  Lymme  senior,  and  Robert  Chillde, '  quatuor  burgienses  Boragii 
de  Burfforde  ',  John  Hunt  of  Burford,  mercer,  John  Wood  of  Burford, 


442  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

draper,  John  Flude  junior,  and  Thomas  Mollyner,  of  Burford,  broad- 
weavers,  and  Simon  Starre  of  Burford,  baker.  Two  tenements  in 
the  High  Street  of  Burford  between  a  tenement  of  William  Stampe, 
yeoman,  on  the  north,  and  a  tenement  of  Simon  Wisdom,  Alderman 
of  the  town,  on  the  south  ;  now  in  the  occupation  of  William  Partridge, 
smith.  The  intents  set  out  in  English  as  before,  except  that '  the  more 
part  of  the  parishioners '  are  joined  in  the  appointing  of  new 
feofiEees. 

Witnesses  (to  livery  and  seisin) :  Symond  Wisdome,  Alderman, 
John  Hannes,  Steward  of  the  Fellowship,  Richard  Reynolls,  Edmond 
Sylvester,  Robert  Scarbrough,  John  Williams,  William  fyllyps, 
Richard  Hedges,  George  Hedges. 

Note. — No  lands  mentioned  in  this  deed. 

B  11.    I  February,  29  Elizabeth  (1587). 

Conveyance  by  John  Geaste  and  Benedict  Fawler  of  Burford, 
yeomen,  to  Richard  Chadwell,  gentleman,  and  Simon  Grene,  Bur- 
gesses, John  Hiron,  John  Gryffiths,  Robert  East,  and  Richard  Allflatt, 
of  Burford,  yeomen.  Two  messuages  lying  together  in  the  High 
Street  between  a  tenement  late  of  Robert  Eynesdale,  defunct,  on  the 
north,  and  a  tenement  late  of  Simon  Wysdome,  defunct,  on  the  south  ; 
now  in  the  separate  tenures  of  William  Partridge  and  Thomas  Beare  ; 
also  one  acre  of  Meadow  in  High  Mead,  late  in  the  tenure  of  Simon 
Wysdome ;  and  a  half-acre  of  meadow  in  the  same,  called  Cakebredd, 
late  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Fryers,  defunct.  The  intents  in  English 
as  before,  except  that  the  parishioners  are  not  included  in  the  appoint- 
ing of  new  feoffees. 

Witnesses  (to  livery  and  seisin) :  John  Roffe,  William  Hewes, 
Thomas  (illegible). 

B 12.    14  February,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkins,  John  Roffe,  William  Webbe, 
John  Huntt,  John  Gryfiith  alias  Phillipps,  Thomas  Parsons,  of  Burford, 
yeomen.  Burgesses,  to  John  Smarte  of  Burford,  smith.  In  considera- 
tion of  the  surrender  of  a  term  of  13  years  of  the  messuage  wherein 
he  now  dwells,  and  a  fine  of  £4.  A  messuage  and  shop  thereunto 
adjoining  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between  a  tenement  now 
occupied  by  Gryfiith  Lewes,  belonging  to  the  free  school  of  Burford, 
on  the  south,  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  Thomas  Fowler  on  the  north. 
Which  premises  the  lessors  had  by  sale  from  Merywether  and  Dallam, 
26  December,  40  Elizabeth ;  and  they  by  sale  from  Typper  and  Dawe, 


THE  BRIDGE  LANDS  443 

10  December,  38  Elizabeth  ;  and  they  by  sale  from  the  Crown, 
28  February,  32  Elizabeth.  Lease  for  39  years  at  285.  4^.  a  year. 
Covenants  :  (i)  That  Smart  shall  provide  for  Ann  Partridge,  widow, 
*  all  things  necessary  to  and  for  her  dyett  and  Mayntenance  as  shalbe 
meete  and  agreeable  to  her  aged  estate  and  calling '  during  all  the 
period  of  the  lease,  if  she  shall  live  so  long  ;  ^  (ii)  That  Smart  will  not 
use  the  premises  as  an  alehouse  or  victualling  house  without  the 
consent  of  the  lessors. 

Witnesses  :  John  Yatte,  Bailiff,  Raphe  Wisdom,  Thomas  Heminge, 
John  Templer,  Edmund  Serrell,  Walter  Hayter  (the  *  wryter  hereof '). 

B  13.    7  December,  44  EHzabeth  (1602). 

Lease  by  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkins,  John  Roffe,  William  Webbe, 
John  Huntt,  John  Gryffith  ahas  PhiUippes,  and  Thomas  Parsons,  of 
Burford,  yeomen,  to  John  Yate  of  Burford,  clothier,  and  William 
Taylor  of  Burford,  chandler.  For  a  fine  not  specified.  A  messuage 
in  the  tenure  of  Agnes  Partridge,  widow,  and  a  shop  adjoining,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between  a  tenement  belonging  to  the 
free  school  on  the  south  and  a  tenement  of  William  Geaste  on  the 
north.  Purchase  of  the  premises  recited  «s  in  B  12.  Lease  for  31 
years  at  285.  ^d.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Symon  Symons,  John  Collyer,  Raphe  Wisdom,  Walter 
Hayter,  Thomas  Hardynge. 

B 14.    23  February,  5  Charles  I  (1629). 

Conveyance  by  Richard  Alflett  of  Teynton,  tailor,  to  Sir  John  Lacy 
and  the  rest  of  the  trustees  named  by  the  Royal  Commission.  (By 
order  of  the  court,  Richard  Alflett  being  son  and  heir  of  Richard 
Alflett,  deceased,  surviving  feoffee  of  the  lands  commonly  called  the 
Bridge  Lands.)  Two  messuages  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street 
between  a  tenement  belonging  to  the  free  school  on  the  south  and 
the  land  of  John  Taylor,  occupied  by  Thomas  Dolton,  glover,  on  the 
north ;  now  or  late  in  the  several  occupations  of  Symon  Hewes  and 
Richard  Dawson. 

Witnesses  :  William  Webbe  junior,  Walter  Hayter  the  elder,  Simon 
Ward,  William  Kempster. 

B  15.    18  October,  6  Charles  I  (1630). 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Richard  Dawson  of  Burford,  saddler. 
Messuage  on  east  side  of  High  Street  adjoining  to  a  house  in  the 

•  This  would  appear  to  be  '  Ouldemother  Partridge ',  who  was  buried 
in  161 5  (see  Parish  Registers). 


444  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

tenure  of  Simon  Hewes  on  the  south.    Lease  for  21  years  at  50^. 
a  year.  • 

Witnesses :  William  Symons,  Symon  Pearkes,  Daniel  Berry, 
William  Taylor. 

B  16.    26  December,  24  Charles  I  (1648). 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  the  same.  The  same  house,  but  described 
as  adjoining  to  another  house  late  in  the  tenure  of  one  Symon  Hughes 
on  the  north.   Lease  for  21  years  at  50s.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Rebecca  Silvester,  Tho.  Randolph. 

B  17.    29  September,  1649. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  John  Gierke  of  Burford,  feltmaker.  A 
tenement  on  east  side  of  High  Street,  between  a  tenement  occupied 
by  Richard  Dawson  on  the  south  and  a,  tenement  occupied  by  Elizabeth 
Davis,  widow,  on  the  north.    Lease  for  21  years  at  305.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  William  Kempster,  Tho.  Randolph. 

B 18.    8  July,  3  James  II,  1687. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Samuel  Wiett  of  Burford,  butcher.  Mes- 
suage on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  a  tenement  occupied  by 
Henry  Overbury  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  Denis 
Cossens  on  the  south.   Lease  for  21  years  at  50^.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thos.  Randolph,  John  Randolph. 

B  19.    8  June,  6  WilHam  and  Mary,  1694. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Henry  Overbury  of  Burford,  glover. 
Messuage  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  a  tenement  occupied 
by  Richard  Day  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  Samuel 
Wyatt  on  the  south.    Lease  for  21  years  at  355.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Tho.  James,  Chas.  Brooke,  Richard  Mathewes. 

B20.    2  September,  6  Anne,  1707. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  Samuel  Wyett  of  Burford,  butcher.    Mes- 
suage described  as  in  B  18.    Lease  for  21  years  at  505.  a  year. 
Witnesses  :  Ann  Wyat,  Joseph  Pay  ton. 

B  21.    4  November,  9  Anne,  17 10. 

Counterpart  lease  by  the  Trustees  to  John  Robinson  of  Burford, 
butcher.  Messuage  on  east  side  of  High  Street  between  a  tenement 
occupied  by  Widow  Overbury  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  occupied 
by  Dennis  Cousens  on  the  south.    Lease  for  21  years  at  50^.  a  year. 

Witnesses :  (To  signature  of  Charles  Fettiplace)  Thomas  Warren, 
Edward  Fisher ;  (To  signature  of  Richard  Bartholomew)  Tho.  Patrick, 


-   THE  BRIDGE  LANDS  445 

John  Faulkner ;  (To  signature  of  John  Lenthall)  Edward  Moulder, 
Robert  Gilkes. 

B  22.    25  March,  7  George  1, 1721. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  James  Legg  of  Burford,  broadweaver. 
Messuage  on  east  side  of  High  Street,  between  a  tenement  occupied 
by  William  Eve  on  the  north  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  Denis 
Cosens  on  the  south.    Lease  for  21  years  at  505.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  John  Stone,  Humphrey  Gillett. 

B  23.    21  November,  10  George  1, 1723. 

Lease  by  the  Trustees  to  James  Legg  of  Burford,  broadweaver. 
Tenement  now  in  his  occupation  ;  also  a  tenement  now  occupied  by 
William  Eve,  between  a  tenement  occupied  by  Denis  Cosens  on  the 
south  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  Richard  Day  on  the  north.  Lease 
for  21  years  at  £4  55.  od.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Henry  King,  Humphrey  Gillett. 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS 

1652  and  1685 

Tolsey,  Bundle  E 

1652 
Burgus  de  Burford 

A  rent  roll  of  the  Chiefe  Rents  payable  within 
the  said  Burrough 

John  Bartholmew  his  Land,  sometyme  the  Land  of 

Symon  Wisdome  the  elder  deceased 
The  Mansion  house  wherein  John  Hughes  now  dwelleth, 
on  the  east  side  of  Burford,  and  Late  the  Land  of  Hugh 
May  Esq  vi5. 

Mr  John  Highlords  Land 
Two  closes  and  certaine  Errable  Lands  and  Meadowes 
Late  the  land  of  Symon  Wisdome  and  now  in  the  occupa- 
cion  of  Thomas  Baggs  iiii5.  viiii. 

Item  other  Errable  Lands  in  the  flfields  sometymes  Pyn- 
nocks  Land  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Baggs  vs. 

Item  a  tenement  on  the  eastside  of  the  highstreete  in 
Burford  now  in  the  tenure  of  Richard  Bartholmew  vi^.  vii. 


446      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

George  Hide  his  land,  late  the  land  of  Edward  Heylin 

gent 
A  messuage  or  tenement  on  the  eastside  of  Burford,  and 
now  in  the  possession  of  him  the  said  <jcorgc  Hide  Jo. 
Jurden  Jo.  Panter  and  others  xiid. 

John  Jorden  gent  his  land 
A  tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  highstreete  of  Burford 
now  in  the  tenure  of  Robert  Jorden  shoemaker  xiii. 

Item  a  tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Witney  streete,  late 
the  land  of  Thomas  ffrancis  and  now  in  the  tenure  of 
Robert  Newman  viiid. 

{Interlined  with  above — Item  a  Tenement  on  the  east 
side  of  the  high  street  in  ye  tenure  of  Samuel  Wiatt 
It  a  Tenement  neare  Guildenford  sometimes  John  Hanns 
his  lands) 

Nathaniel  Noble  his  Land 
A  Tenement  adioyninge  to  the  dwellinge  house  of  Richard 
Snowsell  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  him  the  said  Nathaniel 
Noble  in  the  tenure  of  John  Wanrefl'  xii<^. 

Thomas  Jorden  his  Land  Late  the  Land  of  Robert 

Veysey 
Two  Tenements  lyinge  together  on  the  Eastside  of  the 
high  streete  now  in   the  severall  tenures  of   Richard 
Snowsell  and  Beniamin  Sessions  xvid. 

Item  a  Tenement  in  Sheepestreete,  sometyme  Robert 
Silvesters  Land  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Kemster    iiiirf. 
Item  a  Tenement  in  the  Priory  Lane,  in  the  tenure  of 
John  May  iiiid. 

Item  an  other  tenement  in  the  same  Lane  now  alsoe  in 
the  tenure  of  the  said  John  Butler  Ri.  Wheeler  John 
Nunny  Jo.  Coolco-  iiii<2- 

Item  an  other  Tenement  in  the  same  Lane  in  the  tenure 
of  John  Cooke  iiiirf. 

It  a  Tenement  on  the  westside  of  the  highstreete  now  in  the 
tenure  of  WiUiam  Rodes,  late  the  land  of  Edmond  Silvester    vid. 
It  a  messuage  on  the  westside  of  the  high  streete  called 
the  George  now  in  the  tenure  of  Richard  Veysey,  some- 
tyme Richard  Hodges  Land  iii5.  iiii<i. 
Item  a  tenement  adioyninge  to  the  George  now  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Knight  xw'id. 
It  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  Burford  now  in  the 
tenure  of  Robert  Yato  Thomas  Hughes  xiid. 
Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Southside  of  Witney  streete 
now  in  the  tenure  of  the  Widdow  Haynes                             \id. 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  447 

Item  an  other  Tenement  on  the  same  side  now  in  the 
tenure  of  Richard  Yate  siveyer  \id. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  westside  of  the  highstreete  now 
in  the  tenure  of  Richard  Wakefeild  iiiii. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  westside  of  the  highstreete  now 
in  the  tenure  of  Robert  Aston  vii. 

Item  a  Tenement  in  the  ChUrchlane  {interlined  this  is 
scoole  land)  now  in  the  tenure  of  Judith  Wie,  Late  the 
Land  of  Thomas  Wiggpitt  mid. 

Item  a  Tenement  in  the  highstreete  now  in  the  tenure 
of  Widow  Watts,  Late  Parretts  Land  vid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Hill,  now  in  the  tenure  of 
William  Baylies  late  Parretts  Land]  vid. 

Item  a  Tenement  in  Sheepestreete  in  the  tenure  of 
Richard  Levett  vid. 

John  Scriven  his  land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  high  streete,  and  now 
in  the  tenure  of  him  the  said  John  Scriven  vid. 

Thomas   Joyners   Land  late  the  land   of  ffrancis 

Hampson  gent 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  high  streete  now  in 
the  tenure  of  Thomas  Sansbury  formerly  the  land  of 
Anne  ffisher  widdow  ixd. 

■Thetfords  Latid  Mrs  Rebecca  Martins  Land 
A  Tenement  in  the  tenure  of  Henry  Hayter  late  the  Land 
of  Arme  ffisher  vid. 

Thomas  Baggs  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  now  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Canninge  ffrancis  Craford  xiid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  Hill  now  in  the 
tenure  of  Henry  Huggins  late  the  Land  of  Joseph  George    vid. 

Robert  Taylors  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  southside  of  Sheepestreete  in  the 
tenure  of  the  said  Robert  Taylor  xxiid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  Hill,  called  the 
starre,  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  Stephen  Yate  vid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  Hill,  in  the 
tenure  of  Richard  Winfeild  vid. 

Lissence  his  Land,  late  the  Land  of  one  Ravenscroft 
A  Tenement  on  the  southside  of  Witney  streete,  formerly 
called  the  Whitehart  and  now  in  the  ^enure  of  Richard 
LifoUi«  WaUin  Hopton,  with  certaine  arrable  Lands  in 
the  fiEeilds,  late  in  the  occupacion  of  John  Huntt  mercer      xis.  id. 


448 


CALBNDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


The  ffifteene  Lands 
Three  tenements  in  Saint  Johns  streete  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  the  widdow  Pottinger,  Elizabeth  Prickavance 
and  Wilhn  Hedges,  graunted  by  Symon  Wisdome  senr  by 
lease  to  the  towne  of  Burford  towards  the  ffifteenes 


xviiii. 


-Slattoro  Land  late  the -Land  of  John  Clarko- Henry 

Huggins  his  land 
A  Tenement  on  the  eastside  of  the  hill  in  the  tenure  of 
Richard  Mills  baker  vid. 

Thomas  SiK^eater  taylor  hfo  Land  now  Mr  William 

Webb  his  land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Widdows  Richard  Tustiaiv  xiid. 

The  Almesland  called  Pooles  Land 
The  Proctors  of  the  same  Land  given  by  Poole  to  the 
Almespeople  of  Burford  vis.  vd. 

Item  of  the  Proctors  for  the  Lands  given  by  Henry 
Bishopp  to  the  Almespeople  of  Burford  viiis. 

The  Churchland 
Item  of  the  Proctors  thereof  for  the  Lands  appertaininge 
to  the  parish  Church  of  Burford  xiis.  vid. 

The  Bridge  Land 
Item  of  the  Proctors  of  the  Lands,  and  an  acre  of  meadow, 
and  an  acre  of  arrable  with  two  tenements  thereunto 
belonginge  in  the  severall  tenures  of  Richard  Dawson  and 
Henry  Overbury  iii^.  xii. 

Mr  William  Elstons  land 
Item  for  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  Burford  now  in 
the  tenure  of  William  Haynes  and  One  other  Tenement 
adioyninge  to  the  same  in  the  tenure  of  Richard  Hayter, 
and  an  other  tenement  in  the  tenure  of  John  Lifollie,  with 
certaine  arrable  Lands  in  the  feilds 


xvis. 


Mr  Davis  his  Land  late  the  Land  of  Mr  Templer 
The  Tenement  next  the  Churchyard,  sometyme  Pinnocks 
Land  now  in  the  tenure  of  Mro  Saunders-  John  Haynes  and 
Robert  Smith  ns. 

Item  three  Tenements  in  the  Churchlane  now  in  the 
severall  tenures  of  Oliver  Munday,  Daniel  Muncke  etc  xiid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  highstreete  in 
the  tenure  of  William -Couleo  Abraham  Harding  now  the 
land  of  Robert  Collier  xiiirf. 

It  a  Tenement  on  the  same  side  in  the  tenure  of  Richard 
Haynes  xv'nid. 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  449 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  southside  of  Witney  streete  now 

in  the  tenure  of  Miles  Banclts  Alice  Smith  widdow  xiid. 

Item  a  Tenement  in  the  Priory  Lane  at  the  end  of  Sheepe- 

streete  in  the  tenure  of  John  Kompcfy  Thomas  Boulton 

and  a  Bame  to  the  same  tenemente  belonginge  viiii. 

William  Bartholmew,  Ralph  Hix  and  Andrew  Davis 

theire  land 
Three   tenements   on   the   eastside   of  the  highstreete 
adioyninge  one  to  the  other  in  the  severall  tenures  of 
them  the  said  William  Ralph  and  Andrew  iiii^. 

Michael  Barretts  Land  now  Symon  Randolphs  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Southside  of  Sheepestreete  in  the 
tenure  of  the  said  Symon  Randolph  xiii. 

Thomas  Chadwells  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Elizabeth  Hayter  John  ffletcher  iiud. 

Edward  Beachams  Land 
Two  Tenements  on  the  Northside  of  Sheepe  streete  in  the 
tenures  of  him  the  said  Edward  Beacham  and  Richard 
Taylor  »  xiid. 

John  Huntt  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  and  now  in 
the  tenure  of  him  the  said  John  Huntt  William  Hunt         xiiaf. 

Leonard  Mills  his  Land  late  the  Land  of  Richard 

Huntt 
A  Tenement  on  the  Southside  of  Sheepestreete  now  in 
the  tenure  of  him  the  said  Leonard  Mills  1x5. 

Brasenose  Colledge  Land 
A  Tenement  lyinge  on  the  Westside  of  the  highstreete, 
now  in  the  tenure  of  Miles  Denton  ^nd. 

Item  a  tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  Burford  towards  the 
Bridge  now  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Huntt  with  certaine 
Lands  thereunto  belonging  iis.  vii. 

The  Schoole  Land 
Two  tenements  lyinge  together  on   the  Northside  of 
Witneystreete  now  in  the  tenures  of  William  Buckingham 
and  Phillipp  coUins  xnd. 

Item  an  other  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  highstreete 
now  in  the  tenure  of  John  Lambert  wind. 

Item  an  other  Tenement  on  the  westside  of  the  hill  now 
in  the  tenure  of  Matthew  Winfeild  xiid. 

Item  three  Tenements  neare  the  Bridge  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  Paule  Silvester,  Richard  Smyth  etc  xiid. 

3304  G  g 


450 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Item  a  Tenement  in  the  Churchlane  called  Broadgates  in 
the  tenure  of  Leonard  Yate  xii<i. 

{Inserted — A  Tenement  in  the  tenure  of  Widdow  Blackman 
and  Thomas  Daniel  iiiii.) 

Jellimans  and  fiords  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Sheepestreete  now  in  the 
several!  tenures  of  Richard  Wiett  and  John  ffarmer,  late 
the  Land  of  Henry  Chadwell  vi<f . 

Henry  Chadwell  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Sheepestreete  in  the 
tenure  of  Henry  ffrancklin  vid. 

A  Tenement  on  the  Southside  of  Sheepestreete, late. in  the 
tenure  of  John  Jorden  butcher  vid. 

■fedward  SorroH  hiG  Land>  Mr.  Jo.  Jurden  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  and  now 
in  the  tenure  of  John  Sindrey  Bartholojnew  Avenell  and 
Samuel  Wiatt  xiid. 

Edmond  Gregory  his  Land,  late  the  Land  of  Willm 

Hewes 
The  Mansion  house  late  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Jorden 
with  arrable  Land  late  Jennyvers  Land  {interlined — ^now 
in  the  tenure  of  John  Butler  and  others)  lyinge  on  the 
westside  of  the  highstreete  viiis.  viiid. 

Item  a  Bame  and  three  Tenements  lyinge  on  the  Westside 
of  the  hill  whereof  one  of  them  is  in  the  tenure  of  William 
Kinge  xii<i. 

Item  two  Tenements  on  the  eastside  of  the  highstreete 
now  in  the  tenure  of  Symon  Belcher  and  David  Davis  lis.  iiiii. 

Item  a  little  Tenement  adipyninge  to  the  Mansion  house 
in  the  tenure  of  John  Boulton  iiii. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  Highstreete  and 
certaine  Arrable  Land  thereunto  belonginge,  in  the 
tenures  of  Edward  Neale,  Symon  Hayne&  etc  Thomas 
Miles  and  others 


Thomas  Silvester  Clothier  his  Land 
Item  his  now  dwellinge  house  on  the  Eastside  of  the  hill 
Item  certaine  Errable  Lands  sometyme  fiords  Land,  now 
in  the  tenure  of  4;ho  oaid  Thomas  Silvester  Robert  Gossen 
and  others 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  southside  of  Sheepestreete  in  the 
tenure  of  Thomas  Willett 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  hill,  and  now  in 
the  tenure  of  Paule  Silvester 


vus. 


iiis.  vid. 


xd. 


xiid. 


xviiii. 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  451 

Item  a  Tenement  on  thje  Eastside  of  the  highstreete,  att 

the  lower  end  of  the  streete  Lately  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas 

Sowdley  Robert  Andrewes  v'ld. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  southside  of  Witney  streete  in 

Burford  heretofore  called  by  the  name  of  the  name  of  the 

Kingshead  and  lately  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Smyth  • 

{added  later)  now  Matthias  Blowin  and  others  vid. 

Item  a  parcell  of  Land  sometyme  Tainters  Land  devided 

into   three  partes  between  Thomas  Silvester  William 

Haynes  and  Robert  Berry  vis. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  highstreete  now 

in  the  tenure  of  Edward  Pebworth  Thomas  Curtis  vid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  highstreete  and 

now  in  the  tenurfe  of  Henry  Williams  xiid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  highstreete,  in 

the  tenure  of  Thomas  Jorden  vid. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  Hill  in  the  tenure 

of  Richard  Evetts,  with  a  Close  in  Witney  streete  and 

certaine  Lands  in  the  ffeilds  xvid. 

Note. — The  following  items  of  T.  Silvester's  lands  have  marginal  notes 
against  them  :  Against  the  3rd,  4th,  and  5th  items  is  written  '  Mr.  Wins- 
more  ' ;  against  the  6th  '  Js  Silvester ' ;  and  below  the  7th  '  Ed  Thorneton 
iis.  Mr  Castle  iis.  Widdow  Brown  iis.  '  ;  against  the  8th  '  Jo  Minchin 
Paul  S.'  ;  agcdnst  the  9th  '  Tho  Silvester '  ;  against  the  loth  '  Winsmore  '. 

Thomas  Parsons  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  highstreete  called  the 
Angell  and  now  in  his  occupacion  iiis. 

Item  for  a  Close  called  the  Beere  close  vii. 

Ambrose  Berry  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  southside  of  Sheepestreete  and  now 
in  the  tenure  of  him  the  said  Ambrose  Berry  xiii. 

John  Eve  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  highstreete  and  now  in 
the  tenure  of  him  the  said  John  Eve  xiid. 

John  Hanns  his  Land 
The  Mansion  house,  wherein  hee  now  dwelleth  on  the 
Eastside  of  the  highstreete  ix5. 

William  Turners  Land  sometyme  John  Combes  his 

Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  hill  wherein  hee  now 
dwelleth  xiid. 

Richard  Hayter  his  Land  late  the  Land  of  William 
Lambert 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  high  streete,  in  the 

Gg2 


452  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

acverall  tenures  of  Thomas  Miles,  John   Robins  and 
Thomas  Waker  xiiirf. 

Willm  Hicks  his  Land,  late  the  land  of  Willm  Combes 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete,  and  now 
♦   in  the  tenure  of  him  the  said  William  Hicks  xiii. 

Thomas  Hall  of  Bampton  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Sheepestreete  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Maior  xiid. 

John  Hughes  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  high  streete  above 
the  Crosse  sometyme  Rylyes  Land  viiid. 

Atkinsons  Land,  late   the   Land  of    Richard   Os- 
baldeston 

A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  hightowne  in  the  . 

tenure  of  John  Jordan  gent  xiid. 
Item  a  little  Tenement  next  the  Common  Gate  in  Witney- 

streete  in  the  tenure  of  the  Widdow  Sessions  iiiiJ. 

John  Button  Esq  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  now  in 
the  tenure  of  Edward  Allen  xiirf. 

Symon  Partridge  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  with 
certaine  Errable  Lands  iiii^.  Ixd. 

Richard  Sindry  the  elder  his  Land 
His  now  dwellinge  house,  att  the  further  end  of  Witney 
streete  ^nd. 

Item  a  Tenement  in  Witney  streete  in  the  tenures  of 
Symon  Wickins  etc  {interlined  Edmund  Dyer)  vii. 

Item  a  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  highstreete  in 
the  tenure  of  William  Hayter  xiii. 

Symmes  Land  sometyme  RofiEes  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Witney  streete  in  the 
severall  tenures  of  Robert  Strafford  Matthew  Seaborne  etc 
John  Payton  and  Thomas  Kempster  Richard  Eve  jun  xviiid. 
Item  an  other  Tenement  on  the  southside  of  Witney 
streete  called  the  blackboy  in  the  severall  tenures  of  John 
Hardinge  Daniel  Dix  and  others  xvid. 

Note  in  margin  against  last  item  '  Mr  Castle  rem  iis.  before  '. 

Richard  Startfoilds  Land  Robert  Jorden  of  ffulbrook 

his  Land  late  the  land  of  Willm  Wisdome 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Colinge  ^    lud. 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  453 

Item  an  other  Tenement  thereunto  adioyninge  and 
belonginge,  in  the  Churchlane,  in  the  tenure  of  John  May 
Jo  Smith  and  Ri  Panter  Harry  Panter  uid. 

Godfreyes  Land  Mr  Masklins  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  hill  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  William  ffoster  John  King  Simon  Legg  etc  vud.  ob 

John  Clarke  his  Land  now  Thomas  Lugg  his  Land 
His  dwellinge  house  on  the  westside  of  the  highstreete  in 
Burford  (interlined — '  now  in  the  tenure  of  Jo  Cave  ')  vid. 

Andrew  Lifollie  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  high  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  the  said  Andrew  Lifollie  vid. 

The  Land  late  the  Lord  ffalklands  Land 
A  tenement  lyinge  att  the  Lower  end  of  the  towne  on  the 
westside  thereof  called  the  Swan  now  in  the  tenure  of 
Richard  Willett  and  now  Towne  Land  iii^.  iiiiti. 

Two  tenements  in  Saint  Johns  streete  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  Henry  Bockej  clerko-  William  Cowles  and'  the 
Widdow  Pope  xiit/. 

A  tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Sheepestreete  in  the 
tenure  of  Thomas  Baggs  xiiJ. 

Item  a  tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  highstreete  ad- 
ioyninge to  the  Pumpe  in  the  tenure  of  Stephen  Smyth        xvi. 

Thomas  Martins  Land 
One  yard  Lands  now  or  Late  in  the  tenure  of  the  said 
Thomas  Martin  sometyme  Bishopps  Land  vid, 

■Riohwd  yiggott  of  Oxford  hiii-  Land  now  Mr.  John 

Jurdens  Land 
A  Tenement  and  an  Orchard  neare  Guildenford  now  in  the 
tenure  of  Richard  Gladden  Edmund  Pebworth  and  others 
sometymes  John  Hanns  his  Land  xiid. 

Androw  Davis  his  Land  now  Paule  Silvesters  land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  high  streete  below  the 
middle  forge  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Alltin-  Thomas  ffowler    vid. 

Waterfalls  Land  and  other  late  the  Land  of  Richard 
Tayler  tanner 
Three  tenements  on  the  Northside  of  Witney  streete  now 
in  the  severall  tenures  of  Richard  Yate  William  Hobbs 
'Mtd*  Thomas  Waterfall  Jo  Alson  Ed  Wiatt  viJ. 

{In  margin — '  Mr  Castle  iid.  Waterfall  iid.  Widdow 

Ghossen  iid.') 
Two  cottages  at  the  west  end  of  Sheepestreete  in  the 
severall  tenures  of  Robert  Spurrett  and  Robert  ffrancis 
Harper  iiiiJ. 

An  index  follows  in  the  original. 


454  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Note. — This  roll  is  endorsed  in  a  later  hand  '  Burgage  Rents  1685'. 

1685 
Burgus  de  Burford 

A  Rent  Roll  of  the  Cheif  .  .  .  payable  .  .  .  the 
said  Borrough 

i       s.        d. 

John  Bartholomew  his  land  sometymes  the  land 

of  Symon  Wisedome  the  elder  deceased 
The    Mansion    house    wherein    ffrancis    Keble    now 
dwelleth  on  the  ea^t  side  of  the  high  streete  heretofore 
the  Land  of  Hugh  May  Esq  00    06    00 

• 

Mr  Highlords  Land 
Two  closes  and  certaine  arrable  lands  and  meadowes 
heretofore  the  land  of  Symon  Wisedome  and  now  in 
the  occupacon  of  Henry  Godfrey  gent  00    04    08 

Allsoe  other  arrable  Lands  in  the  ffeilds  sometymes 
Pynnocks  Land  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said 
Henry  Godfrey  00    05    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  high  streete  of 

Burford  now  in  the  tenure  of  Richard  Bartholomew         00    06    06 

Daniel  Mosse  his  Land 
A  messuage  on  the  east  side  of  the  high  streete  and  now 
in  the  possession  of  the  said  Daniell  Mosse  00    01    00 

John  Jordan  gent  his  Land 
A  tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  High  streete  now  in 
the  tenure  of  Robert  Osbaldeston,  Leonard  Bennett 
and  Robert  Smith  00    01    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Witney  streete  late 
the  Land  of  Thomas  ffrancis  and  now  in  the  tenure  of 
John  Midwinter  and  others  00    00    08 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  high  streete  now  in 

the  tenure  of  the  Widdow  Harding  00    01    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Street  and  now 

in  the  possession  of  the  said  John  Jordan  00    01    00 

A  Tenement  next  to  the  Comongate  on  the  Northside  of 

Witney  Streete  now  in  the  tenure  of  Robert  Ghossen        00    00  •  04 

A  Tenement  and  orchard  nere  Guildenford  now  in  the 

tenure  of  Joseph  Newbury  and  John  Evetts  00    01    00 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  455 


Marke  Noble  gent  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  streete  now 
in  the  possession  of  Thomas  Minchin  00    01    00 

Richard  Jordan  gent  his  Land  late  the  Land  of 

Robert  Veysey 
Two  Tenements  lyeing  together  on  the  eastside  of  the 
Highstreete  now  in  the  severall  tenures  of  George  Hart 
and  Henry  Phelpes  00    01    04 

A  Tenement  in  Sheepestreete  called  the  Worldsend 
being  the  Comer  house  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  Richard 
Wickins  ,  00    00    04 

A  Tenement  in  the  Priory  Lane  in  the  tenure  of  Robert 
Spurrett  jun  00    00    04 

Another  Tenement  in  the  same  Lane  now  in  the  tenure 
of  Richard  Eve  etc  00    00    04 

Another  Tenement  in  the  same  Lane  now  in  the  tenure 
of  John  Haynes  00    00    04 

A  Tenement  on  the  westside  of  the  High  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Thomas  Randolph  00    00    06 

A  messuage  or  Tenement  in  the  Highstreete  called  the 
George  and  now  in  the  possession  of  Robert  Aston  00    03    04 

A  Tenement  adioyning  to  the  George  now  in  the  tenure 
of  Richard  Sheppard  and  John  Bennett  00    01     04 

A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  High  streete  in  the 
possession  of  Jacob  Marsh  and  the  Widdow  Hughes  00    01     00 

A  Tenement  on  the  Southside  ©f  Witney  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Edward  Neale  00    00    06 

Another  Tenement  on  the  same  side  in  the  tenure  of 
John  Bradshaw  etc  00    00    06 

A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  high  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  ffrancis  Wakefeild  etc  00    00    04 

A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  high  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Joseph  Overbury  00    00    06 

A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  ot  the  high  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Thomas  Williams  00    00    06 

A  Tenement  on  the  Hill  in  the  tenure  of  Edward  Wills    00    00    06 
A  Tenement  in  Sheep  streete  in  the  tenure  of  George 
ffickett  and  John  Kendall  00    00    06 

A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  high  streete  in 
the  tenure  of  James  Brag  and  John  Phipps  00    00    06 

Mr  Robert  Pleydalls  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  high  streete  and 
now  in  the  occupacon  of  James  Mady  00    00    06 


456  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


s. 


The  Widdow  Sansbury  her  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  streete  and 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  said  Widdow  Sansbury  and 
Joshua  Brookes  oo    oo    09 

A  Tenement  on  the  Westside  of  the  High  streete  in  the 
occupacion  of  Henry  Lambert  Noah  Newport  and 
Alexander  Luckett  00    00    06 

Widdow  Baggs  her  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  And 
now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  Widdow  Baggs  00    01    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  hill  now  in  the  . 
possession  of  John  Legg  00    00    06 

Robert  Taylor  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Sheep  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  the  said  Robert  Taylor  00    01     10 

A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  hill  called  the 
Starr  in  the  possession  of  Robert  Taylor  the  younger        00    00    06 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  hill  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  Thomas  Overbury  John  Wicks  etc  00    00    06 

Becks  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Witney  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Mr  John  Loder  with  certaine  arrable  Lands  in 
the  ffeilds  heretofore  in  the  occupacion  of  John  Hunt       00    11    01 

The  ffifteene  Lands 
Three  Tenements  in  St  Johns  streete  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  the  Widdow  Hedges  Edward  Dyer  and  the 
Widdow  Yate  graunted  by  Symon  Wisedome  sen  by 
Lease  to  the  Towne  of  Burford  towards  the  ffifteenes      00    01    06 

Widdow  Huggins  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  hill  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  the  Widdow  Huggins  and  John  Buckingham    00    00    06 

William  Widdowes  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Eastside  of  the  High  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  the  said  William  Widdowes  00    01    00 

The  Almesland  called  Pooles  Land 
The  Proctors  of  the  same  Land  given  by  Poole  to  the 
Almespeople  of  Burford  00    06    08 

Item  of  the  Proctors  for  the  Lands  given  by  Henry 
Bishopp  to  the  Almespeople  of  Burford  .  00    08    00 

The  Church  Land 
Item  of  the  Proctors  thereof  for  the  Lands  apper- 
teyneing  to  the  Parish  Church  of  Burford  00    12    06 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  457 

L     s.      d. 
The  Bridge  Land 
Item  of  the  Proctors  of  the  Lands  and  an  acre  of 
meadow  and  an  acre  of  Arrable  with  Two  Tenements 
thereunto  belonging  in  the  several!  tenures  of  Samuell 
Wyett  and  Henry  Overbury  00    03    11 

WilUam  Lenthall  Esq  his  land  late  the  Land  of 

Mr  William  Elstone 
Item  for  a  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  Burford  now 
in  the  tenure  of  Richard  George,  and  Another  Tenement 
adioyneing  to  the  same  in  the  tenure  of  Henry  Hayter 
and  an  other  Tenement  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  ffletcher 
with  certaine  arrable  Lands  in  the  fieilds  00    16    00 

Mrs  Saunders  Land  late  the  Land  of  Edward  Davis 
The  Tenement  next  the  Churchyard  sometymes  Pin- 
nocks  Land  now  in  the  tenure  of  Nathaniell  Brooks 
gent  00    02    00 

Item  Three  teneYnents  in  the  Church  Lane  now  in  the 
severall  tenures  of  John  Jordan  daniell  Moncke  and 
others  00    01    00 

Mr  Robert  Glyn  his  Land  late  the  land  of  the  said 

Edward  Davis 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Richard  Haynes  00    01    06 

Item  a  new  built  tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Witney 

Streete  and  now  in  the  possession  of  the  said  Robert 

Glyn  00    01     00 

Item  a  Tenement  in  the  Priory  Lane  at  the  end  of 

Sheepstreete  now  in  the  tenure  of  Thomas  Jordan  and 

a  Bame  to  the  same  Tenement  belonging  00    00    68 

Timothy  Collier  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  now 
in  the  severall  tenures  of  Walter  Whiter,  William 
Holford  and  John  Jessett  00    01    01 

Richard  Bartholomews  Land 
Two  Tenements  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  streete 
in  the  severall  tenures  of  John  Mathewes  and  John 
Minchin  Baker  00    03    00 

Two  Tenements  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  streete 
in  the  severall  tenures  of  John  Colbome  and  Richard 
Norgrove  00    02    04 

Symon  Randolphs  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Sheepe  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  the  said  Symon  Randolph  00    01    00 


458  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


s. 


John  ffletchers  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  the  said  John  ffletcher  oo    oo    04 

Edward  Strongs  Land 
Two  Tenements  on  the  north  side  of  Sheep  streete  in 
the  tenures  of  George  Webb  and  George  ffickett  00    01    00 

William  Hunts  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Streete  in  the 
possession  of  the  said  William  Hunt  Edward  Keble  etc    00    01    00 

Robert  Astons  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Southside  of  Sheepstreete  now  or 
late  in  the  possession  of  Leonard  Mills  00    09    00 

Brasenose  CoUedge  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  westside  of  the  High  Streete  now 
in  the  tenure  of  WiUiam  Hill  00    00    06 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete 
towards  the  Bridge  now  in  the  tenure  of  Mercy  Hunt 
widdow  with  certayne  Lands  thereunto  belonging  00    02    06 

The  Schoole  Land 
Two  Tenements  lyeing  together  on  the  north  side  of 
Witney  Street  now  in  the  tenures  of  William  Bucking- 
ham and  Jacob  Dix  00    01    00 
An  other  Tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Streete 
now  in  the  tenure  of  Dennis  Cousens                                  00    01     06 
An  other  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  Hill  now 
in  the  tenure  of  Richard  Winfeild                                       00    01     00 
Three   Tenements   nere   the    Bridge   in   the   severall 
tenures  of  Paul  Silvester  and  Richard  Smith                     00    01    00 
A  Tenement  in  the  Church  Lane  called  Broadgates  in 
the  tenure  of  John  White                                                    00    01    00 

A  Tenement  in  the  said  Church  Lane  in  the  tenure  of 

The  Widdow  Blackman  and  Thomas  Daniell  00    00    04 

ffords  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Sheepe  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Thomas  Merry  and  Thomas  Dix  00    00    06 

Margery  Whiteings  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Sheepe  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  Edmund  Wyett  00    00    06 

A  Tenement  in  Sheepe  Streete  on  the  South  side  thereof 
heretofore  in  the  tenure  of  John  Jordan  Butcher  00    00    06 

Griffith  Gregory  his  Land 
The  Mansion  house  late  in  the  tenure  of  William 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  459 

i     s.      d. 

Venfeild   with   Arrable   Lands   heretofore   Jennyvers 

Land  lyeing  on  the  West  side  of  the  High  streete  and 

now  in  the  tenure  of  John  Carpenter  00    08    08 

A  Little  Tenement  adioyneing  to  the  said  Mansion 

house  in  the  tenure  of  Edward  Scriven  00    00    03 

A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the-  high  Streete  and 

certayne  Arrable  Lands  thereunto  belonging  now  or 

late  in  the  tenures  of  John  Legg  Thomas  Powell  etc         00    07    00 

• .  . 
William  King  his  Land 

A  messuage  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  Streete  and 

now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  William  King  00    01    00 

Thomas  Silvester  his  Land 
A  messuage  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  in  the 
severall  tenures  of  William  Price  and  William  Dalby        00    03    06 
Item  certayne  Arrable  Lands  sometymes  fEords  Land 
and  now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  William  Dalby  and 
John  Castle  00    00    10 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  John  Minchin  00    01    00 

John  Winsmore  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Sheepe  Streete  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Smith  00    01     00 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  upon 
the  hill  in  the  tenure  of  Mrs  Jordan  and  William  Coram    00    01    06 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  Streete  in  the  tenure  of  John  Lambert  .  00    00    06 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Richard  Mills  00    00    06 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Richins  WiUiam  Painter  etc  00    01    04 

Paul  Silvesters  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  Thomas  Curtis  00    00    06 

A  parcell  of  Lands  sometymes  Tainters  Land  devided 
into  three  partes  betweene  Anne  Haynes  Thomas 
Silvester  and  Robert  Berry  00    02    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Witney  Streete 
called  the  Kings  head  00    00    06 

Thomas  Parsons  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  called 
the  Angell  and  now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  Thomas 
Parsons  00    03    00 


46o  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

L  s.  d. 

ffor  a  Close  called  the  Beare  Close                                     oo  oo  06 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 

the  tenure  of  WilUam  Holland  and  John  Vokins               00  01  00 
A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Witney  Streete  in 

the  tenure  of  Richard  Berry  and  others                             00  00  06 

Ambrose  Berry  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Sheepe  Streete  and 
now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  Ambrose  Berry  00    01    00 

John  Eve  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  High  Streete  and 
now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  John  Eve  00    01    00 

Hanns  Land 
The  Mansion  house  on  the  East  side  of  the  High 
Streete  called  the  Greyhound  and  now  in  the  severall 
tenures  of  Hercules  Hastings  Robert  West  Richard 
Davis  etc  00    09    00 

WilHam  Turners  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  Streete 
wherein  he  now  dwelleth  00    01    00 

Henry  Hayters  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 
the  severall  tenures  of  John  Robins  Charles  Yate  and 
Alexander  Luckett  00    01    01 

Richard  Hicks  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  the  said  Richard  Hicks  00    01    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  East  side  of  the  High  streete  in  the 
tenure  of  Robert  ffaxon  00    01    00 

Thomas  Halls  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Sheepe  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  Moses  fford  00    oi    00 

David  Hughes  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  High  Streete 
above  the  Crosse  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  David  Hughes    00    00    08 

Symon  Partridges  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Streete  with 
certaine  Arrable  Lands  00    04    09 

Richard  Syndryes  Land 
A  Tenement  at  the  further  end  of  Witney  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  James  Partridge  and  Joane  Milk  widdow    00    00    06 


TWO  BURGAGE  RENT  ROLLS  461 

£>     *•    .^' 

Giles  Mills  and  Sarah  Mills  theire  Land 

A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Witney  Streete  in 

the  tenure  of  John  Paynton  and  Thomas  Kempster  00    01    06 

Thomas  Castle  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  South  side  of  Witney  Streete  called 
the  Black  boy  in  the  tenure  of   the  said  Thomas 
Castle  etc  00    oi    04 

Certaine  Tenements  in  Guildenford  Lane  with  other 
Lands  which  the  said  Thomas  Castle  lately  purchased  of 
George  Hyde  00    02    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Witney  Streete  in 

the  tenure  of  Richard  Stryve  00    00    02 

John  Jordan  of  ffulbrooke  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  Richard  Panter  00    00    03 

An  other  Tenement  thereunto  adioyneing  and  belonging 

in  the  tenure  of  John  Smith  .         00    00    03 

Henry  Godfreyes  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  hill  called  the 
Sun  in  the  tenure  of  John  King  00    00    07I 

William  Pagett  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  High  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  the  said  William  Pagett  00    00    06 

The  Land  heretofore  the  Lord  fiEalklands  Land 
A  Tenement  lyeing  at  the  lower  end  of  the  Towne  on 
the  west  side  thereof  heretofore  called  the  Swan  and 
now  in  the  tenure  of  William  Rogers  00    03    04 

Two  Tenements  in  St  Johns  Streete,  in  the  tenure  of 
Christopher  Kempster  and  Anne  Mathewes  00    01    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Sheepe  Streete  in 

the  tenure  of  Henry  Godfrey  gent  00    oi    00 

A  Tenement  on  the  West  side  of  the  high  Streete 
adjoyneing  to  the  Pumpe  in  the  tenure  of  Timothy 
Collier  and  Riphard  Burbree  00    oi .  03 

Mr  Compeires  Land  late  the  Land  of  Thomas  Martin 
One  yardlands  in  the  tenure  of  John  Crosse  00    02    00 

Thomas  Waterfalls  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  Northside  of  Witney  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  the  said  Thomas  Waterfall  00    00    02 


462  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


L     s- 


James  Hicks  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Witney  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  EUaner  Ghossen  widdow  oo    oo    02 

Two  Cottages  at  the  west  end  of  Sheepe  Streete  in  the 
severall  tenures  of  Robert  Spurrett  and  ffrancis 
Harper  00    00    04 

in  all  vis.  Thomas  Tredwells  Land 

A  parcell  of  Land  sometymes  Tainters  Land  devided 
into  three  partes  betweene  Anne  Haynes  Thomas 
Silvester  and  Thomas  Castle  00    02    00 

Sir  Ralph  Button  Barronett  his  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  high  Streete  in  the 
tenure  of  John  Perry  00    01    00 

Thomas  Sindryes  Land 
A  Tenement  on  the  North  side  of  Witney  Streete  in 
the  tenure  of  William  Palmer  and  Others "  00    00    06 


10    19      9^ 

MULLENDER'S  LANE 

Tolsey,  Bundle  F 

Ml.    8  April,  1649. 

Assignment  of  Lease  of  *  an  Oxhouse  contayning  by  estimation 
foure  spaces  or  baies  beinge  lately  builte  in  the  backside  belonging 
to  the  Capital  messuage  now  in  the  Possession  of  John  Hannes  in 
Burford  one  end  of  the  saide  foure  spaces  or  bayes  abuttinge  North 
into  Mullenders  Lane  All  the  old  Orcharde  and  Garden  next  adioyninge  • 
to  the  said  foure  spaces  or  baies  on  the  east  side  thereof  and  now  is 
bounded  and  seperated  from  the  upper  new  Garden  there  from 
a  Quine  on  the  wall  on  the  east  side  thereof  to  the  Upper  side  of  the 
Appletree  next  the  garden  gate  where  formerly  the  Mound  was  usuallie 
placed  And  one  stripe  or  Plott  of  Grounde  twelve  foote  square  from 
the  southend  of  the  said  foure  spaces  or  Baies  out  of  the  backside' 
there  for  the  buildinge  or  erectinge  of  one  baye  of  housinge  more  '. 

The  original  lease  granted  by  John  Hannes  of  Burford,  junior, 
gentleman,  and  George  Hastings  of  Dalford  in  the  coimty  of  Worcester, 
gentleman,  dated  31  October  24  Charles  I,  1648,  to  William  Sessions 
for  99  years.  Now  assigned  by  Margaret  Sessions,  relict  of  William 
Sessions,  to  William  George  of  Idson,  Berks.,  son-in-law  of  William 


MULLENDER'S  LANE  463 

Sessions,  coverlett  weaver.    For  a  fine  of  £5  and  a  yearly  rent  to 
John  Hannes  of  a  couple  of  pullets. 
Witnesses  :  C.  Glyn,  John  Hughes,  Tho:  Randolph.  , 

M  2.    19  April,  1654. 

Assignment  of  Lease  by  William  George  of  Burford,  coverlid 
weaver,  to  John  Shorter  of  Witney,  dyer.  The  same  premises.  For 
a  fine  of  £30  and  the  same  consideration  to  John  Hannes. 

Witnesses  :   G.  Shorter,  Fra:  Horbome. 

M  3.    28  March,  1673. 

Lease  for  a  year  by  Richard  Hannes  of  Burford,  gentleman,  Mary 
Hanns  his  Mother,  and  Jane  Hanns,  spinster,  his  sister,  to  Edmond 
Wyett^of  Burford,  tayler.  The  same  premises,  now  containing  five 
bays  ;  now  in  the  occupation  of  Thomas  Sessions,  *  and  were  parcell 
or  reputed  parcell  of  the  capital  messuage  or  tenement  situate  lying 
and  being  in  the  Highstreet  of  Burford  called  the  Grayhound  in  the 
tenure  or  occupation  of  the  said  Richard  Hanns '.  Lease  for  a  year 
at  55. 

Witnesses :  Henry  Godfrey,  Edward  B  .  .  .  {illegible),  Andrew 
Smyth,  John  Godfrey. 

M  4.    5  August,  26  Charles  II,  1674. 

Indenture  of  Apprenticeship.  Thomas  Sessions,  son  of  Benjamin 
Sessions  of  Burford,  shoemaker,  to  Benjamin  Sessions  his  father. 
With  the  consent  of  Gabriel  Tooker  of  Chipping  Farringdon,  Berks., 
Gentleman,  Anne  Beck  of  Radcott,  Oxon.,  widow,  executors  of 
Henry  Beck  of  Eaton  Hastings,  clerk,  and  Paul  Silvester  the  elder 
and  Thomas  Silvester,  Bailiffs  of  the  Liberty  of  the  Borough  of 
Burford. 

H5.    12  November,  29  Charles  II  (i677)< 

Assignment  of  Lease  on  Mortgage  by  Edmund  Wiett  of  Burford, 
tayler,  to  Thomas  Parsons  of  Burford,  chandler.  The  premises  as 
in  M  3.    Mortgage  for  £40. 

Witnesses  :  Samuel  Wiett,  Symon  Randolph,  Thomas  Randolph. 

M6.    25  March,  32  Charles  II,  1680. 

Lease  for  a  year  by  Edmund  Wyatt  of  Burford,  tayler,  to  Richard 
Bartholomew,  mercer,  and  John  Price,  clothier,  Bailiffs  of  Burford, 
Thomas  Mathewes,  innholder,  Thomas  Hughes,  bookseller,  Paul 
Silvester  the  younger,  tanner,  Thomas  Castle,  chandler,  Francis 
Keeble,  mercer,  Thomas  Silvester,  tanner,  John  Collier,  sadler,  Richard 


464  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS  , 

George,  sadler,  and  John  Pe)i;on  junior,  clothier.  Burgesses  of  Burford. 
The  same  premises.   Lease  for  a  year  at  55. 

Witnesses :  John  Minchin,  Stephen  Swayte,  Samuel  Wyett,  John 
Jordan. 

M  7.   26  March,  32  Charles  II,  1680. 

Indenture  of  Sale,  by  the  same  to  the  same.    The  same  premises. 
For  £80. 
Witnesses  :  The  same. 

M8.    26  March,  1680. 

Receipt  (on  paper)  by  Edmund  Wyett.  .  For  £40  25.  6d.,  in  full 
discharge  of  a  sum  of  £80. 

M  9.    26  March,  32  Charles  II,  1680. 

Bond,  by  the  same,  to  the  purchasers  as  in  M  6.  In  the  sum  of 
£160.  To  observe  the  covenants  expressed,  concerning  the  guaranteeing 
of  the  purchasers  in  the  matter  of  the  mortgages. 

M 10.    27  March,  32  Charles  II,  1680. 

Indenture,  tripartite,  between  Thomas  Parsons  of  Burford,  chandler, 
and  Edmund  Wyatt  of  Burford,  taylor,  of  the  first  part ;  Richard 
Bartholomew  and  the  purchasers  as  in  M  6  of  the  second  part ;  John 
Winsemore  of  Burford,  mercer,  Robert  Aston  of  Burford,  innholder, 
Stephen  Mathewes  of  Burford,  cordwayner,  and  William  Taylor  of 
Burford,  baker,  also  Burgesses,  of  the  third  part.  Recites  that  whereas 
Edmund  Wyatt  had  not  paid  the  mortgage  money  due  to  Thomas 
Parsons  of  £42  Ss.,  now  in  consideration  of  £40  paid  to  Edmund  Wyett 
,  he  with  the  consent  of  Thomas  Parsons  leases  the  premises  to  the 
parties  mentioned  above  of  the  third  part,  the  parties  of  the  second 
part  to  receive  the  rents. 

Witnesses  :  As  in  M  6. 

M 11.    29  March,  32  Charles  II,  1680. 

Indenture  of  Trust  between  Richard  Bartholomew  and  the  pur- 
chasers as  in  M  6,  and  John  Winsemore  and  the  rest  as  in  M  10. 
Recites  that  whereas  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford  have  been 
entrusted  with  the  management  and  disposal  of  charitable  funds, 
the  moneys  paid  for  the  purchase  of  the  before-mentioned  premises 
were  not  the  private  moneys  of  the  purchasers  but  were  as  to  £30 
derived  from  the  bequest  of  Dame  Elizabeth  Tanfield  for  the  appren- 
ticing of  poor  boys,  and  as  to  the  rest  from  the  bequest  of  Mr  John 
Palmer  late  of  Bampton,  gentleman ;  and  the  moneys  are  declared 


MULLENDER'S  LANE  465 

to  be  upon  trust,  with  clauses  providing  for  the  removal  of  trustees 
who  may  cease  to  reside  in  the  town,  and  for  the  enfeoffment  of  new 
trustees  when  less  than  six  remain. 

M 12.    29  March,  32  Charles  II,  1680. 

Lease  by  the  trustees  with  Winsemore  and  the  rest  of  the  lessees 
as  in  M  10,  to  Edmund  Wyatt  of  Burford,  tayler.  The  same 
premises,  now  described  as  a  cottage  in  MuUenders  Lane  between 
a  new  erected  cottage  occupied  by  Benjamin  Sessions  on  the  east 
and  the  backgate  of  the  Greyhound  on  the  west.  Lease  for  7  years 
at  £3  a  year. 

Witnesses :  John  Minchin,  Stephen  Swayte,  Samuel  Wyatt,  John 
Jordan. 

M 13.    23  May,  4  William  and  Mary,  1692. 

Lease  by  Paul  Silvester,  John  Collier,  Richard  George,  and  John 
Payton,  to  John  Greenway  of  Burford,  joyner.  A  messuage  or  tene- 
ment with  garden,  parcel  of  lands  purchased  by  the  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  of  Burford  and  situate  in  the  east  end  of  MuUenders  Lane 
next  to  a  tenement  of  Joane  Sessions,  widow,  on  the  west.  Lease  for 
21  years  at  455.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Minchin,  Richard  Mathewes. 


LENTHALL  AND  HOLLOWAY  CHARITIES 
Tolsey,  Bundle  G 

LH 1.    26  December,  1677. 

Copy  of  Will  of  Lawrence  Poole  of  Stanlake,  Oxon.,  bequeathing 
to  his  wife,  Anne  Poole,  his  messuage  in  Stanlake  with  two  closes 
adjoining,  and  after  her  decease  to  his  two  daughters,  Elizabeth  and 
Anne,  and  to  their  heirs  in  equal  portions. 

Witnesses  :  Edward  Bartlett  junior,  Richard  Griffin,  Ruth  Bennett, 
Richard  Pratt. 

Note. — The  will  was  proved  28  March,  1682. 

LH2.    17  January,  13  George  I,  1727. 

Lease  for  a  year  by  John  Edwards  of  Hardwick  in  the  parish  of 
Ducklington,  yeoman,  to  George  Hart,  brasier,  Richard  Whitehall, 
mercer,  Matthew  Underwood,  mercer,,  and  Paul  Silvester,  tanner, 

3304  H  h 


466      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  Burford.    A  close  of  Pasture  in  the  liberty  of  Standlake  containing 
two  acres,  a  little  close  of  Thomas  Aldworth's  on  the  south-west  and 
one  of  Anderson  Neasey's  on  the  north-east,  one  end  shooting  upon 
Standlake  street  and  the  other  end  abutting  on  the  Church  field. 
Witnesses  :   John  Rushley,  Thomas  Leake. 

LH3.    Easter  Term,  13  George  I  (1727). 

Fine.  Thomas  DoUey,  George  Hart,  Richard  Whitehall,  Matthew 
Underwood,  Paul  Silvester  junior,  and  Richard  Aldworth,  plaintiffs  ; 
John  Jordan  senior,  gentleman,  and  Mary  his  wife,  John  Edwards 
and  Anne  his  wife,  Absolom  Harris  and  Jane  his  wife,  defendants. 
Two  messuages,  two  cottages,  two  gardens,  two  orchards,  and  six 
acres  of  land  with  appurtenances  in  Witney,  Hardwick,  and  Ramsden. 
Fine  of  £60. 

•    LH4.    18  January,  13  George  I,  1727. 

Indenture  of  "Sale,  quinquepartite,  between  John  Edwards  of  Hard- 
wick, yeoman,  of  the  first  part ;  Elizabeth  Crell  of  the  parish  of 
St.  Anthony  in  the  city  of  London,  widow,  and  John  Holloway,  M.A., 
Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  of  the  second  part ;  Thomas 
Smalbone  and  John  Kempster,  mason,  churchwardens  of  Burford, 
of  the  third  part ;  Edward  Carter,  yeoman,  and  John  Bartlett,  wheel- 
wright, churchwardens  of  Bampton,  of  the  fourth  part ;  George 
Hart,  Richard  Whitehall,  Matthew  Underwood,  and  Paul  Sil\iester 
of  the  fifth  part.  Recites  certain  provisions  of  the  will  of  John 
Holloway,  late  of  the  parish  of  Cripplegate,  Middlesex,  deceased, 
dated  10  February,  1723,  whereby  he  left  to  Elizabeth  Crell  and  John 
Holloway  his  nephew  the  sum  of  £200  to  be  laid  out  by  them  in  lands 
or  hereditaments  upon  trust,  the  rents  thereof  to  go  as  to  one  moiety 
to  the  churchwardens  of  Burford  for  buying  as  many  twopenny  loaves 
as  could  be  purchased  for  the  money  to  be  distributed  to  the  poor 
weekly  upon  Sunday  ;  and  as  to  the  other  moiety  to  the  churchwardens 
of  Bampton  for  a  like  trust.  The  present  indenture  is  of  the  sale  by 
John  Edwards  to  George  Hart  and  the  others  of  the  fifth  part  of 
the  close  of  ground  as  in  LH  2,  upon  trust  to  permit  the  churchwardens 
of  Burford  for  the  time  being  to  receive  the  rents. 

Witnesses  :  John  Rushley,  Thomas  Leake,  John  Green,  Thomas 
Partridge  senior,  William  Monk,  Christopher  'Kempster,  Benjamin 
Haynes. 

[Enclosed  wth  this  document  is  a  copy  of  part  of  the  will  of  John 
Holloway,  as  recited  in  the  deed.] 


LENTHALL  AND  HOLLOWAY  CHARITIES     467 

LH5.    18  January,  13  George  I,  1727. 

Bond  by  John  Edwards,  in  the  sum  of  £200,  to  observe  the  covenants 
in  the  indenture  of  sale. 

[Folded  with  this  document  is  a  bill  of  share  of  costs  for  the  documents 
of  sale,  &c.,  amounting  to  {^2  i8s.  lojrf.  receipted  by  Thos.  Leake.] 

LH6.    24  May,  1727. 

Counterpart  Lease  by  George  Hart  and  the  others  as  in  LH  4,  to 
WilHam  Robinson  of  Stanlake,  yeoman.  The  close  of  pasture  as  in 
LH  2.    Lease  for  four  years  at  ^/i,  55.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  William  Spurritt,  Geo.  Hart  junior. 

LH  7.    16  November,  6  George  II,  1732. 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  John  Edwards  of  Hardwick,  yeoman,  eldest 
son  and  heir  of  WilHam  Edwards  and  Anne  his  wife,  deceased,  and 
also  nephew  and  next  heir  of  Elizabeth  Alder  since  also  deceased, 
which  said  Elizabeth  and  Anne  were  daughters  and  co-heirs  of  Lawrence 
Poole,  late  of  Standlake,  and  Elizabeth  wife  of  John  Edwards,  to 
George  Hart,  Richard  Whitehall,  Matthew  Underwood,  and  Paul 
Silvester.  A  close  in  Standlake  containing  half  an  acre,  a  close 
formerly  purchased  by  the  said  feoffees  on  the  east,  and  a  highway 
or  lane  on  the  west,  shooting  up  on  Church  field  on  the  north,  and  on 
a  garden  lately  purchased  by  one  Thomas  Collett  on  the  south.  For 
£25, '  part  of  £50  being  charity  money  given  by  the  last  will  and  testa- 
ment of  one  William  Lenthal  Esquire,  deceased,  the  residue  whereof 
being  not  received  or  else  it  hath  been  lost  many  years  since  '. 

Witnesses  :    Nicholas  Wrenford,  Thomas  Leake. 

[Enclosed  with  this  document  is  a  lease  for  a  year  by  John  Edwards.] 

LH8.    Hilary  Term,  6  George  II  (1733). 

Fine.  George  Hart,  Thomas  Collett,  and  Richard  Brereton,  armiger, 
plaintiffs  ;  John  Edwards  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  and  John  Hawtyn, 
defendants.  Three  messuages,  three  gardens,  two  acres  of  land, 
two  acres  of  pasture,  and  common  of  pasture  in  Standlake  and  Witney. 
Fine  of  £ioo.  " 

MISCELLANEA.  I 

Tolsey,  Bundle  H 

MERYDEN 

14  January,  4  &  5  Philip  and  Mary  (1558). 

Convey§uice  by  Edmund  Swiffete  of  Wardley,  com.  Wigom.,  yoman, 

H  h2 


468  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

and  Margery  his  wife,  one  of  the  daughters  and  co-heirs  of  Thomas 
Mason  late  of  Kenerseley,  deceased,  to  William  Stone  of  the  parish 
of  Meryden,  com.  Warr.,  yoman.  A  close  called  Abraham  Orcharde 
with  appurtenances  in  Alsepath,  com.  Warr.,  between  a  wood  called 
Hillwod  on  the  west  and  a  croft  called  Whichefylde  on  the  east  and 
abutting  on  a  coppice  called  okengrove  on  the  south  and  extending 
upon  a  pasture  called  brodheythe  to  the  north.  Sale  for  £6  ly.  ^d. 
Witnesses :  none. 

I  May,  12  James  I  (1614). 

Conveyance  by  Thomas  Stone  of  Woolstone  in  the  county  of 
Warwick,  husbandman,  to  Geoffrey  Tasker  of  Great  Packington  in 
the  same  county,  yeoman.  A  croft  called  the  little  croft  or  Chauntrie 
croft  lying  between  the  land  of  Clement  Craddock  called  Dyve 
Ryddynge  on  the  west  and  a  grove  or  parcel  of  ground  of  Widow  Kent 
on  the  east  and  the  King's  highway  leading  from  Meryden  to  Fillongley 
on  the  north  and  another  close  of  Widow  Kent  on  the  south.  Sale 
for  £11. 

Witnesses  :  Tho.  Holbeche,  Thomas  Whadcot,  Henry  Fynt,  George 
Shakspere,  John  Corbison. 

4  November,  16  James  I  (1618). 

Deed  of  Settlement  by  Thomas  Greene  of  Fillongley  in  the  county 
of  Warwick,  yeoman,  to  George  Pyender  of  Shustocke  in  the  same 
county  and  Arthur  Myller  late  of  Newhit  ...(?)  in  the  same  county, 
yeomen.  A  cottage  or  tenement  and  a  croft  or  close  or  meadow 
to  the  same  belonging  ;  and  three  other  crofts  or  closes  adjoining  to 
the  cottage,  lying  in  Old  Fillongley,  now  in  the  tenure  or  occupation 
of  Francis  Holbech,  gentleman,  and  John  Harris.  In  consideration 
of  a  marriage  to  be  solemnised  between  the  said  Thomas  Greene  and 
Anne  Chesshire  daughter  of  Edmund  Chesshire  of  Fillongley,  wheel- 
wright, and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  £50  paid  to  Thomas  Greene 
by  Edmund  Chesshire. 

Witnesses  :  John  Dugdale,  Edmund  Cheshire,  Richard  Dynes. 
Witnesses  to  livery  and  seisin :  Edward  Beck,  Richard  Harris, 
William  Harris. 

24  March,  16  Charles  \1  (1664). 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  Thomas  Greene  the  elder  of  Packwood  in 
the  county  of  Warwick  and  Thomas  Greene  the  younger  of  the  same, 
to  Ann  Shackspeare  of  Meriden  in  the  same  county,  widow.  The 
remainder  of  a  lease  of  99  years  of  a  cottage  in  Old  Fillongley  and 


MISCELLANEA  469 

certain  lands  called  Cotters  Lands  containing  25  acres  belonging  to 
the  cottage,  all  which  the  first-named  held  of  Adrian  Shackspere, 
late  of  Meriden,  by  indenture  dated  i  December,  7  Charles  I,  1631, 
at  a  rent  of  £6.    Sale  for  £13  los. 

Witnesses  :  Martin  Whadcock,  Tho,  Parsons,  Tho.  Whadcock. 

Endorsed  with  a  memorandum  that  Ann  Shakespere  assigns  the 
premises  and  all  her  title  in  them  for  the  residue  of  the  term  specified 
to  Thomas  Shakespere  gentleman,  her  son. 

Witnesses :  Martin  Whadcock,  Benjamin  Cockersall,  Adrian 
Shakespere  (by  mark),  Tho.  Whadcock. 

JORDAN     * 

19  July,  1658. 

Conveyance  in  Settlement  by  Edmund  Smith  of  Chadlington, 
tayler,  Judith  his  wife,  and  Thomas  Smith  of  Chadlington,  husband- 
man, son  and  heir  of  the  said  Edmund  and  Judith,  to  Walter  Smith 
of  Burford,  shoemaker,  another  of  the  sons  of  the  said  Edmund  and 
Judith.  A  messuage  or  tenement  in  Burford  in  Witney  Street  between 
a  tenement  occupied  by  Symon  Hayter  and  others  on  the  east  and  the 
backgate  of  John  John  (sic)  gentleman  on  the  west.  In  consideration 
of  the  fact  that  Thomas  Smith  is  to  have  aftey  the  death  of  his  parents 
certain  lands  and  a  tenement  in  Chadlington  and  a  fifth  part  of  several 
messuages  and  yardlands  left  to  Judith  and  her  four  sisters  by  Richard 
Osbaldeston  their  father,  and  also  in  consideration  of  a  payment  of 
£4  to  be  made  *  at  a  day  to  come '  by  the  said  Walter  Smith  to  his 
brother  Richard  Smith. 

Witnesses  :  John  Jordan,  Robert  Jordan. 

24  March,  16  Charles'll  (1664). 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  Judith  Smith  of  Chadlington,  widow  of  Edmund 
Smith  late  of  Chadlington,  tailor,  and  Walter  Smith  of  Chadlington, 
shoemaker,  one  of  the  sons  of  the  said  Edmund  Smith,  to  John  Jordan 
of  Burford,  gentleman.  A  messuage  with  appurtenances  in  Witney 
Street  between  a  tenement  in  the  occupation  of  Symon  Hayter  and 
others  on  the  east  and  the  backgate  in  the  occupation  of  John  Jordan 
on  the  west,  which  messuage  was  in  the  occupation  of  Margaret 
Sessions,  widow.   Sale  for  £37. 

Witnesses :   G.  Shorter  (?),  Richard  Greeneway,  Robert  Jordan. 

5  June,  I  William  and  Mary,  1689. 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  Richard  Mace  of  Netherwestcott,  Glos., 


470  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

yeoman,  to  John  Jordan  of  Burford,  gentleman.  A  messuage  or 
tenement  in  Netherwestcott  and  one  yardland  with  the  appurtenances 
(lands  and  closes  specified).    Sale  for  £470. 

Witnesses :  Jo.  Grayhurst  sen.,  R.  Jephson  Holland,  Jo.  Ralegh, 
John  Brookes,  John  Grayhurst  jun. 

6  July,  10  Anne,  1711. 

Indenture  in  Bankruptcy  (incomplete),  between  Daniel  Warwicke 
Esq.,  John  Jordan  jun.,  and  Charles  Parrott,  gentleman,  of  the  one 
part,  and  John  Townesend  of  Witney,  chandler,  of  the  other  part. 
Relating  to  the  bankruptcy  of  John  Minchin  of  Burford,  mercer,  the 
three- first-named  parties  being  among  the  commissioners  under  the 
commission  of  bankruptcy. 

5  September,  4  George  I,  1717. 

Lease  for  a  year  by  Edward  Hungerford  of  Black  Bourton,  Esq., 
son  and  heir  of  Sir  Edward  Hungerford,  Knight  of  the  Bath,  deceased, 
and  nephew  and  heir  of  Anthony  Hungerford  late  of  Black  Bourton, 
Esq.,  deceased,  to  John  Trevanion  of  Carhayes,  Northumberland, 
Esq.,  and  John  Jordan  of  Burford,  Esq.  The  manor  or  lordship  of 
Black  Borton  alias  Black  Bourton,  together  with  the  capital  messuage 
or  mansion  house  in  Black  Bourton  and  with  all  rents,  services,  profits, 
courts,  franchises,  etc.    For  55. 

Witnesses :   James  Partridge  jun.,  Ralph  Wall,  John  Jenner. 

17  March,  4  George  I,  1718. 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  John  Dyer  of  Kencott,  to  John  Jordan  junior, 
of  Burford,  Esquire.  A  strip  of  ground  '  on  parte  whereof  one  Bay  of 
the  west  end  of  the  said  John  Dyers  Bame  belonging  to  his  dwelling 
house  in  Kencott  was  formerly  erected  ',112  feet  in  length  and  23  feet 
in  breadth,  now  bounded  from  the  rest  of  John  Dyer's  close  by  a  new 
stone  wall  and  pales.    Sale  for  £15  los.  6d. 

Witnesses  :  Anthony  Clarke,  George  Ward,  John  Jenner. 

HARDING 

5  June,  7  William  III,  1695. 

Lease  for  a  year  by  John  Warwick  of  Curbridge,  Witney,  yeoman, 
Thomas  Silvester  of  Curbridge,  clothier,  Ralph  Trimbull  of  Witney, 
clerk,  to  John  Harding  of  Burford,  mercer.  A  messuage  or  tenement 
on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street  now  in  the  occupation  of  John 
Minchin,  between  a  tenement  of  John  Whiteing  on  the  north  and  a 


MISCELLANEA  471 

tenement  occupied  by  John  Winsmore  on  the  south ;  and  24  acres 
of  arable  land  in  the  occupation  of  John  Minchin  in  the  common 
fields  of  Burford,  Upton,  and  Signett,  being  one  moiety  of  one  yardland 
of  48  acres  heretofore  belonging  to  a  capital  messuage  late  of  Thomas 
Silvester  and  now  of  John  Warwick,  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street 
now  in  the  occupation  of  William  Price  and  Robert  Strafford. 

Witnesses  :  David  Hughes,  Charles  Morlden,  John  Jordan. 

6  June,  7  William  III,  1695. 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  the  same  to  the  same.  The  same  premises. 
For  £220. 

Witnesses  :  The  same,  with  the  addition  of  John  Peppin. 

8  June,  7  William  III,  1695. 

Deed  of  Settlement  by  John  Harding  of  Burford,  mercer,  to  Thomas 
Harris  of  Lineham  in  the  parish  of  Shipton-under-Wychwood,  yeoman, 
George  White  of  Little  Barrington,  yeoman,  and  Samuel  Wheeler 
of  Burford,  clothier.  The  premises  as  above.  In  consideration  of 
the  love  and  affection  of  the  said  John  Harding  for  his  wife  Anne, 
daughter  of  the  said  Thomas  Harris,  and  for  provision  for  her  children, 
and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  £220  advanced  by  Thomas  Harris 
for  the  purchase  of  the  premises. 

Witnesses  :  Timothy  Collier,  Robert  Osbaldeston,  John  Jordan. 

Schedule  annexed  containing  a  terrier  of  the  arable  lands  as  follows  : 

In  the  East  Feild 

In  the  furlong  lyeing  on  thest  side  of  the  pathway  to  Broadwell 

Grove  neere  the  stile  of  the  Inclosure 
J    One  halfe  Acre  thereof  shooteing  east  and  west  on  thest  side  of 

the  footpath  an  half  Acre  of  Mr  Highlords  land  lyeing  on  the 

north  side  and  an  Acre  of  Mr  Pryors  on  the  south  side  thereof 
J    A  ffarendell  thereof  on  the  south  side  of  the  said  pathway  in  the 

same  furlong  lyeing  to  the  land  of  the  said  Mr  Pryor  on  the  south 
I    One  acre  thereof  att  thest  end  of  the  ffarrundell  Mr  Hughes  land 

on  the  south  Mr  Jordans  on  the  north  side  thereof 
3    In  the  furlong  Shooteing  over  Shilton  pathway  three  single  Acres 

two  Acres  whereof  have  the  land  of  John  Jordan  lyeing  between 

them  and  the  third  hath  the  land  of  Thomas  Silvesters  on  thest 

and  an  Acre  of  Mr  Pryors  on  the  west  thereof 
J    One  other  half  Acre  thereof  Shooteing  upon 'Syenettway  an  Acre 

of  Mr  Pryors  on  the  north  and  an  half  Acre  of  Mr  Gregoryes  on 

the  south  side  thereof 
I     A  long  half  Acre  thereof  shooteing  north  and  south  upon  Shilton 

way  Mr  Pryors  half  Acre  on  the  west  and  Mr  Highlords  half  Acre 

on  thest 


472  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

I    A  shorte  half  Acre  thereof  shooteing  north  and  south  upon  the 

same  way  Mr  Highlords  land  east  Mr  Pryors  land  west  thereof 
I    One  halfe  Acre  thereof  in  the  next  furlong  above  betweene  an 

Acre  of  Mr  Pryors  on  thest  and  Thomas  Yates  land  on  the  west 
^    A  ffarrundell  shooteing  north  and  south  on  the  west  side  of  Shilton 

way  betweene  an  halfe  Acre  of  Mr  Highlords  land  lyeing  on  the 

west  and  three  halfe  Acres  of  Mr  Pryors  on  thest  thereof 
I    One  Acre  at  Sturte  shooteing  on  Shilton  way  lyeing  betweene  an 

Acre  of  Mr  Jordans  land  on  the  west  and  an  Acre  of  Thomas 

Silvesters  on  thest  side  thereof 
I    One  Acre  in  the  furlong  at  thest  end  of  the  Leaze  Wall  betweene 

the  land  of  Mr  Pryor  on  the  south  and  a  plott  of  Mr  Winsmores 

land  on  the  north  thereof 
J    One  halfe  Acre  more  in  the  same  furlong  lyeing  betweene  the  land 

of  Thomas  Yates  on  the  south  and  Mr  Castle  on  the  north  thereof 
I    One  Acre  more  thereof  lyeing  at  or  neere  the  great  Bush  on  the 

north  side  of  Giouster  way  betweene  the  land  of  Mr  Winsmores 

on  thest  and  of  Thomas  Silvesters  on  the  west 
I    Halfe  an  Acre  thereof  lyeing  on  thest  side  of  the  Highway  goeing 

by  White  Hill  under  the  hedge  of  Mr  Highlords  Inclosuer  betweene 

two  halfe  Acres  of  Mr  Castles  land  lyeing  on  each  side  thereof 

1  One  halfe  more  thereof  lyeing  in  the  furlong  on  the  west  side  of 
the  same  way  between  the  land  of  Thomas  Yates  lyeing  on  both 
sides  thereof 

^    And  one  halfe  Acre  thereof 

In  the  West  Feild 

2  Two  Acres  thereof  in  the  furlong  on  the  westside  of  the  way  to 
Synett  two  single  acres  of  Mr  Pryors  lyeing  betweene  them 

2  Two  other  Acres  thereof  lyeing  together  in  the  same  furlong 
betweene  an  Acre  of  the  said  Mr  Pryors  on  the  south  and  an  Acre 
of  the  said  Thomas  Yates  on  the  north  side  thereof 

I  One  other  Acre  thereof  being  a  fore  shooter  lyeing  in  Westwell 
Bottome  on  the  south  side  of  the  Roade  way  therein  A  three  half 
Acre  peece  of  Mr  Pryors  land  lyeing  on  the  north  side  thereof 

I  One  Acre  shooteing  north  and  south  upon  the  upper  end  of  West- 
well  hedge  betweene  an  Acre  of  Thomas  Yates  on  thest  and  Mr 
Pryor  on  the  west  side  thereof  * 

I  One  Acre  in  the  Oares  on  the  west  side  of  the  roade  way  there 
betweene  an  Acre  of  Mr  Winsmores  land  on  thest  and  an  Acre 
of  Mr  Pryors  land  on  the  west  sides  thereof 

1  One  Acre  more  thereof  in  the  furlong  neerest  Upton  feild  shooteing 
upon  Thomas  Yates  headland  betweene  an  Acre  of  the  said  Thomas 
Yates  lyeing  on  thest  side  and  an  Acre  of  the  said  Mr  Pryor  on 
the  west  side  thereof 

I  One  halfe  Acre  thereof  lyeing  in  the  furlong  next  below  betweene 
Paul  Silvesters  peece  on  the  west  and  an  halfe  Acre  of  Mr  High- 
lords  land  on  thest  thereof 


MISCELLANEA  473 

J    One  other  halfe  Acre  thereof  lyeing  in  Hull  Bush  furlong  betweene 

an  Acre  of  John  Winsmores  on  the  west  and  an  Acre  of  Thomas 

Yates  on  thest  thereof 
I    One  other  halfe  Acre  thereof  lyeing  next  farme  furlong  betweene 

an  halfe  Acre  of  Mr  Pryors  on  thest  And  an  Acre  of  Robert  Aston 

on  the  west 
J    One  other  halfe  Acre  thereof  lyeing  at  the  Greene  banck  on  thest 

side  of  Westwell  way  betweene  an  half  Acre  of  Mr  Highlords  land 

on  the  north  and  an  Acre  of  Mr  Pryors  on  the  south  sides  thereof 
J    One  halfe  Acre  more  thereof  lyeing  in  the  Oares  neere  Westwell 

hedge  betweene  three  halfe  acres,  of  Mr  Pryors  land  on  thest  and 

an  Acre  of  his  land  on  the  west  sides  thereof 
I    One  other  Acre  thereof  lyeing  in  the  midle  furlong  on  thest  side 

of  Westwell  way  betweene  two  Acres  of  Mr  Highlords  land  on  the 

north  and  an  Acre  of  Mr  Pryors  on  the  south 
J    And  one  halfe  Acre  more  in  the  same  feild 

Note. — Another  copy  of  the  same  Deed  of  Settlement  with  the  schedule 
is  in  the  same  bundle. 

7  June,  7  WiUiam  III,  1695. 

Lease  for  a  year  by  John  Harding,  to  George  White  and  Samuel 
Wheeler.    The  same  premises,  with  schedule  of  lands. 
Witnesses :  The  same. 

I  August,  7  William  III,  1695. 

Indenture,  tripartite,  between  John  Southby  of  Caswell,  Berks., 
Esq.,  and  Mary  his  wife,  of  the  first  part ;  John  Warwick  of  Curbridge, 
Thomas  Silvester  of  Curbridge,  Ralph  Trumbull  of  Witney  and  Hester 
his  wife,  of  the  second  part ;  Samuel  Wheeler  of  Burford  and  John 
Harding  of  Burford,  of  the  third  part.  Declaring  the  purposes  of  a  fine 
to  be  levied  concerning  :  (i)  A  messuage  and  two  com  mills  and  two 
fulling  mills  in  Burford  or  the  hamlets  of  Burford,  meadow  ground  of 
five  acres  belonging  to  the  messuage  and  lying  to  the  north  of  it  and 
adjoining  to  the  mills,  a  ham  lying  near  the  meadow  ground,  and  all 
the  closes  adjoining  the  south  of  the  tenement  and  mills — all  which 
are  sold  by  the  first-named  parties  to  Samuel  Wheeler ;  (ii)  the 
premises  purchased  by  John  Harding  as  above. 

Witnesses  :  John  Jordan,  John  Peppin. 

Enclosed  in  the  above  document :  The  fine  referred  to,  Michaelmas 
Term,  7  William  III,  for  a  sum  of  £120. 

12  January,  1698.    {Date  endorsed.) 

Mr.  Hardings  Title  to  a  messuage  with  thappurts  in  Witney  Streete 
in  Burford  in  the  county  of  Oxon  and  to  5  acres  thereto  belonging 


474  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

lying  in  the  comon  ffeilds  of  Burford  and  Signett  and  to  a  close  of 
ground  or  pasture  called  the  Wildemes  and  to  a  close  of  a  meadow 
or  pasture  containing  2  Acres  near  the  east  end  of  Witney  Streete, 
all  which  premises  are  now  in  the  possession  of  Tristram  Wilton  or 
his  assigns. 

Sets  out  the  following  transactions  : 

11  May,  36  Elizabeth.    The  premises  with  the  exception  of  the  two- 

acre  close  sold  by  Walter  Jones  and  Hellen  his  wife  to  Richard 
Mery weather  for  £120 

12  August,  40  Elizabeth.  Sold  by  Mery  weather  to  Sir  Anthony  Cope 
28  July,  2  James  I.    Sold  by  Cope  tb  Meryweather 

23  May,  5  James  I.  The  two-acre  close  sold  by  Thomas  Silvester  to 
Meryweather 

17  January,  1619.  The  premises  except  the  messuage  conveyed  by 
Meryweather  to  Thomas  Church  on  mortgage  for  £205 

II  September,  1620.  Conveyed  by  Meryweather^  Thomas  Wiett, 
and  Church  to  John  Highlord  and  Susanne  his  wife 

30  &  31  May,  1656.  Premises  brought  into  the  marriage  settlement  of 
John  Highlord  son  and  heir  of  Zac.  Highlord,  on  his  marriage 
with  Elizabeth  Style 

22  &  23  April,  1697.  Premises  sold  by  John  Highlord  of  Micham, 
Surrey,  Esquire,  only  brother  and  heir  of  Tho.  Highlord  Esq., 
deceased,  who  was  eldest  son  and  heir  of  John  Highlord  Esq., 
deceased,  who  was  eldest  son  and  heir  of  Zac.  Highlord,  who  was 
eldest  son  and  heir  of  John  Highlord,  sometime  citizen  and 
Alderman  of  London,  to  Sir  John  Cotton  and  John  Stone  the 
younger  of  London,  merchant 

II  &  12  January,  1698.  Premises  sold  by  Cotton  and  Stone  to  John 
Harding. 

MISCELLANEA.  II 

Tolsey,  Bundle  I 

RICH 

12  January,  10  William  III,  1698. 

Certified  Copy  of  an  Indenture  of  Sale  by  Sir  John  Cotton  of  Land- 
wade,  Cambridgeshire,  and  John  Stone  the  younger  of  London, 
merchant,  to  Peter  Rich  of  Upton  in  the  parish  of  Burford,  paper- 
maker.  A  Capital  messuage  sometime  in  the  occupation  of  Richard 
Merryweather  and  now  or  late  in  the  possession  of  John  Winemore 
{sic — the  name  is  later  given  as  Winsmore  ;  endorsed  in  margin  *  now 
of  Timothy  Abraham  ')  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  on  the  east  side 
of  the  street  over  against  the  High  Cross,  heretofore  used  for  an  Inn 


MISCELLANEA  475 

and  known  by  the  name  or  sign  of  the  Bull ;  also  a  close  of  pasture 
ground  containing  three  acres  called  the  Long  Bushy  Close  at  or 
near  the  east  end  of  the  High  Mead  ;  one  acre  of  lot  meadow  in  the 
same  High  Mead ;  sixty-three  acres  in  the  arable  lands  of  Burford 
and  Signett,  except  two  sCcres,  parcel  of  the  said  sixty-three  acres, 
called  the  Two  Butts ;  one  acre  of  arable  land  in  the  West  Field  in 
the  furlong  called  the  Feme  Furlong ;  one  acre  of  arable  land  in  the 
West  Field  shooting  into  the  highway  from  Burford  to  Signett  common- 
ly called  Dyneacre  way,  on  the  west  side  of  the  way.  Sale  for  £545. 
Clauses  inserted  guaranteeing  the  absolute  title  of  Cotton  and  Stone. 

2  May,  2  Anne,  1703. 

Lease  by  Peter  Rich  of  Upton,  to  Henry  Hayter  of  Burford,  iron- 
monger, and  Katherine  his  wife.  Part  of  a  messuage  or  tenement  on 
the  west  side  of  the  High  Street,  '  From  the  Quyne  of  the  wall  att 
the  Crosse  house  Doore  streigh  downe  to  the  Quyne  of  the 
wall  of  the  entry  Doore  next  the  streete ',  between  a  tenement  of 
Thomas  Curtis  on  the  north  and  the  other  part  of  the  said  messuage 
or  tenement  now  in  the  occupation  of  Charles  Yate  and  John  Coebume 
on  the  south.  At  a  peppercorn  rent.  As  security  for  the  payment 
to  Henry  Hayter  of  a  certain  annual  sum  of  £16  for  a  period  of  200 
years  and  of  a  certain  capital  sum  in  the  event  of  the  decease  of  Henry 
Hayter  or  his  wife  during  the  ensuing  five  or  ten  years,  money  due 
upon  the  sale  by  Henry  Hayter  and  his  wife  to  Peter  Rich  of  the 
premises  above  mentioned. 

Witnesses  :  John  Jordan,- John  Jordan  junior,  Joseph  Payton. 

29  September,  6  Aime,  1707. 

Lease  by  Katharine,  Countess  of  Abercome,  to  Peter  Rich  of 
Upton.  A  messuage  or  tenement  in  Upton  late  in  the  possession 
of  John  Mutlow,  deceased,  now  in  the  occupation  of  Joseph  Thometon,- 
with  four  yardlands  of  arable,  meadow  and  pasture  in  the  common 
fields  of  Upton,  and  common  of  pasture.  Lease  for  21  years  at  £30 
a  year.  Rich  covenants  not  to  sell  any  pease  straw,  barley  straw,  or 
dung,  but  to  use  it  on  the  land  ;  and  also  to  keep  one  hundred  sheep 
on  the  premises. 

Witnesses :  Ellen  Winterbome,  Wm.  Lindsey,  William  Tomley. 

Note. — Signature  of  Lady  Abercome. 

—  8  Anne,  1709. 

Lease  by  Peter  Rich  of  Upton,  papermaker,  to  John  Lenthall  of 


476  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Burford,  Esquire.    A  moiety  of  the  fulling  mills  and  paper  mills  at 
Burford  and  Upton.   Lease  for  a  year  at  55. 
Not  executed. 

—  8  Anne,  1709. 

Lease  by  Peter  Rich,  to  John  Lenthall  and  Francis  Broderick  of 
Langford,  Esquire.  The  Long  Bushy  Close  ;  one  acre  of  lot  Meadow  ; 
63  acres  of  arable  except  the  Two  Butts  ;  one  acre  of  arable' in  Feme 
Furlong  and  one  acre  upon  Dyneacre  way.  Lease  for  99  years  at 
a  peppercorn  rent. 

Not  executed. 

—  8  Anne,  1709. 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  the  same  to  the  same.  The  meadow  and  arable 
lands  as  above. 
Not  executed. 

—  8  Anne,  1709. 

Indenture  of  Agreement  between  John  Lenthall  and  Francis 
Broderick  and  Peter  Rich.  There  being  a  possibility  on  the  one  side 
that  a  son  of  Peter  Rich  and  Abigail  his  wife  might  have  a  claim  on 
the  meadow  and  arable  lands  above  mentioned,  Peter  Rich  makes 
a  lease  of  a  moiety  of  the  fulling  and  paper  mills  as  security  that  in  the 
event  of  such  a  son  being  bom  the  lands  shall  be  properly  conveyed  by 
him  to  John  Lenthall ;  and  on  the  other  side  since  John  Lenthall  has 
the  reversion  at  the  death  of  Lady  Abercome  of  the  fulling  and  paper 
mills  and  has  undertaken  to  convey  them  to  Peter  Rich,  he  conveys 
to  Peter  Rich  as  security  the  meadow  and  arable  lands  as  above. 

Not  executed. 

23  March,  11  Anne,  1711. 

Lease  by  Peter  Rich  to  John  Lenthall  and  John  Frederick  of  Bamp- 
^on.  Esquire.  The  meadow  and  arable  lands  as  above.  For  99  years 
at  a  peppercom  rent. 

Witnesses  :  John  Jordan  junior,  J.  Eykyn,  Joseph  Payton. 

29  April,  1714.    {Date  endorsed.) 

Endorsed :  ,*  Peter  Rich's  mortgadge  to  Margarett  Lay  pro  £40 
Dat  29th  Aprill  1 7 14.' 

A  document  mutilated  (about  one-third  cut  out)  conceming  premises 
apparently  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  late  in  the  occupation  of 
John  Turner  deceased  ...  a  tenement  in  the  possession  of  John 
Jessett  on  the  north  side  thereof  together  with  three  other  tenements 
lately  erected  .  .  .  Robinson,  Thomas  Spurryer,  and  .  .  .  Cobume, 


MISCELLANEA  477 

and  eight  acres  of  arable  land  .  .  .  except  one  cottage  lately  erected 
in  the  backside  belonging  to  the  .  .  .  Rich  lately  sold  to  one  John 
Deane  and  is  now  in  the  said  John  Deane's  possession. 

On  hack :  Peter  Rich's  receipt  for  £40  witnessed  by  John  Jordan 
junior  and  Ralph  Wall. 

The  main  document  not  executed. 

12  July,  I  George  II,  1727. 

Counterpart  Lease  by  John  Aston  of  Suffolk  Lane  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Mary  Abchurch,  London,  merchant,  to  Peter  Rich  of  Upton, 
papermaker.  A  messuage  or  tenement  with  seven  yardlands  and 
common  for  280  sheep,  fourteen  *  cow  beasts '  and  seven  *  horse  beasts ', 
commonly  called  Martin's  Messuage  or  Tenement.  For  21  years  at 
£55  a  year.  Clause  that  John  Aston  shall  be  at  liberty  to  open  up 
a  quarry  at  the  upper  end  of  the  piece  of  arable  adjoining  the  messuage. 
Also  a  clause  that  Peter  Rich  may  plough  up  two  of  the  closes  belonging 
to  the  messuage,  but  not  the  enclosed  lands  called  Newbrook  Lands 
unless  the  tenant  farmers  and  landlords  agree  to  plough  up  their  shares 
of  those  lands ;  and  Peter  Rich  will  in  that  case  sow  *  two  bushell 
of  good  sweet  clean  and  merchantable  saintfoyne  seed  to  one  bushell 
of  come  for  every  acre  of  the  said  closes  which  shall  be  plowed  up '. 

Witnesses  :  John  Jordan,  George  Mayer. 

29  September,  13  George  II,  1739. 

Deed  of  Partnership  between  Joseph  Flexney  of  Burford,  clothier, 
and  William  Summerfield  of  Burford,  distiller,  of  the  one  part,  and 
Peter  Rich  of  Upton,  papermaker,  of  the  other  part.  The  paper  mills 
to  be  worked  in  partnership  ;  Flexney  and  Summerfield  are  to  provide 
capital ;  Rich  is  to  work  in  the  mills  as  a  journeyman,  and  to  instruct 
the  workmen,  and  also  to  instruct  Flexney  and  Summerfield  in  the 
marketing  of  the  paper  ;  Rich  is  to  receive  weekly  wages,  is.  a  week 
to  be  deducted  as  interest  due  upon  a  bond  of  £50  by  Rich  to  Robert 
Raikes  of  the  City  of  Gloucester,  printer  ;  Rich  is  not  to  drink  ale  or 
strong  drink  with  any  of  the  workmen  at  the  mills  or  elsewhere  on 
pain  of  a  fine  of  55.  to  be  deducted  from  his  wages  ;  nor  is  he  to  draw 
bills  upon  Flexney  and  Summerfield  for  more  than  is  really  due  to 
him  on  pain  of  forfeiting  twice  the  amount  of  the  bill ;  Rich  is  to  enter 
all  the  manufacture  of  paper  in  a  book  and  to  write  on  every  ream  the 
quality  of  the  paper ;  Flexney  and  Summerfield  are  to  receive  all 
moneys  and  make  all  payments. 

Witnesses  :   John  Ingles,  Benjamin  Crossley. 


478  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

23  May,  1746. 

Copy  of  the  will  of  Ann  Abrahams,  wife  of  Timothy  Abrahams  of 
Burford,  mercer.  Testator  bequeaths  certain  houses  in  the  High 
Street  and  Witney  Street  and  24  acres  of  land  in  the  common  fields 
belonging  to  a  house  in  the  High  Street  formerly  a  capital  messuage 

of  one Silvester,  in  trust  for  various  people  including  her  niece 

Sarah  Rich  and  her  nephew  Peter  Rich.  Testator  mentions  a  mortgage 
on  Peter  Rich's  estate  for  £400  and  also  a  bond  of  Peter  Rich  for  £180. 

[There  is  another  copy  of  the  same  will.] 

Note. — Most  of  the  Rich  Papers  have  the  name  '  Padbury '  written  on 
the  outside  in  pencil. 

CHARITIES 
A  piece  of  paper  in  an  eighteenth-century  hand  containing  a  copy  of 
part  of  Thomas  Poole's  Will : 

I  Bequeath  to  the  Brotherhood  of  Burgesses  of  the  Fraternity  of 
our  Lady  in  the  Church  of  Burford  to  be  delivered  to  them  after  the 
decease  of  my  wife  my  Bason  of  silver  with  a  Boare's  Head  enamelled 
with  black  in  the  bottom,  an  Ewer  of  silver  with  a  standing  foot, 
to  remain  to  them  and  their  successors  for  ever.  .  .  .  (The  gift  of  houses 
follows  as  in  P  15  (Cheatle  Collection).) 

On  the  reverse  of  the  piece  of  paper  are  various  notes  of  payments  : 
Pd  out  of  Pool's  Land  52  shill  a  year  to  the  poor  £10  to  the  two 
BayliflEs  That  is   whats  for  the  feast  &   50   shillings  a    piece    for 
defraying  other  charges. 
The  Money  that  pays  the  Almespeople  is  as  follows 

i     s.   d. 
Out  of  Jonath:  Harris's  house  lo    o    o 

•    Out  of  Mr  Rogers's  house  5    4 

Out  of  the  Church  Rents  5    4 

Out  of  Pools  Land  2  12 


23 

21  December,  1725. 

Note  of  Hand  by  William  Webb  to  Wm.  Bowles,  Paul  Silvester, 
and  George  Hart  for  £4.  Agreement  appended  to  receive  payment 
in  four  instalments  on  dates  named. 

Endorsed :  Harris's  money. 

14  May,  1803. 

Two  receipts  by  Pye  Chavasse  for  £15  each,  money  received  from 

Kenn.  Esq.  on  %  of  the  CorporMion  of  Burford. 


MISCELLANEA  479 

UNCLASSIFIED 

23  March,  20  Charles  II  (1668). 

Indenture  of  Mortgage  by  William  Ford  of  Little  Farringdon, 
Berks.,  yeomj^n,  to  John  Francklin  of  Little  Barrington,  Glos.,  tayler. 
A  messuage  with  backside  and  garden  in  Burford  on  the  north  side  of 
Sheep  Street  .between  a  bam  in  the  occupation  of  Thomas  Baggs  on 
the  east  and  a  tenement  occupied  by  Alice  Taylor,  widow,  on  the  west. 
Mortgage  for  £45  ;  and  lease  for  99  years  at  a  rent  of  a  penny. 

Witnesses :  Thomas  Smyth,  William  Johnsons,  Thomas  Ford 
senior,  Symon  Randolph. 

Also  a  counterpart  of  the  same. 

6  August,  31  Charles  II,  1679. 

Counterpart  Lease  by  William,  Earl  of  Craven,  to  William  Washing- 
ton of  Ascott  Dawley,  Oxon.  A  messuage  or  tenement,  a  close,  and 
half  a  yardland  now  in  the  tenure  of  the  said  William  Washington 
by  copy  of  Court  Roll.  Lease  for  99  years,  if  Joan  his  daughter,  wife 
of  Francis  Twinham,  or  Washington  Twinham  his  grandson,  shall 
happen  so  long  to  live,  at  6^.  Sd.  a  year. 

21  Decen\ber,  9  George  1, 1722. 

Lease  for  a  year  by  Jonathan  Harris  late  of  Widford,  Glos.,  now  of 
Charlebury,  Oxon.,  miller,  to  John  Harris  of  Asthall,  Oxon.,  miller. 
Four  acres  of  arable  land  in  Asthall  and  Astallingly  belonging  to 
a  messuage  occupied  by  Henry  Midwinter. 

Witnesses  :  Wm.  Rolls,  Ri:  Wall.     . 

The  Presentation  of  John  Eykyn.    {No  date.) 

We  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscrib'd  Churchwai-dens  of  Burford 
in  ye  county  of  Oxon,  doe  present  Mr  John  Eykyn  Vicar  of  Burford 
afors'd  for  several  Notorious  Crimes  &  Scandals  by  him  ye  sd  Mr  Eykyn 
committed  as  followeth. 

Imp"".  We  present  ye  sd  Mr  John  Eykyn  for  his  Haunting  Inns  or 
Ale  Houses  continuing  ther  at  unseasonable  hours,  immoderate 
drinking.  Quarrelling,  fighting.  Gaming,  using  Chambering  and  wanton- 
ness, immodest  Speech  and  behaviour  there  and  elsewhere  beneath  ye 
dignity  and  gravity  of  a  minister  and  wholly  derogatory  to  ye  Sacred 
Function. 

Item.    We  P'sent  ye  sd  Mr  Eykyn  for  a  common  Drunkard,  being 


48o      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

credibly  inform 'd  yt  he  has  been  us'd  to  drink  to  yt  excess  as  to  have 
been  seen  reeling  and  often  falling  and  sometime  to  ye  degree  of  shame- 
full  and  loathsome  spuing. 

Item.  For  his  Reveling,  singing,  Roaring,  using  Ribaldry  of  dis- 
course even  in  private  Houses  as  well  as  publick  when  he  has  had 
opportunity  as  at  publick  meetings,  Christenings,  weddings,  discovering 
his  vitious  Inclinations,  and  Actions  to  ye  great  offence  of  all  sober 
people. 

Item.  For  his  Blaspheming  ye  Dreadfull  Name  of  Allmighty 
God,  by  his  customary,  rash,  and  profane  cursing  and  swearing. 
And  whilst  he  woud  seem  a  minister  of  ye  Gospell  in  a  prodigious 
manner  having  been  heard  to  damn  his  own  wife. 

Item.  For  having  committed  uncleanness,  fornication  and  sinns 
of  ye  like  nature  and  as  by  his  own  confession  having  lived  long  in 
ye  guilt  thereof,  having  not  repented  of  ye  same  as  he  ought. 

Item.  For  suffering  and  committing  great  Irregularity  and  Disorders 
in  his  own  house  by  using  ill  hours,  laying  out  at  all  hours  of  ye  night, 
demeaning  himself  unseemly  towards  his  wife  making  Games  at  her 
causing  her  shamefully  to  expose  herself,  not  admitting  her  to  his 
bed  in  his  mad  fits,  treating  her  outragiously,  causing  her  hf  threaten- 
ing &  terrifying  of  her  to  fly  at  middnight  for  her  shelter  and  safety 
to  some  of  her  neighbours,  at  other  times  to  take  Sanctuary  at  a  Neigh- 
bouring ministers  for  a  considerable  time,  under  his  own  roof  giving 
his  wife  occasion  of  Jealouse  and  by  ffewds  and  ffrequent  Quarrells 
disturbing  ye  Neighbourhood. 

Item.  For  keeping  about  him  as  his  only  serv*  a  cheerwoman  of 
evill  fame,  for  incontinency  and  not  putting  her  away  when  admonisht 
of  it  and  suspected  himself  by  some  of  his  rieare  neighbours  of  too 
great  familiarity  with  her  untill  a  foul  disease  broke  out  upon  her 
and  she  accused  ye  sd  Mr  Eykyn  of  having  given  it  her. 

Item.  For  omitting  catechising  of  youth  at  his  parish  church  since 
he  came  to  Burford  as  required  by  ye  cannon  for  refusing  to  visit  ye 
sick  when  desird  for  delaying  Christian  buryal  when  in  pursuit  of  his 
pleasures,  for  being  absent  often  and  in  appearance  upon  frivolous 
occasions  &  having  not  order'd  one  in  his  room  to  read  prayers  but 
disapointing  ye  people. 

Item.  For  not  residing  in  his  vicaridge  house,  as  usual  alwaies 
with  his  predecessors,  but  living  at  a  Barbers  in  a  meane  manner 
and  on  several  accounts  not  reputable  for  a  minister. 


MISCELLANEA  481 

Item.    We  p'sent  ye  said  Mr  Eykyn  not  only  for  his  want  of  ye 

sober  conversation  requir'd  in  ministers  but  also  for  his  promoting, 

encouraging,  and  propagating  vice  in  several  instances  as  will  be  made 

evident  by  his  actually  seducing  and  exciting  others  to  filthiness  and 

Lewdness  to  ye  great  danger  of  ye  like  corruption  of  manners,  ye 

decay  of  piety,  ye  Dishonour  of  God  and  Scandal  of  Religion. 

John  Castle  ]  _,       , 

Richd  Whitehall    [  ^^/^J^g^^g 

George  Hart  ) 

Note. — John  Eykyn  was  Vicar  of  Burford  from  1701  to  1734.  This 
presentation  is  not  dated ;  but  it  is  clear  from  the  Register  of  Officers, 
preserved  with  the  Parish  Registers,  that  the  date  is  1704.  In  that  year 
John  Castle  was  the  Rector's  churchwarden,  and  Richard  Whitehall 
and  George  Hart  the  wardens  'pro  villa'.  In  no  other  year  are  these 
three  found  as  churchwardens  together. 

29  September,  9  Anne,  17 10. 

Counterpart  Lease  by  Ward  Smith  of  the.  City  of  London,  silk 
thrower,  to  Edward  Holmes  of  Fulbrook,  clothier,  and  Phillis  his 
wife.  Part  of  '  an  Auntiant  Messuage  or  Tenement  heretofore  in 
the  occupacion  of  John  Bartholomew  deceased,  and  late  in  the  occupa- 
cion  of  Thomas  Greene  conteining  two  low  Roomes  and  a  buttery 
on  the  ground  and  the  two  Chambers  over  the  said  two  Roomes  and 
that  bay  of  the  old  Bame  that  adjoyneth  to  the  said  roomes  and  the 
part  of  a  garden  ground  and  yard  now  bounded  and  fensed  out  of 
the  residue  of  the  premisses  'and  the  use  of  the  brewhouse  and  of  the 
pump  and  well,  and  *  way  and  passage  from  the  said  premisses  into 
and  from  the  church  way  on  the  west  side  thereof '.  For  59  years 
at  25.  6d.  a  year.  In  performance  of  promises  made  by  the  lessor 
when  purchasing  the  property  of  the  lessee  in  Fulbrook. 

Witnesses :   John  Jordan,  Ralph  Syndry. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS.    I 

Seventeenth  Century 

Tolsey,  Bundle  K 

1.  A  copy  on  paper  of  the  decrees  of  the  Royal  Commission  of  1628 
(see  P  31,  Cheatle  Collection) ;  with  a  draft  feoffment,  apparently 
as  a  specimen,  for  transferring  the  charity  properties  from  the  old 
feoffees  to  the  new  body  of  trustees. 

*3H  li 


482  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

2.  Michaelmas  Term,  7  Charles  I  (1631). 

Oxon.  Memorandum  quod  Willelmus  Bartholmewe  de  Burford 
in  Com  Qxon  generosus  venit  Coram  Barones  huius  Scaccarii  xxiii" 
die  Novembris  hoc  termino  in  propria  persona  sua  et  sacramentum 
suum  prostitit  corporate  in  his  Anglicanis  verbis  sequentibus  viz. 
That  whereas  there  are  diverse  Inhabitants  in  Burford  in  the  Countie 
of  Oxon  who  did  heretofore  hould  certaine  messuages  lands  and 
tenements  in  Burford  aforesaid  under  severall  meane  conveiances 
made  from  Tipper  and  Dawes  who  were  patentees  thereof  under  the 
late  queene  Elizabeth  uppon  pretence  that  the  same  lands  were  con- 
cealed from  the  Crowne  and  whereas  uppon  examination  of  the  said 
title  by  vertue  01  a  Commission  for  charitable  uses  itt  was  found  and 
declared  thatt  the  said  letteres  patents  were  obtained  uppon  fraud 
and  thatt  the  same  were  not  concealed  lands  but  were  heretofore 
given  to  charitable  and  pious  uses  as  by  the  said  decree  made  uppon 
that  commission  to  which  this  deponent  refereth  himself  appeareth 
Now  this  deponent  maketh  oath  that  the  seid  all  feoflEees  of  the  said 
lands  trusted  for  the  good  of  the  poore  of  the  towne  of  Burford  doe 
not  claime  from  by  or  under  the  said  letteres  patents  and  that  this 
deponent  being  one  of  the  Burgesses  of  the  said  Burrough  and  well 
acquainted  with  the  affaires  of  the  same  Towne  and  being  one  of  the 
feoffees  by  vertue  of  the  said  decree  doth  and  soe  doe  all  the  rest 
of  the  feoffees  disclaime  to  hold  any  interest  from  by  or  under 
the  said  letteres  patents  made  unto  the  said  Tipper  and  Dawes  as 
aforesaid. 

3.  Constat  of  Concealed  Lands. 

Com.  Oxon.  In  Compoto  Henrici  Lee  armigeri  Receptoris  generalis 
revencionum  domini  Regis  Comitatus  predicti  anno  sexto  domini 
nostri  nunc  regis  Caroli  inter  alia  continetur  ut  sequitur 

Terre  nuper  Concelate 
Tenentes  et  occupatores  unius  pecie  terre  vocate  a  gardenstripe  in 
tenura  Willelmi  Symonds  et  xviii  acrarum  terre  in  Burford  predicto 
modo  in  Tenura  Willelmi  Tayler  que  premisse  nuper  fuerunt  in  tenura 
Edwardi  Bond  Ricardi  Rulfe  et  Simonis  Alfiatt  per  annum  vi^.  viiirf.  ac 
ii  acrarum  prati  iacentium  in  prato  vocato  the  high  meade  in  Burford 
predicto  nuper  in  tenura  Willelmi  Partridge  et  Willelmi  Calcott  et 
modo  Glynn  et  Webbe  per  annum  xiii.  ac  i  acre  prati 

iacentis  in  le  common  lott  meade  vocato  le  high  meede  in  Burford 
predicto  nuper  Alicie  Reynolds  viiii.  ac  tenementum  cum  gardino 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     483 

in  le  highstreete  nuper  dicti  (sic)  Alicie  xiid.  que  Scott  generosus 

ipodo  tenet  ac  unum  tenementum  cum  uno  Shopp  adiacente  cum 
pertinenciis  nuper  Willelmi  Partridge  et  modo  Dawson  xxd. 

unum  aliud  tenementum  nuper  Waited  Robinson  et  modo 
Collar  xxd.  unum  tenementum  nuper  in  tenura  Georgii  Fowler  et 
modo  Gregorii  Paty  xiid.  unum  tenementum  in  vico  vocato  Sheepe- 
streete  ibidem  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis  West  et  modo  Anthonii 
Steward  per  annum  xiii.  unius  parvi  clausi  continentis  tertiam 
partem  unius  acre  in  Whitney  streete  nuper  Alicie  Reynolds  vidue 
et  modo  Scott  generosi  per  annum  iiii<?.  unius  clausi  vocati 

Culverclose  continentis  per  estimacionem  dimidiam  acram  in  Sheepe- 
streete  nuper  Radulphi  Wisdome  et  modo  Turner  iid.  unum 

tenementum  cum  gardino  in  tenura  vidue  Silvester  in  le  Churchgreene 
ibidem  modo  in  tenura  Templer  vidue  per  annum  xiid.  ac 

aliud  tenementum  gardinum  et  le  Backside  in  le  Churchgreene  predict© 
nuper  in  tenura  Willelmi  Symonds  per  annum  ii^.  in  toto  ad  xix5. 
iid.  per  annum  insolutos  per  xxviii*^  annos  sunt  ad  festum  sancti 
michaelis  archangeli  aimo  regni  domini  nostri  Regis  Caroli  sexto 
ultra  c^.  solutos  receptori  anno  quarto  dicti  domini  Regis  et  remanent 
adhuc  insoluti 

Ixxi  xvis.  viiirf. 

The  said  rentes  were  reserved  upon  letteres  patents  graunted  to 
William  Tipper  and  Robert  Dawe  theire  heires  and  Assignes  for  ever 
bearinge  date  the  xxvthe  daye  of  Febr  in  the  xxxiith  yeare  of  the 
reigne  of  our  late  Sovereigne  lady  Queene  eliz  by  vertue  of  wch  graunte 
the  said  rents  were  putt  in  chardge 

xxviii  lunii  ex  p  Edm 

1 63 1  Sawyer  Audit 

NoU. — The  blanks  in  the  Christian  names  of  tenauits  are  as  in  the  original. 

4.    15  August,  10  William  III  (1698). 

Writ  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  addressed  to  Sir  George  Rivers 
Bart.,  Dorothy  his  wife,  William  Wallis,  and  William  Smith.  Con- 
cerning a  gift  by  Thomas  CoUyer,  late  of  Shoe  Lane,  London,  brewer, 
by  his  will,  of  525.  a  year  to  the  poor  of  St.  Andrew's,  Holbom,  and 
a  like  sum  to  the  poor  of  Burford,  to  be  laid  out  at  is.  a  week  on 
12  penny  loaves  to  be  given  every  Sunday  to  12  poor  children.  .The 
gift  was  charged  on  a  certain  brewhouse  bequeathed  to  Thomas 
Collyer  junior,  in  or  near  Shoe  Lane.   The  money  was  duly  paid  until 

112 


484  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

the  time  of  the  Fire  of  London,  when  the  brewhouse  was  burned 
down.  A  Commission  for  Charitable  Uses  sitting  at  the  Guildhall, 
•  London,  9  April,  1674,  found  that  the  new  brewhouse  standing  on  the 
site  of  the  old  one  was  chargeable  with  the  annuity.  Thereupon 
writs  were  taken  out  against  Sir  William  Beversham,  then  holding 
under  Collyer,  and  possession  was  taken.  Beversham  sued  out  an 
ejectment,  but  the  debt  was  held  due  and  the  money  was  thereafter 
paid.  Nine  years  before  the  date  of  the  present  writ  Sir  George 
Rivers  and  Dorothy  his  wife  came  into  possession,  and  paid  the  annuity 
until  about  three  years  before  this  date. 

The  present  writ,  following  upon  legal  proceedings,  orders  payment 
of  a  sum  of  £7  i6s.  adjudged  by  one  of  the  Masters  in  Chancery  to  be 
due  on  arrears  and  £13  is.  costs. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS.    II 

Eighteenth  Century 

Tolsey,  Bundle  L 

.   1.   Copy  of  the  Decrees  of  the  Commission  of  1702. 

The  Commission  sat  at  the  house  of  Daniel  Slaymaker  at  Witney. 

The  Commissioners  were  :  Sir  Robert  Jenkinson  Bart.,  Sir  Edmund 
Warcupp  Knt.,  Main  waring  Hamond  D.D.,  Harry  Cote  Esq.,  Daniel 
Wanvick  Esq.,  Matthew  Prior,  Thomas  Abell,  and  Nicholas  Marshall, 
gentlemen. 

The  jurors  were  :  Robert  Harris,  Jarvis  Ashworth,  John  Humphreys, 
John  White,  William  Gay,  Francis  Clements,  William  Young,  John 
Saunders  senior,  William  Allen,  Thomas  Martin,  John  Spier,  John 
Camden,  Richard  Tuckey,  John  Nabbs,  and  Jethro  Bunce. 

The  Commission  first  recited  the  Charity  Properties  as  in  the  Com- 
mission's Decree  of  1628  and  confirmed  the  Trusts. 

The  Commission  next  recites  certain  gifts  made  since  1628  : 

i.  Dame  Elizabeth  Tanfield  gave  a  house  in  Sheep  Street  being 
the  comer  house  on  the  west  side  of  Lavington  Lane,  for  keeping  up 
the  tomb  and  aisle  in  the  Church  ;  20s.  a  year  to  be  paid  to  *  a  sufficient 
housekeeper  of  Burford  *  to  see  that  this  was  done  ;  and  the  surplus, 
if  any,  to  six  poor  widows  of  good  reputation  on  Christmas  Day. 

Also  a  sum  of  £40  for  apprenticing  poor  boys. 

ii.  Robert  Veisey  gave  a  sum  of  £20,  the  interest  to  be  distributed 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     485 

by  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  of  Burford  to  twelve  poor  widows 
on  Christmas  Day. 

iii.  {Blank)  Atwell  gave  a  sum  of  305.  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the 
town  of  Burford. 

iv.  William  Cleavely  gave  a  sum  of  £24  to  be  lent  to  four  men  for 
six  years  at  £6  a  piece.   Also  a  sum  of  £20 — uses  unspecified. 

V,  John  Palmer  late  of  Weald  in  the  parish  of  Bampton  gave  a  sum 
of  £50,  the  interest  to  be  given  to  the  poor  of  Burford. 

vi.  John  Hawkins  of  Burford  gave  a  sum  of  £20  for  placing  out 
apprentices. 

vii.  James  Fretheram  of  Kencott  gave  a  sum  of  405.  a  year  out  of 
his  house  and  lands  in  Langford  and  Grafton  to  be  given  by  the 
Minister  and  Bailiffs  of  Burford  to  a  maidservant  of  six  years' 
good  service  in  one  place ;  or  failing  that,  towards  the  placing  of 
a  poor  boy  or  girl  as  the  Minister,  BaiUffs,  and  Churchwardens  should 
appoint. 

viii.  Richard  Hayter  of  Burford  gave  a  sum  of  Ss.  a  year  out  of  one 
of  his  houses  for  eight  almspeople ;  also  45.  a  year  out  of  another 
house  for  four  poor  widows  ;  also  20  nobles  to  be  lent  at  interest  to 
any  one  in  need,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens, 
the  interest  to  be  not  more  than  65.  Sd.  a  year  which  was  to  be  paid 
for  a  sermon  to  be  preached  on  New  Year's  Day. 

ix.  Richard  Sindrey  of  Burford  gave  a  sum  of  £20  to  be  lent  to 
poor  men  in  sums  of  £5,  each  to  pay  3^.  a  year  interest  and  this  12s. 
to  be  given  to  twelve  poor  people.  The  Commission  finds  that  Sindrey 
left  sufficient  estate  to  pay  this  gift,  his  son  John  also  left  enough,  and 
his  grandson  John,  now  of  the  town  of  Bedford,  had  confessed  the 
debt  and  promised  to  pay. 

X.  Thomas  Collier  gave  a  sum  of  ^2s.  a  year  out  of  his  brewhouse 
in  London,  to  provide  12  penny  loaves  weekly  for  twelve  poor 
children.  The  Commission  finds  that  his  brewhouse  is  still 
chargeable. 

xi.  Ralph  Willett's  gift  of  a  cow,  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  which, 
made  up  to  405.,  had  been  put  out  to  interest. 

xii.  The  Right  Hon.  William  Lenthall  gave  a  sum  of  £100  during 
his  lifetime  to  apprentice  poor  children ;  also  a  sum  of  £3  a  year, 
525.  to  provide  10  penny  loaves  each  Sunday  for  ten  poor  children 
and  one  2d.  loaf  for  the  almspeople,  and  the  remaining  Ss.  to  the 
Minister  of  the  parish.  He  also  gave  a  sym  of  £50  by  his  will,  the 
interest  to  be  used  for  apprenticing  children. 


486      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

xiii.  John  Harris  gave  a  sum  of  £200  to  the  BaiUffs  and  Church- 
wardens to  lend  out  in  sums  of  £10,  repayable  at  £1  a  year. 

xiv.  Walwin  Hopton  of  Burford  left  a  sum  of  £50,  a  debt  due  to 
him  from  Thomas  Yate  of  Signett,  to  the  Bailiffs  and  four  Senior 
Burgesses,  to  be  lent  out  to  five  tradesmen. 

XV.  Henry  Hyling  of  Minster  Lovell  left  a  sum  of  £200  to  Burford. 
The  will  was  proved  by  Henry  Peacock,  and  the  Commission  finds 
that  sufficient  estate  was  left  to  pay  the  sum. 

The  Commission  records  that  the  £50  given  by  John  Palmer  and 
£30  of  Lady  Tanfield's  money  and  other  moneys  '  of  the  Company 
Stock '  belonging  to  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  had  been  laid  out 
upon  the  purchase  of  four  tenements  in  MuUender's  Lane. 

The  Commission  finds  that  Stamp's,  Thompson's,  Ready's,  Edgely's, 
Silvester's,  and  Marriner's  money  *  do  several  times  ly  in  the  hands 
of  the  persons  above  mentioned  to  have  the  disposing  thereof ',  and 
several  of  the  sums  after  they  are  lent  out  have  been  likely  to  be  lost 
and  are  often  got  in  from  the  persons  they  are  lent  to  '  by  arrests  and 
other  great  charges '.  The  Commission  finds  that  it  would  be  best 
for  the  recipients  to  h^ve  each  the  sum  of  £10  upon  security  for  10 
years  repaying  205.  a  year  without  interest. 

The  Commission  finds  that  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  had  laid  out 
£16  on  repairs  of  Burford  Bridge,  more  than  the  Bridge  Lands  had 
brought  in,  and  had  paid  £20  for  expenses  in  recovering  the  gift  of 
Collier ;  and  had  laid  out  upon  repairs  of  the  Almshouse  £40  more 
than  they  had  received.  Altogether  they  were  £76  out  of  pocket. 
They  were  willing  to  accept  £60,  and  requested  that  £2  los.  a  year 
may  be  settled  upon  them  for  four  years  out  of  the  Bridge  Lands 
and  £10  a  year  for  five  years  out  of  the  Church  Lands. 

The  Commission  finally  records  that  there  were  then  only  five 
feoffees  of  Charity  Lands — Sir  Edmund  Fettiplace  and  Thomas 
Horde,  Esq.,  who  were  very  ancient  gentlemen,  Richard  Bartholomew, 
David  Hughes,  and  one  Richard  George,  who  had  absented  himself 
from  the  town  and  had  gone  into  another  town  or  county. 

2.  A  small  quarto  volume  bound  in  marbled  paper,  lettered  E  on 
the  front  cover,  containing  in  manuscript  a  summary  of  the  decrees 
of  the  Commission  of  1739,  with  the  exceptions  taken  by  the  BaiUflEs 
and  Burgesses  under  each  head  in  their  appeal  against  the  decrees, 
and  the  judgements  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  thereon.  The  following 
is  a  complete  transcript  of  the  volume. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    487 

Lenthalls  Charity. 

Willm.  Lenthall  Esqr,  by  will  gave  £200  to  the  Poor  of  Burford  And 
directed  it  to  be  lent  to  Poor  Tradesmen  that  served  their  apprentice- 
ships in  that  Town  free  from  Interest  as  the  Heir  and  the  Bailiffs 
of  the  said  Town  should  think  fit  so  that  no  one  Person  should  have 
more  than  £10  and  security  to  be  given  for  repayment  thereof  at  7  years 
end. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford  received  only  £125  of  the 
said  £200  of  which  £100  was  put  out  at  Interest  on  a  mortgage  of  lands 
at  Standlake  and  £25  in  another  purchase  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
not  knowing  what  were  the  directions  of  the  Donors  will  had  laid 
out  the  produce  or  Interest  in  Apprenticeing  poor  children. 

The  Commissioners  of  Charitable  uses  in  1738  Charge  the  said 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  with  the  receipt  of  the  other  £75  and  £135 
for  the  Interest  thereof  together  with  £5  received  for  the  Interest 
of  the  £ibo  placed  on  the  said  mortgage. 

The  Commissioners  decree  the  £100  to  be  called  in  and  paid  within 
twelve  months.  And  that  the  said  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  do  by  sale 
of  the  purchased  premisses  or  otherwise  Raise  the  said  £25 — ^That 
said  £100  together  with  £5  the  Interest  in  the  hands  of  the  said  BaiHffs 
and  Burgesses.  The  said  £25  and  the  £75  amounting  in  the  whole 
to  £205  should  for  the  future  be  preserved  as  a  fund  and  applied  as 
the  Heir  at  Law  of  the  said  Donor  Wm.  Lenthall  and  BaiHffs  of  said 
Town  shall  think  fit  according  to  the  directions  of  the  said  will. 

The  BaiUffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  against  that  part  of  the  Decree 
which  Charged  them  with  the  payment  of  £75  and  £135  upon  arguing 
of  which  Exceptions  the  Lord  Chancellor  ordered  them  to  be  allowed 
and  the  Commissioners  Decree  to  be  reversed  as  to  that  part  thereof. 

So  that  the  £100  is  to  be  called  in — the  land  sold  upon  which  the 
£25  was  laid  out  and  that  £25  together  with  the  £100  and  £5  the  Interest 
of  the  £100  in  the  hands  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  making  together 
£130  to  be  a  fund  and  appHed  in  lending  the  same  to  Poor  Tradesmen 
that  served  their  apprenticeships  in  the  Town  of  Burford  free  from 
Interest  as  the  Heir  of  the  Donor  and  the  BaiUffs  of  the  said  Town 
shall  think  fit  so  that  no  one  Person  shall  have  more  than  £10  and 
Security  be  given  for  Repayment  thereof  at  the  end  of  seven  years. 

Tanfields  Charity. 

Dame  Elizabeth  Tanfield  by  Will  dated  23rd  May  1729  devised  to 
Willm.  Lenthall  and  others  trustees  and  their  Heirs  a  messuage  in 


488  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Sheep  Street  Burford  then  in  the  possession  of  one  Berry  upon  trust 
that  they  and  the  survivors  of  them  should  from  time  to  time  as  need 
should  require  dispose  of  the  profits  thereof  yearly  for  the  repairing 
maintaining  and  Cleaning  a  monument  in  the  said  will  mentioned 
and  of  the  Isle  wherein  it  stands — and  also  allow  unto  one  sufficient 
Housekeeper  of  the  same  Town  to  be  elected  by  the  feoffees  or  the 
greater  part  of  them  20s.  yearly  for  his  pains  to  see  that  the  said 
Tomb  be  repaired  and  once  in  every  year  at  the  least  and  oftener  if 
need  require  be  made  clean  and  the  Isle  be  continually  repaired.  And 
the  overplus  of  the  Profits  that  shall  arise  in  such  years  as  there  shall 
need  no  repairs  or  when  it  shall  amount  to  more  than  needful  to  bestow 
thereon  the  same  to  be  paid  to  the  Hands  of  the  Minister  and  Bailiffs 
of  the  said  Town  for  the  time  being  to  be  by  them  distributed  on 
Christmas  day  in  the  Church  immediately  after  Divine  Service  to 
six  poof  Widows  of  the  same  Parish  who  shall  be  reputed  to  be  of 
Godly  and  religious  conversation. 

The  Commissioners  of  Charitable  uses  Charge  the  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses  with  having  received  the  Rent  of  the  said  House  but  had 
not  regularly  appointed  any  Person  to  take  care  of  the  cleaning  and 
repairing  the  said  Tomb  and  Isle  but  had  suffered  the  same  to  run 
.greatly  out  of  repair  so  that  to  Perfect  and  Restore  the  said  Isle  and 
Tomb  it  would  cost  £38  9^.  2d. 

Thereupon  the  Commissioners  decree  that  the  said  Bailiffs  and  Bur- 
gesses shall  pay  the  said  £38.95.  2d.  to  John  Lenthall  the  Heir  of  the 
surviving  Feoffee  or  Trustee  and  that  it  shall  be  applied  by  him  for 
repairing  the  said  Isle  and  Tomb  And  that  the  rents  and  profits  of 
the  same  house  for  the  future  be  received  by  the  said  Heir  of  the 
surviving  Feoffee  and  after  an  allowance  of  205.  a  year  to  a  substantial 
Housekeeper  for  the  looking  after  the  said  Tomb  that  the*  residue 
shall  be  by  him  paid  over  to  the  minister  and  Bailiffs  and  shall  be  by 
them  applied  according  to  the  said  will. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  excepted  against  that  part  of  the 
Commissioners  Decree  upon  arguing  thereof  the  Lord  Chancellor 
ordered  that  so  much  of  the  said  Decree  whereby  the  said  £38  gs.  2d. 
is  directed  to  bfe  paid  to  the  said  John  Lenthall  to  be  applied  by  him 
in  Repairing  the  Tomb  and  Isle  and  whereby  the  £10  is  directed  to 
be  paid  towards  the  expenses  etc  should  be  Reversed. 

And  that  the  said  Mr.  Lenthall  should  appoint  one  workman  and 
the  said  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  appoint  another  workman  and  that 
two  such  workmen  should  inspect  and  survey  the  said  Tomb  and  Isle 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    489 

and  make  an  Estimate  of  what  it  will  cost  to  put  the  same  into  proper 
and  sufficient  repair  and  that  if  such  two  workmen  cannot  agree  therein 
that  then  they  do  name  an  Umpire  and  that  such  repairs  be  made 
according  to  the  Estimate  that  shall  be  made  by  the  said  two  workmen 
or  the  Umpire  and  that  the  expence  of  such  repairs  be  paid  out  of  the 
rent  of  the  said  House  then  in  arrear  to  grow  due  until  the  same  shall 
be  satisfied — and  with  these  variations  ordered  that  the  residue  of 
that  part  of  the  said  Decree  excepted  unto  be  afiirmed. 

Harrises  Charity. 

John  Harris  by  his  will  in  1672  gave  to  the  Town  of  Burford  £200 
to  be  paid  into  the  hands  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  of  the 
Town  of  BurfOrd  upon  trust  that  they  and  their  Successors  should 
lend  out  gratis  to  Ten  such  Tradesmen  within  the  said  Town  as  the 
Bailiffs  of  the  said  Town  and  the  three  eldest  male  persons  above  14 
years  of  age  which  should  be  of  the  name  and  family  of  the  Silvesters 
in  Burford  or  the  major  part  of  them  should  appoint  by  £10  a  piece 
upon  good  Security  to  be  approved  of  by  them  to  be  given  by  every 
such  Tradesman  to  the  said  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  for  repairing 
the  Ten  pounds  the  yearly  sum  of  20s.  for  the  space  of  10  years  then 
next  ensuing  into  the  hands  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  of  the 
said  Town.  And  that  when  £10  should  be  repaid  into  their  hands 
the  same  to  be  let  out  to  some  other  Tradesman  in  the  manner  before 
mentioned.  And  so  to  continue  from  time  to  time  to  be  lent  and 
repaid  to  the  end  of  the  world.  And  directs  that  if  any  of  the  said 
money  should  at  any  time  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  said  Bailiffs 
and  Churchwardens  the  same  should  be  paid  into  the  hands  of  the 
succeeding  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens.  And  directs  that  if  there 
should  not  be  3  such  Persons  of  the  name  of  the  Silvesters  living  within 
the  said  Town  at  the  time  of  such  choice  then  the  number  of  the  said 
Persons  should  be  made  up  out  of  the  3  senior  Burgesses  Inhabiting 
within  the  said  Town.  And  directs  that  they  should  for  ever  Employ 
the  profits  of  the  other  £100  in  binding  some  poor  Boy  Bom  and  living 
in  Burford  apprentice  to  some  Trade  yearly  for  ever  The  said  Boy 
yearly  to  be  elected  as  the  said  Tradesmen  are  to  be  elected.  And 
directs  that  if  any  such  Tradesman  should  die  or  in  the  Judgement  of 
the  majority  of  them  be  likely  to  become  Insolvent  That  then  the 
said  electors  should  call  in  the  money  which  should  then  become  due 
from  such  Tradesman  and  that  an  account  in  writing  how  the  said 
Charity  is  disposed  of  should  be  kept  by  the  said  electors  and  should 


490  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

be  yearly  in  Whitsun  week  be  publickly  read  in  the  parish  church 
of  Burford  by  the  minister  or  Clerk  there — And  directs  that  every 
Tradesman  who  should  receive  any  of  the  said  £io  should  pay  thereout 
6d.  to  be  paid  to  the  minister  or  Clerk  who  should  so  read  the  Account 
as  aforesaid. 

The  Corporation  received  the  £200  whereof  £100  had  been  lent  to 
Tradesmen  pursuant  to  the  Directions  of  the  will — of  the  other  £100 
£50  was  in  Mr.  Readys  hands  upon  a  promissory  note  and  the  other 
£50  had  been  lent  to  John  Windsmore  who  became  Insolvent. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  securities  for  £100  part  of  the 
£200  directed  to  be  lent  to  Tradesmen  should  for  the  future  be  made 
to  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  for  the  time  being  and  that  the  same 
should  be  by  them  lent  out  according  to  said  will — That  the  £50  in 
Mr;  Readys  hand  should  be  called  in  and  paid  td  the  said  Bailiffs 
and  Churchwardens  of  Burford  for  the  time  being  £50  Residue  of 
said  £100  lent  by  said  Corporation  to  Said  Winsmore  and  lost  and  that 
the  Interests  and  profits  of  said  last  mentioned  sum  of  £100  should 
be  for  ever  applied  by  said  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  in  apprenticeing 
poor  Boys  according  to  said  Donors  will  That  the  minister  of  Burford 
for  the  time  being  should  on  Tuesday  in  Whitsunweek  yearly  read  in 
the  said  Parish  Church  an  account  how  the  said  Charities  have  been 
applied  the  preceeding  year  and  that  the  minister  should  be  paid 
for  his  trouble  6d.  out  of  each  £10. 

Upon  arguing  an  Exception  to  this  part  of  the  decree  a  variation 
was  ordered  that  in  the  direction  that  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  should 
be  accountable  to  the  Churchwardens  of  the  Town  of  Burford  the 
Bailiffs  should  be  added  to  the  Churchwardens. 

Cobb  Hall. 

George  Symons  by  his  will  in  1590  gave  to  the  Poor  of  Burford 
his  House  with  the  Appurtenances  there  called  Cobb  Hall.  In  1735 
a  Lease  was  granted  to  Joseph  Flexney  of  Cobb  Hall  at  the  yearly 
Rent  of  £8  he  repairing  the  same  etc. 

The  Commissioners  decree  that  the  said  Lease  should  be  void  and 
that  it  should  be  dehvered  up  to  the  Feoffees  therein  after  named 
to  be  cancelled — and  Possession  also  to  them  and  that  said  Feoffees 
should  grant  a  new  Lease  to  said  Flexney  if  he  should  think  fit 
for  21  years  at  £13  a  year  under  the  covenants  in  his  said  Lease 
That  the  rents  and  profits  should  be  disposed  of  according  to  the 
Donors  will. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    491 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  excepted  against  that  part  of  the  decree 
for  setting  aside  the  said  Lease  and  upon  arguing  thereof 

The  Lord  Chancellor  allowed  the  exception  and  ordered  that  part 
of  the  Decree  which  was  contained  in  such  exception  to  be  Reversed. 

Freihems  Charity. 

James  Frethem  by  his  will  in  1663  gav^to  the  Town  of  Burford 
40^.  a  year  for  ever  to  be  paid  out  of  his  Lands  in  Langford  and  Grafton 
into  the  Hands  of  the  Minister  and  Bailiffs  of  Burford  which  405. 
should  be  given  yearly  to  a  maid  servant  dwelling  in  a  service  six 
years  not  as  an  apprentice  but  an  hired  servant  being  of  the  age  of 
21  years  And  in  that  year  wherein  there  should  not  be  such  a  maid 
servant  to  receive  it  then  he  willed  that  the  said  40^.  should  be  bestowed 
towards  the  placing  out  to  service  a  poor  Child  bom  within  the  said 
Town  of  Burford  to  be  disposed  of  at  the  directions  of  the  minister 
Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  or  the  major  part  of  them  with  the  good 
liking  of  the  parents  of  such  child  (if  any  be). 

Pools  Charity. 

Thos.  Pool  by  his  will  in  1500  wHls  that  his  wife  Pamell  should  have 
all  his  Lands  and  Tenements  in  Burford  and  Fulbrook  for  her  life  and 
after  her  death  that  the  same  Lands  and  Tenements  in  Burford  should 
be  put  in  Feoffment  to  such  persons  as  should  be  of  the  most  worshipful 
and  honest  Parishioners  Burgesses  of  the  abovesaid  Fraternity  to 
hold  to  them  their  Heirs  and  assigns  for  evermore  to  the  Use  and  Intent 
that  of  the  Issues  and  profits  of  the  same  The  poor  People  of  the  Alms 
house  should  have  every  week  6d.  to  their  refreshing  and  the  residue 
of  the  same  Issues  and  profits  to  be  applied  yearly  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  Priest  of  the.  said  Fraternity  and  of  such  other  things  as 
should  be  to  the  good  Continuance  of  the  same  Fraternity  for 
evermore. 

By  an  Inquisition  taken  at  Burford  1628  It  was  found  that  a  Tene- 
ment with  the  Appurtenances  lying  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  street 
and  12  acres  of  arable  Land  thereto  belonging  A  Tenement  called 
the  Talbot  on  the  south  side  of  Witney  Street  A  Bam  called  the 
Woolhouse  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  street  A  parcel  of  ground  and 
close  on  the  south  side  of  Sheep  street  whereupon  had  been  built 
4  Several  Tenements  and  also  22  acres  of  arable  Land  in  the  Fields 
of  Burford  Upton  and  Signett  were  given  by  Thos.  Pool  to  the  Intent 
to  pay  weekly  with  the  Revenues  thereof  for  ever  to  the  poor  People 
of  the  Alms  house  of  Burford  (>d.  and  that  the  residue  of  the  Revenues 


492  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  the  same  Lands  (if  any)  should  be  employed  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  Fraternity  of  the  Town  of  Burford. 

By  a  decree  made  under  the  Inquisition  it  was  decreed  that  out  of 
the  Rents  of  the  Houses  and  Lands  called  Pools  Lands  by  reason 
of  the  Improvement  of  the  rents  thereof  the  same  being  then  to  be 
let  at  £9  65.  Sd.  yearly  aijji  the  several  Lessees  to  be  charged  with  the 
repairs  of  the  same  there  should  be  paid  weekly  for  ever  to  the  Poor 
people  in  the  Great  Alms  house  i2d.  to  be  equally  divided  amongst 
them  and  that  the  residue  of  the  Rents  of  the  sanle  Lands  should  be 
Employed  according  to  the  declarations  of  the  will  of  the  said  Thos. 
Pool. 

Simon  Chadwell  who  was  Heir  of  Simon  Wisdom  the  surviving  feoffee 
of  Pools  Lands  by  Indenture  dated  23rd  February  1629  did  grant  and 
enfeoffee  to  Sir  John  Lacy  Jno.  Button  and  ten  others.  A  messuage 
or  Tenement  on  the  west  side  of  the  said  High  street  and  12  acres 
of  arable  land  in  the  Fields  of  Burford  thereunto  belonging.  A  messuage 
called  the  Talbot  on  the  south  side  of  Witney  street — a  Bam  called  the 
Wool  house — a  parcel  of  Ground  and  a  close  thereunto  adjoining 
called  the  Culver  close  or  culverhay  whereon  had  been  heretofore 
erected  4  messuages  together  with  the  same  messuages — and  22  acres 
of  arable  land  in  the  Fields  of  Burford  Upton  and  Signett  which 
premisses  were  commonly  called  Pools  Lands  to  hold  to  Sir  John  Lacy 
and  others  the  said  Feoffees  their  Heirs  and  assigns  for  ever  to  the 
charitable  uses  in  the  Decree  of  1628  particularly  mentioned. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  rents  and  profits  of  the  said 
22  acres  should  for  the  future  return  to  the  use  of  the  Parish  Church 
of  Burford  aforesaid  and  should  be  received  by  the  Churchwardens 
for  the  time'  being  and  should  be  by  them  applied  for  and  towards 
the  Reparation  of  the  same  Church  and  that  the  Churchwardens 
should  yearly  account  for  the  same  rents  to  the  Parish  Church  at 
a  publick  vestry  on  Easter  Tuesday  decreed  the  said  15.  per  week 
to  be  paid  to  the  poor  people  in  the  alms  house  according  to  said  Decree 
in  1628  And  decreed  that  the  Vicar  of  the  parish  Church  of  Burford 
for  the  time  being  (Being  the  only  Person  that  can  be  esteemed  to 
stand  in  the  place  of  the  Priest  of  the  said  Fraternity)  should  receive 
out  of  the  said  issues  and  profits  which  amount  in  the  whole  after  an 
allowance  of  £2  12^.  od.  a  year  to  the  Poor  of  the  said  Almshouse  to 
£25  lis.  od.  a  year  one  moiety  of  the  said  Lands  towards  the  main- 
tenance of  the  said  Vicar  arid  decreed  the  other  moiety  of  the  said 
Issues  and  profits  to  the  good  continuance  of  the  corporation  of  Burford 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    493 

for  evermore — acording  to  the  will  of  the  donor  And  that  the  same 
Lands  should  be  conveyed  to  Feofifees  in  Trust  for  the  Use  therein 
before  mentioned. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  against  the  said  Decree  as  to 
the  22  acres  which  the  Commissioners  had  decreed  to  the  Church 
and  the  applications  thereof  for  the  repairs  of  the  said  Church  and 
likewise  as  to  the  dispositions  of  a  moiety  of  the  profits  of  the  said  Land 
or  any  part  thereof  for  the  augmentation  of  the  Vicarage  of  Burford. 

On  arguing  of  which  2  Exceptions  the  Chancellor  held  them  to  be 
severally  good  and  sufficient  and  ordered  that  the  same  should  stand 
and  be  allowed  and  that  such  parts  of  the  said  Decree  as  were  contained 
in  these  Exceptions  should  be  reversed. 

Fifteenths.  ^ 

Three  houses  in  St.  Johns  street  and  2  acres  of  Land  in  Upton  Field 
were  heretofore  given  to  the  Intent  that  the  rents  thereof  should  be 
appUed  to  repair  the  premisses  and  the  residue  to  be  kept  by  the 
Feoffees  till  any  payment  of  Fifteenths  or  loths  should  be  granted 
by  Parliament  and  afterwards  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  relief  and  Ease 
of  the  poor  Inhabitants  of  Burford.  The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
received  the  rents  and  applied  them  to  charitable  uses. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  for  the  future  the  Bailiffs  and 
Churchwardens  to  be  chosen  by  the  said  Town  of  Burford  and  the 
Overseers  of  poor  there  shall  receive  the  rents  and  profits  of  the  said 
premisses  and  the  surplus  shall  be  by  them  disposed  yearly  on  Christ- 
mas Eve  amongst  such  of  the  poor  Inhabitants  of  Burford  as  they 
shall  think  fit  untill  such  time  as  Tenths  and  Fifteenths  shall  be 
Imposed  again  by  Parliament. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  to  that  part  of  the  Decree 
that  directs  that  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  to  be  chosen  and 
Overseers  of  the  poor  there  shall  receive  and  dispose  of  the  rents  and 
profits  of  the  said  premisses  for  by  the  Inquisition  in  1628  it  was 
found  that  the  said  premisses  were  given  first  to  repair  the  same  out 
of  the  profits  And  the  residue  of  the  said  profits  (if  any)  to  be  kept 
till  any  payment  of  Tenths  or  Fifteenths  be  granted  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment and  then  the  residue  to  be  for  the  relief  and  easement  of  the 
poor  Inhabitants  of  Burford  or  otherwise  as  the  Alderman  Steward 
and  Burgesses  of  the  same  Town  by  their  direction  shall  think  fit  for 
the  common  wealth  of  the  Town  which  said  premisses  were  by  a  Decree 
made  under  the  recited  Inquisition  Decreed  to  be  disposed  accordingly 


494      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

and  by  another  Inquisition  and  Decree*  therein  in  1702  the  jury 
found  the  same  and  Decreed  the  rents  of  the  said  premisses  to  be 
received  by  the  Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses  therein  mentioned. 
And  that  the  Commissioners  had  no  reason  or  authority  to  vary  the 
said  former  decree. 

Upon  the  arguing  of  which  Exception  the  Chancellor  ordered  that 
so  much  thereof  as  relates  to  the  joining  the  churchwardens  and  over- 
seers of  the  Poor  in  the  Authority  for  distributing  and  disposing  of 
the  charity  mentioned  in  the  exception  with  the  BailiflEs  and  Burgesses 
of  the  Town  of  Burford  be  allowed.  And  the  rest  of  the  said  Exceptions 
be  overruled  and  that  so  much  of  the  said  Decree  as  directs  that  the 
churchwardens  and  Overseers  of  the  Poor  should  be  joined  with  the 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  the  said  Town  in  giving  the  Authority  for 
the  distributing  or  disposing  of  the  said  Charity  to  be  Reversed. 

Heylins  Charity. 

Henry  Heylin  gave  £200  for  apprenticeing  poor  children.  This  was 
laid  out  in  the  purchase  of  lands  in  Clanfield  and  the  Rents  received 
by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  and  by  them  applied  accordingly. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  Rents  of  the  said  Lands  should 
for  the  future  be  received  and  applied  by  the  Bailiffs  Burgesses  and 
Churchwardens  to  be  elected  by  the  Town  of  Burford  and  not  by  the 
BaiHfiEs  and  Burgesses  only  as  had  heretofore  been  for  the  apprenticeing 
poor  children  according  to  the  decree  in  1702  and  that  the  same 
Charity  lands  should  be  conveyed  to  the  Feoffees  therein  after  mentioned 
by  the  {blank) 

To  which  the  said  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  as  to  so  much 
and  such  part  thereof  as  directed  that  the  Rents  of  the  said  Lands 
should  be  applied  by  the  Bailiffs  Burgesses  and  Churchwardens  to 
be  Elected  by  the  Town  of  Burford — And  likewise  to  that  part  thereof 
which  directed  the  said  Lands  to  be  conveyed  to  the  Feoffees  therein 
named  to  be  appointed  by  the  {blank) 

for  that  by  the  said  Decree  in  1702  the  Commissioners  ordered 
that  when  the  said  sum  of  £200  should  be  laid  out  in  the  purchase  of 
lands  that  the  rents  and  profits  thereof  should  be  received  and  applied 
by  the  Bailiffs  Burgesses  and  Churchwardens  of  the  Town  of  Burford 
or  the  major  part  of  them. 

Upon  arguing  upon  this  Exception  the  Chancellor  held  it  to  be  good 
and  sufficient  and  ordered  it  to  stand  and  be  allowed  and  that  so 
much  of  the  said  Decree  as  this  Exception  related  to  be  reversed. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    495 

Decree  in  1702  says  in  placing  out  two  poor  Boys  apprentices  being 
the  children  of  such  poor  people  of  the  said  Town  of  Burford  and  do 
usually  frequent  the  Church  of  Burford  and  hear  divine  Service  or 
otherwise  as  the  said  Bailiffs  Burgesses  and  Churchwardens  for  the 
time  being  or  the  major  part  of  them  shall  think  fit. 

Dr.  Castles  Charity. 

John  Castle  Physician  by  his  will  dated  1706  gave  to  the  Bailiffs 
and  4  Senior  Burgesses  of  Burford  and  to  their  Successors  and  assigns 
for  ever  4  messuages  ,or  Tenements  lying  all  together  in  Guildenford 
lane  Called  Castles  yard  with  the  appurtenances  upon  Trust  that  they 
and  their  Successors  should  for  ever  from  time  to  time  place  4  Elderly 
Widows  of  Burford  who  should  be  of  honest  sober  life  and  conversation 
as  (they  should  approve  of)  in  the  said  4  Tenements  to  be  held  in  such 
manner  as  the  same  were  then  held  by  the  then  tenants  and  his'  will 
was  that  such  4  poor  Widows  should  enjoy  the  said  Tenements  for 
their  lives  And  he  gave  other  houses  and  lands  in  Burford  upon  trust 
that  the  said  Bailiffs  and  4  Senior  Burgesses  should  dispose  of  the 
clear  rents  after  deduction  for  taxes  and  repairs  towards  the  main- 
tenance of  such  4  poor  Widows  as  aforesaid. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  said  Bailiffs  and  4  Senior 
Burgesses  shall  yearly  on  Easterday  give  an  account  at  the  publick 
vestry  to  the  principal  Inhabitants  of  the  Town  of  Burford  how  and 
to  whom  they  have  disposed  thereof  in  order  to  prevent  any  misapplica- 
tions for  the  future. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  to  that  part  of  the  Decree  for  that 
the  Commissioners  had  no  power  nor  had  any  just  reason  to  impose  such 
Terms  as  to  the  account  in  a  manner  not  warranted  by  the  Donors  Will. 

Upon  arguing  of  which  Exception  the  Chancellor  held  the  same  to 
be  good  and  sufficient  and  ordered  the  same  to  stand  and  be  allowed 
and  that  such  part  of  the  said  Decree  to  which  the  said  Exception 
relates  to  be  reversed — And  that  the  BaiUffs  and  4  Senior  Burgesses 
to  whom  the  Charity  is  given  do  annually  make  up  a  distinct  account 
of  the  said  charity  and  from  time  to  time  deliver  the  same  to  the 
Chamberlain  for  the  time  being — And  such  accounts  to  be  kept  in 
the  Chamberlains  office. 

Vesseys  Charity. 

Robt.  Vesseys  gave  £20  the  Interest  therof  to  be  disposed  of  by  the 
Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  of  Burford  on  Christmas  day  to  12  poor 
Widows  of  the  Town  of  Burford. 


496  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  Interest  of  the  said  £20  should 
for  the  future  be  distributed  by  the  BaiHfiEs  and  Churchwardens  to 
be  Elected  by  the  Town  of  Burford  for  the  time  being  according  to 
the  directions  of  the  said  will. 

To  which  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  for  that  they  had  no 
power  to  vary  the  directions  of  the  said  will. 

Upon  arguing  whereof  the  Chancellor  held  the  same  to  be  good  and 
sufficient  and  ordered  to  stand  and  be  allowed  and  that  the  Decree 
so  far  as  it  related  to  such  Exception  should  be  reversed. 

All  Sorts  of  Money. 

Timothy  Stamp  gave  £40  Geo.  Thompson  £30  whereof  £20  was 
lost  with  other  Charities  in  the  whole  £173  105.  were  thrown  together 
into  one  fund  called  all  sorts  of  money — By  an  Entry  in  the  Corpora- 
tion book  in  1709  it  appears  that  £29  16s.  Sd.  in  the  Hands  of  John 
Price  was  lost. 

By  Inquisition  in  1702  it  was  found 
that  these  sums  did  several  times  lye 
in  the  hands  of  the  persons  mentioned 
to  have  the  disposal  thereof — ^And 
several  Sums  were  lent  out  according 
to  the  respective  wills  of  the  Donors 
were  likely  to  be  lost — And  that  it 
would  be  for  the  advantage  of  the 
persons  that  were  to  have  any  moneys 
by  any  of  the  Gifts  that  they  should 
have  the  Sum  of  £10  each  lent  by  the  Bailiffs  of- Burford  for  time 
being  upon  security  for  the  Space  of  10  years  and  the  Persons  who 
should  borrow  the  same  should  pay  only  205.  per  annum  without 
Interest  for  the  said  10  years  unto  the  BaiHfEs  of  Burford  for  the  time 
being. 
And  by  a  Decree  under  that  Inquisition  it  was  ordered  that  the 
same  moneys  should  be  lent  to  such  persons 
upon  such  security  and  payable  in  such 
manner  as  last  before  mentioned. 

The   Commissioners   decree  the   Bailiffs 
and  Burgesses  to  pay  and  make  good  the 

,~    ^    o       i^^  ^^^'  ^'  *^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^°  J^'^^  Price 
and   was   lost   And   that   the   £125   then 
standing  out  on  said  Bonds  and  the  money  in  the  hands  of  the 


I 

5, 

Timothy  Stamp 

40 

0 

Geo.  Thompson 

ID 

0 

—  Hawkins 

20 

0 

—  AtweU 

I 

ID 

Cow  Money 

2 

0 

Lady  Tanfield  pt 

10 

0 

Alexr.  Ready 

40 

0 

Wm.  Edgley 

10 

0 

Edmd.  Silvester 

20 

0 

Philip  Mariner 

20 

0 

£ 

s. 

d. 

Bonds 

12s 

0 

0 

Cash 

18 

13 

4 

143 

13 

4 

Lost 

29 

16 

8 

COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     497 

corporation  should  for  the  future  be  applied  according  to  the  Donors 
will. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  to  that  part  of  the  said  Decree 
which  orders  them  to  pay  and  make  good  the  £29  16^.  Sd.  Lent  to 
Price  and  lost — and  against  that  part  that  orders  the  said  £125  then 
standing  out  on  Bonds  and  the  money  in  the  hands  of  the  said  corpora- 
tion shall  for  the  future  be  applied  according  to  the  Donors  will  foras- 
much as  it  appears  by  the  said  Inquisition  that  the  said  charities 
have  been  already  settled  by  former  Commissioners  under  a  Commis- 
sion of  Charitable  Uses  in  the  year  1702  And  to  that  part  of  the  said 
Decree  which  charges  them  with  having  in  their  hands  £18  135.  4^. 
of  the  said  Charity  money  whereas  ^^13  135.  4^.  was  only  in  their 
hands  at  the  time  of  making  the  said  Decree — 

Upon  arguing  of  which  three  several  Exceptions  the  Chancellor 
held  them  to  be  good  and  sufficient  and  ordered  them  to  stand  and 
be  allowed  and  that  so  niuch  of  the  said  Decree  as  the  said  Exceptions 
relate  to  be  Reversed. 

Church. 

The  Bull  in  possession  of  Henry  Tash  at  per  annum 

formerly  the  Crown  an  acre  of  meadow  ground  in  High 
Mead  a  little  close  in  Witney  in  possession  of  Nicholas 
Willett  at  per  annum 

A  House  in  Sheep  street  Moses  ford 

A  House  late  Willm.  Bowles  (void) 
An  acre  of  arable  land  in  Upton  Field  John  Lenthalls 

A  yearly  rent  given  by  one  Roffe 

The  3d  part  of  an  house  given  by  —  Hunt 

A  yearly  rent  by  Mr.  Loder 
For  the  reparation  of  the  Church. 

Bridge. 

By  Inquisition  in  1628  it  appears  that  2  Tenements  with  the  appur- 
tenances on  the  East  side  of  the  High  street  of  Burford  were  given 
to  repair  the  said  Tenements  and  the  residue  to  repair  the  Common 
Bridge  of  Burford  and  amend  the  Highways  adjoining  to  the  said 
Town  as  the  Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses  of  said  Town  of  Burford 
and  their  Successors  should  think  most  Expedient  for  the  common 
wealth  of  the  said  Town  which  premisses  were  then  applied  accordingly 
— And  by  a  Decree  thereunder  It  was  ordered  that  said  2  Houses 
should  for  ever  then  after  remain  and  the  rents  thereof  employed  for 
repairing  the  common  Bridge  of  Burford  and  amending  the  Highways 

3304  K  k 


£ 

s.    d. 

14 

0    0 

I 

15    0 

I 

15    0 

I 

6    0 

6    8 

I 

16    0 

3    4 

498  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

adjoining  to  the  said  Town  and  the  Feoffees  of  the  same  to  receive 
and  Keep  the  same  untill  occasion  require  to  disburse  the  same  in 
repairing  the  said  Bridge. 

By  Inquisition  in  1702  It  was  found  that  the  same  2  Tenements 
were  given  to  the  same  Uses  as  before  mentioned  relating  to  the  same 
and  were  so  Decreed. 

A  Strip  of  land  in  possession  of  Mr.  Silvester  formerly  was  given 
to  repair  said  Bridge  and  way. 

The  Commissioners  ordered  and  Decreed  that  £12  Ss.  ^d.  appearing 
to  be  the  Ballance  due  from  the  said  BaiUffs  and  Burgesses  to  the  said 
Bridge  on  an  account  in  the  year  1738  exclusive  should  be  paid  by  the 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  to  the  Feoffees  therein  after  named  for  the  use 
of  the  said  Bridge  and  way  and  repairing  of  the  same  and  that  the 
rents  of  the  said  Bridge  and  Lands  should  be  applied  by  the  said  Feoffees 
for  repairing  of  said  premisses  and  the  surplus  for  repairing  of  said 
Bridge  and  Bridgeway  aforesaid. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  (amongst  other  things)  Except  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  said  Decree  but  the  Chancellor  held  the  same  to  be 
sufficient. 

HoUoways  Charity. 

John  Holloway  by  his  will  in  1723  gave  £200  to  be  invested  in  Lands 
of  Inheritance  in  Trust  that  one  moiety  of  the  profits  thereof  should 
be  received  by  the  Churchwardens  of  Burford  and  their  Successors 
to  be  expended  in  purchasing  as  many  2d.  loaves  as  the  same  would 
purchase  to  be  distributed  every  Sunday  after  divine  Service  amongst 
the  Poor  people  of  Burford  for  ever  and  that  the  number  of  the  said 
Loaves  should  every  Sunday  as  near  as  might  be,  be  equal. 

i8th  Jany.  1726.  By  Indenture  of  that  date  £100  part  of  the  £200 
was  laid  out  in  the  purchase  of  lands  at  Standlax  Com.  Oxon  which 
were  conveyed  to  Jno.  Hart  Richard  Whitehall  and  others  for  the  uses 
of  the  will  so  far  as  relates  to  the  Town  of  Burford. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  rents  and  profits  of  the  said 
Lands  so  purchased  as  aforesaid  should  for  the  future  be  received  by 
the  Churchwardens  to  be  Elected  by  the  said  Town  of  Burford  and  be 
by  them  applied  according  to  the  Directions  of  the  Donors  will. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  against  that  part  of  the  said 
Decree  as  directs  the  rents  of  the  said  Lands  to  be  received  by  the 
Churchwardens  to  be  Elected  for  the  Town  of  Burford  only. 

Upon  the  arguing  whereof  the  Lord  Chancellor  held  the  said  Excep- 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    499 

tion  to  be  good  and  suficient  and  ordered  it  to  stand  and  be  allowed 
and  that  so  much  of  thQ  said  Decree  to  which  it  related  should  be 
reversed. 

Cheveleys  Charity. 

William  Cheveley  by  his  will  gave  £24  to  be  delivered  to  Trustees 
therein  named  In  trust  to  be  lent  by  them  their  successors  or  assigns 
to  4  poor  Tradesmen  within  the  said  Town  by  equal  portions  for 
six  years  and  then  to  4  other  poor  Tradesmen  for  other  six  years  and 
so  in  like  manner  for  ever  And  that  such  poor  Tradesmen  should  put 
in  good  security  By  Bond  with  sureties  to  the  said  Trustees  their 
successors  and  assigns — to  be  allowed  of  by  them  for  repayment  at 
the  end  of  every  year — and  in  consideration  thereof  the  said  Trades- 
men so  holding  the  said  money  causing  a  sermon  to  be  preached  once 
every  year  at  their  own  charges — within  the  Parish  Church  of  Burford 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  Sabbath  next  after  the  Burial  day  of  the  said 
Willm.  Cheveley  yearly  for  ever  and  that  they  should  pay  4J.  a  piece 
yearly  to  the  said  Trustees  their  successors  and  assigns  And  gave  £20 
to  the  said  Trustees  and  their  Successors  to  be  and  remain  among 
them  for  ever  Whereof  two  of  them  to  have  it  one  year  and  Two  another  . 
according  to  the  succession  for  ever. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  said  Charities  given  by  the 
said  Cheveley  shall  be  received  and  applied  by  Sir  Thos.  Read  and  other 
the  Feoffees  therein  after  mentioned  and  placed  out  on  Bonds  in  every 
respect  according  to  the  directions  of  the  said  will. 

To  which  Geo.  Hart  Paul  Silvester  and  Matt.  Underwood  Excepted 
as  it  orders  that  said  charities  to  be  received  and  applied  by  Sr.  Thos. 
Read  and  others  for  they  were  the  legal  Trustees  to  receive  and  apply 
the  said  Charities  pursuant  to  the  directions  of  the  will  of  the  said 
Mr.  Cheveley  and  no  sufficient  reason  appeared  in  the  said  Decree  for 
directing  the  Exceptions  of  the  said  Trust. 

Upon  arguing  of  which  Exceptions  the  Chancellor  held  the  same 
to  be  good  and  sufficient  and  ordered  that  it  should  stand  and  be 
allowed  and  that  so  much  of  the  said  Decree  which  the  said  Exception 
relates  to  be  Reversed. 

Alms  House. 

By  an  Inquisition  in  1628  and  another  in  1702  It  was  found  that 
one  Tenement  now  called  the  great  Alms  house  being  houses  and  rooms 
both  above  and  below  together  with  one  capital  messuage  with  the 
appurtenances  and  also  one  lower  room — One  house  called  the  Tan 

K  k  2 


500  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

house  and  one  strip  of  Ground  thereto  adjoining  and  belonging  all 
situate  in  Burford  on  the  Church  green  were  long  since  given  to  the 
Use  of  the  poor  People  of  the  Alms  house  of  Burford  aforesaid  And  were 
all  given  by  Henry  Bishop  to  the  Intent  to  Employ  the  revenues 
thereof  for  ever  to  the  Use  of  the  Poor  dwelling  in  the  said  Alms 
house. 

By  a  decree  made  on  the  Inquisition  in  1628  It  was  ordered  that  the 
lower  rooms  of  the  said  Great  Alms  house  with  the  appurtenances 
should  for  ever  remain  and  be  employed  to  and  for  the  habitation 
and  Lodging  of  8  Poor  people  as  the  same  had  theretofore  been  used — 
and  that  the  rents  and  revenues  of  the  said  upper  rooms  Capital 
Messuage  Tanhouse  strip  of  Ground  and  premisses  then  lett  at  £4 
a  year  the  Lessee  to  be  charged  with  the  repairs  should  for  ever  then 
after  be  employed  and  paid  to  and  for  the  Benefit  of  the  said  poor 
People  in  the  said  great  Alms  House  of  Burford. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  received  the  Rents  and  revenues  belonging 
to  the  said  Alms  house  being  £22  165.  od.  a  year  from  1702  exclusive 
to  1738  exclusive  amounting  to  /no  and  have  paid  said  poor  People 
of  the  said  Alms  house  and  laid  out  on  account  thereof  according  to 
the  Corporation  books  £171  195.  lod.  the  Ballance  being  £61  igs.  lod. 
paid  out  of  the  corporation  revenues. 

The  Commissioners  Decreed  that  for  the  Future  the  rents  and 
revenues  of  the  said  alms  house  shall  be  received  and  applied  by  the 
feoffees  to  be  appointed  for  the  charities  Enquired  into  by  the  said 
Inquisition  under  that  Commission  who  should  also  have  the  sole 
right  and  power  of  nominating  and  appointing  the  widows  who  from 
time  to  time  shall  be  placed  in  the  said  Alms  house. 

The  BaiUffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  against  so  much  and  such 
part  of  the  said  Decree  as  orders  the  rents  and  revenues  of  the  said 
Alms  house  to  be  received  and  applied  by  the  Feoffees  or  Trustees 
in  the  said  Decree  mentioned — And  also  to  so  much  and  such  part 
of  the  said  Decree  as  directs  the  said  Feoffees  or  Trustees  to  have  the 
right  of  nominating  and  placing  the  said  widows  in  the  said  Alms 
house. 

Upon  arguing  of  which  Exception  the  Chancellor  held  the  same  to 
be  good  and  sufficient  and  ordered  that  the  same  should  stand  and  be 
allowed  and  that  so  much  of  the  said  Decree  to  which  the  said  excep- 
tion relates  should  be  Reversed. 

The  Commissioners  decreed  that  the  charges  and  expences  of 
entertaining  the  Jury  and  Bailiffs  who  attended  on  the  Jury  shotild 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    501 

be  jointly  defrayed  by  the  Petitioners  and  Defendants  during  all 
the  time  of  the  Enquiry — and  that  Mr.  John  Martin  appointed  by  the 
said  Corporation  to  take  down  the  minutes  of  the  Inquisition  of  the 
said  Jury  under  the  Commission  should  be  paid  for  his  attendance 
and  Trouble  jointly  by  the  Petitioners  and  Defendants. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  to  so  much  and  such  part  of 
the  said  Decree  as  orders  thera  (Defendants  aforesaid)  to  pay  a  moiety 
of  the  charges  of  entertaining  the  Jury  and  Bailiff  and  also  to  a  moiety 
to  the  said  Martin  for  his  attendance  for  that  the  said  Commissioners 
had  not  such  power  nor  were  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  the  only 
Defendants  in  the  prosecution  of  the  said  Commission  and  proceedings 
thereon. 

The  Chancellor  held  this  Exception  to  be  good  and  sufficient  and 
ordered  it  to  stand  and  be  allowed  and  that  so  much  of  the  said 
Decree  as  the  said  Exception  relates  to  should  be  reversed. 

The  Commissioners  ordered  and  decreed  that  the  Bailiffs  Church- 
wardens Overseers  and  Constables  of  Burford  aforesaid  should  for  the 
future  keep  a  Book  wherein  from  time  when  and  as  often  as  anything 
should  be  done  or  transacted  under  or  concerning  any  or  either  of  the 
before  mentioned  Charities  should  be  entered  a  full  and  exact  Acct. 
thereof  under  proper  and  distinct  heads  and  that  such  Entrys  should 
be  yearly  on  Easter  Monday  publickly  read  in  the  Town  Hall  of  Burford 
aforesaid. 

To  this  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  and  their  Exception 
was  held  sufficient. 

The  Commissioners  (after  reciting  that  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
had  been  remiss)  Did  order  adjudge  and  Decree  that  the  surviving 
Feoffee  of  the  said  several  Charities  or  their  Heirs  should  with  all 
convenient  speed  by  proper  Deeds  of  Conveyance  convey  and  assure 
the  said  Lands  Hereditaments  and  premisses  to  David  Lea  and  Nicholas 
Willett  and  their  heirs  who  should  forthwith  reconvey  the  same  unto 
Sr.  Thos.  Read  and  others  therein  named  their  Heirs  and  assigns 
To  for  and  upon  the  Uses  Trusts  powers  Intents  and  purposes  therein 
before  particularly  mentioned  and  Expressed  of  and  concerning  the 
same  respectively. 

The  BaiUffs  and  Burgesses  Excepted  thereto. 

Upon  the  arguing  whereof  It  was  ordered  that  the  same  should  be 
overruled  as  to  the  appointment  of  the  Feoffees  and  that  the  con- 
tinuance and  future  nomination  of  the  said  Feoffees  should  be  according 
to  the  Decree  of  1629. 


502  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

The  Commissioners  Decreed  that  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  should 
make  and  deliver  a  Schedule  of  all  Deeds  wills  minutes  and  records 
whatsoever  belonging  to  the  said  charities  to  the  Feoffees  within 
6  months  also  notice  of  the  enrollment  of  the  Decree — And  that  the 
said  Deeds  and  writings  should  be  kept  in  such  places  as  the  new  Feoffees 
should  direct  and  appoint. 

The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  did  Except  against  that  part  of  the 
Decree  for  that  the  making  of  such  Schedule  would  be  a  matter  of 
great  labour  and  expence  upon  them  who  denyed.  That  they  had 
not  been  guilty  of  any  of  the  frauds  misapplication  or  misemployments 
in  the  said  Inquisition  found  or  in  the  said  Decree  adjudged. 

Upon  the  arguing  of  this  Exception  it  was  ordered  that  it  be  added 
to  the  said  Decree  that  the  Expences  of  making  the  Schedule  be 
defrayed  out  of  the  Rents  and  profits  of  the  respective  Charity  Estates 
and  that  the  Schedules  be  respectively  delivered  within  12  months 
from  that  time. 

Hoptons  Charity. 

William  Hopton  by  his  will  gave  to  the  Town  of  Burford  £50  to  be 
paid  to  the  Bailiffs  and  4  Senior  Burgesses  of  Burford  who  should 
lend  forth  the  same  to  5  poor  Tradesmen  living  in  Burford  by  £10 
a  piece  taking  good  Security  by  Bond  of  the  penalty  of  £20  with  2 
sureties  for  the  payment  thereof  by  20^.  a  year  for  10  years  from  the 
date  of  the  said  Bond — And  when  the  sum  of  £10  should  be  received 
by  the  same  Bailiffs  and  Senior  Burgesses  the  same  should  be  lent 
forth  again  to  one  other  Tradesman  he  giving  such  Security  as  afore- 
said— ^And  directs  that  the  same  £50  should  for  ever  remain  to  the 
Uses  aforesaid  and  be  lent  forth  in  manner  aforesaid  And  directs  that 
any  to  whom  the  said  money  should  be  lent  or  any  of  the  sureties 
for  the  same  should  die  or  become  insolvent  that  then  some  other 
person  should  be  procured  to  be  bound  for  the  remainder  of  the  said 
Sum  instead  of  the  person  so  dying  or  becoming  insolvent  And  that 
the  same  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  should  in  or  about  Easter  yearly 
for  ever  cause  to  be  made  a  note  in  writing  by  their  officer  and  therein 
set  forth  in  whose  hands  the  said  several  sums  of  money  were  and  who 
were  their  sureties  for  the  same  and  procure  the  same  to  be  openly 
read  in  the  Church  of  Burford  upon  the  Sunday  after  Easter  day 
after  Evening  prayer  yearly  for  ever  by  the  Minister  or  Curate  there 
and  that  the  several  Persons  that  should  have  the  said  Ten  pounds 
lent  them  as  aforesaid  should  severally  pay  yearly  so  long  as  they 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     503 

should  hold  the  said  money  or  any  part  thereof  {blank)  a  piece  for  the 
officer  for  writing  the  said  note  and  the  like  sum  to  the  said  minister 
or  curate  for  reading  the  same. 

Commissioners  Decree  that  the  £50  given  by  Hopton  to  be  lent 
to  poor  Tradesmen  shall  be  received  by  the  Bailiffs  and  4  Senior 
Burgesses  of  Burford  and  by  them  applyed  according  to  the  will  of 
the  Donor — And  that  notes  of  the  disposition  of  the  same  charity 
shall  for  the  future  be  read  in  the  said  Parish  Church  of  Burford  and 
the  money  paid  for  reading  the  same  according  to  the  direction  of 
the  same  will. 

Collyers  Charity. 

Thomas  Collyer  by  his  will  dated  25th  October  i6th  Car.  2nd  gave 
to  the  Bailiffs  of  the  Borough  of  Burford  and  the  overseers  of  the 
Poor  there  £52  yearly  for  ever  to  be  by  them  laid  out  by  £12  (sic) 
every  week  in  12  loaves  and  by  them  bestowed  on  12  Poor  Children 
on  every  Sabbath  day  at  their  discretion. 

Commissioners  decree  this  to  be  received  and  applied  by  the  Bailiffs 
and  overseers  of  the  said  Poor  according  to  the  Donors  Will. 

Gilkes  Charity. 

Robt.  Gilkes  by  his  will  gave  £10  to  the  Vicar  and  Churchwardens 
of  the  Parish  of  Burford  for  the  time  being  and  their  successors  to  be 
by  them  laid  out  at  Interest  and  the  Interest  thereof  Expended  in 
Bread  and  to  be  distributed  among  the  j)oor  families  of  the  said  borough. 

Commissioners  decree  this  £10  to  be  laid  out  at  Int.  by  the  vicar 
and  churchwardens  and  the  Int.  expended  in  Bread  and  distributed 
according  to  the  Donors  will. 

Brutons  Charity. 

Willm.  Bruton  by  his  will  Dated  1580  gave  6s.  &d.  a  year  for  ever 
Issuing  out  of  an  Orchard  called  Brutons  Orchard  (now  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Benjn.  Jordan)  to  be  paid  to  the  Poor  on  Good  Friday  yearly. 

The  Commissioners  decree  this  to  be  received  by  the  Churchwardens 
and  Overseers  of  the  poor  of  Burford  and  by  them  disposed  to  the  poor 
of  Burford  according  to  the  Donors  will  on  Good  Friday  yearly. 

Willmots  Charity. 

Leonard  Willmott  Dated  25th  Feby.  14th  James  the  ist  Gave  £4 
per  annum  to  be  disposed  of  to  such  of  the  poor  Inhabitants  as  did 
not  receive  Alms  by  the  Churchwardens  who  on  Easter  day  are  to 


504      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

give  an  Acct.  to  four  the  chief  Inhabitants  how  and  to  whom  they  have 
disposed  of  it  and  the  same  Acct.  from  time  to  time  to  certify  to  the 
Justices  of  the  peace  of  that  division  at  their  next  assembly  or  meeting 
for  the  account  of  the  Poor  according  to  the  form  of  statute  in  that 
case  provided. 

Commissioners  decree  this  to  be  received  and  disposed  of  by  the 
Churchwardens  of  the  same  Town  according  to  the  Will  of  the  Donor 
and  that  they  shall  give  an  Acct.  yearly  on  Easter  Monday  to  four 
of  the  chief  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Town  how  and  to  whom  they  have 
disposed  of  the  same  and  shall  certify  the  said  Acct.  to  the  Justices  of 
the  peace  of  that  Division  according  to  the  Directions  of  the  said  will. 

Hermans  Charity. 

Edmd.  Harman  Esqr.  by  his  will  gave  £4  45.  od.  to  be  yearly  Issued 
out  of  Port  Mills  in  Burford  £4  thereof  yearly  to  be  distributed  by  the 
constable  of  Burford  to  the  Poor  of  Burford  at  2  several  days  in  the 
year  by  equal  portions  for  their  pains  in  receiving  and  distributing 
the  said  £4  to  and  amongst  the  said  poor. 

Commissioners  decree  that  the  said  £4  4s.  od.  shall  be  received  by 
the  said  Constables  and  be  by  them  disposed  of  to  the  said  poor  half 
yearly  on  St.  Thomas  Day  and  Good  Friday  by  equal  portions  And  that 
the  said  constables  shall  give  an  acct.  in  writing  to  the  chief  Inhabitants 
in  Burford  at  the  next  pubhck  vestry  after  the  disposal  thereof  how 
and  to  whom  they  have  disposed  of  the  same  And  shall  make  a  list 
of  such  poor  Persons  (Before  the  disposal  thereof)  to  whom  they 
intend  to  give  the  same  which  List  shall  be  produced  and  shewn  at 
the  next  general  vestry. 

John  Castle. 

John  Castle  by  his  will  Dated  4th  Novr.  1720  Gave  to  the  minister 
of  the  Parish  Church  of  Burford  for  the  time  being  los.  a  year  for  ever 
to  preach  a  Sermon  in  the  parish  Church  of  Burford  in  the  morning 
on  Good  Friday  yearly  and  Charged  his  little  Close  in  Weald  in  the 
Parish  of  Bampton  in  the  said  county  of  Oxford  called  Marlbrook 
Close  with  the  payment  thereof  for  ever. 

Decree  that  the  105.  shall  be  every  year  duly  paid  to  the  said 
Minister  for  preaching  such  Sermon.' 

John  Loyd  als  Hughes. 

Jno.  Loyd  als  Hughes  the  elder  by  Deed  dated  4th  August  3  Eliza- 
beth Granted  to  Simon  Wisdom  Alderman  Jno.  Holmes  Steward  and 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     505 

the  Burgesses  of  Burford  and  their  Successors  65.  Sd.  yearly  for  ever 
Issuing  out  of  his  Tenement  in  Burford  to  be  paid  on  Shew  Thursday 
being  the  Thursday  next  before  Easter  to  be  distributed  by  them 
for  ever  on  Good  Friday  to  the  most  needy  poor  of  Burford  with  a 
Clause  of  distress.  And  that  John  Loyd  the  younger  did  add  35.  4^. 
to  be  yearly  for  ever  paid  and  distributed  as  the  65.  8d.  is  or  ought  to 
be  paid  That  David  Loyd  als  Hughes  Son  and  Heir  Apparent  of  the 
said  John  the  Younger  did  in  person  ratify  and  confirm  both  the  said 
grants  to  be  for  ever  had  taken  and  employed  as  aforesaid. 

Commissioners  Decree  both  said  6^.  Sd.  and  3^,  ^d,  to  be  paid  to 
and  received  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  and  Overseers  and  shall 
be  by  them  applied  according  to  the  directions  of  the  said  Deed — And 
in  Case  the  said  35.  ^d.  shall  not  be  paid  that  then  the  BaiUffs  Church- 
wardens and  Overseers  shall  use  all  legal  means  for  the  recovery  of 
the  same  yearly  sum. 

Astons  Charity. 

Ambrose  Aston  by  his  will  Gave  to  John  Jordan  Junr.  Thos.  Warren 
and  others  §ind  to  the  Heirs  of  the  survivor  for  ever  a  messuage  in 
Burford  in  Trust  to  pay  £3  a  year  for  ever  out  of  the  profits  thereof 
towards  the  placing  out  a  poor  Boy  of  Burford  yearly  to  some  Trade. 

The  same  was  received  and  duly  applied  from  17 13  to  1724  exclusive 
But  it  did  not  appear  by  whom  the  £3  for  1724  was  received  or  applied 
or  whether  it  was  received  or  applied  at  all  from  1724  exclusive  to 
Michs.  1738  Inclusive  the  £30  a  year  has  been  received  by  Mr.  Jno. 
Jordan  Ihe  Heir  of  the  surviving  Trustee  who  has  applied  £25  part 
thereof  according  to  the  said  Donors  will — And  he  is  ready  to  apply 
the  remr.  as  soon  as  a  poor  boy  of  Burford  shall  be  ready  to  be  put 
apprentice. 

Commissioners  decree  the  said  Mr.  Jordan  to  pay  and  apply  the  same 
accordingly  and  that  he  and  his  Heirs  shall  for  the  future  receive  and 
dispose  of  the  said  charity  according  to  the  will  of  the  said  Donor — 
And  ordered  and  decreed  that  the  said  Trustees  or  their  Heirs  shall 
make  good  and  pay  the  £3  for  the  year  unaccounted  for  and  apply 
the  same  according  to  the  directions  of  the  said  will. 

Palmers  Charity. 

John  Palmer  gave  by  his  will  £50  to  the  Town  of  Burford  the  Benefit 
thereof  to  be  and  remain  for  the  Use  of  the  poor  for  ever  which  has 
been  laid  out  with  other  charity  money  in  the  Purchase  of  4  Houses 
in  Mullenders  lane  in  Burford  which  are  conveyed  to  the  Bailifis 


5o6  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

and  Burgesses  of  the  same  Town  and  50^.  part  of  the  rents  of  the  said 
Houses  have  been  received  by  the  said  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  and  by 
them  constantly  paid  to  the  constable  or  constables  of  the  said  Town 
for  the  time  being  who  have  constantly  applied  the  same  according 
to  the  Intent  of  the  Donor. 

Commissioners  Order  and  decree  that  the  said  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
shall  for  the  future  receive  and  pay  the  said  505.  a  year  to  the  constables 
and  that  the  said  constables  shall  apply  the  same, according  to  the 
directions  of  the  said  will  and  give  an  Acct.  to  the  principal  Inhabitants 
of  Burford  at  the  publick  vestry  on  Easter  Tuesday  how  and  to  whom 
they  have  disposed  of  the  same. 

Meadys  Charity. 

Elizabeth  Meady  gave  to  the  Bailiffs  and  4  Senior  Burgesses  of 
Burford  17  acres  of  arable  meadow  and  pasture  Ground  in  Ducklington 
in  the  county  of  Oxford  with  their  appurtenances  in  Trust. 

And  appointed  Mr  John  Green  and  Mr  William  Lawrence  overseers 
of  the  said  charity. 

Note.   Here  is  no  mention  of  their  Heirs. 

The  Commissioners  make  no  decree  touching  this  Charity. 

Hayters  Charity. 

Richard  Hayter  by  his  will  dated  nth  June  1666  gave  8^.  a  year 
for  ever  to  be  paid  out  of  the  house  wherein  John  Robins  then  dwelt 
to  the  8  poor  Alms  people  that  should  be  living  in  the  Alms  houses 
next  to  the  Church  of  Burford  on  the  21st  of  December  yearly — And 
gave  4^.  yearly  to  be  paid  out  of  the  rents  of  an  house  wherein  Thos 
Miles  then  lately  dwelt  to  be  paid  to  4  poor  widows  of  Burford  aforesaid 
of  honest  life  and  conversation  for  ever  on  the  ist  of  January  yearly. 
And  gave  £6  135.  ^d.  to  be  sett  out  at  Interest  on  good  security  by 
the  direction  of  the  two  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  of  the  same  Town 
or  any  three  of  them  for  the  time  being  unto  such  Inhabitants  that 
should  have  occasion  for  it — And  directs  that  the  Interest  arising 
thereby  should  be  only  6s.  Sd.  and  that  the  same  should  be  to  the  use 
of  the  Minister  of  the  said  Town  for  preaching  a  Sermon  every  New 
Years  day  yearly  for  ever. 

The  £6  135.  4i.  has  been  paid  to  and  kept  in  the  hands  of  the  Cor- 
poration of  Burford  and  the  6^.  Sd.  the  Interest  duly  paid  to  the 
Minister  for  preaching  a  Sertnon  yearly  on  new  years  day  no  Inhabitant 
having  applied  for  the  money. 

The  Ss.  a  year  payable  out  of  Riches  College  has  been  by  the  Land- 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     507 

lord  or  Owner  paid  and  applied  according  to  the  direction  of  the 
said  win  and  payable  out  of  Jno.  Wilkins  Tenement  adjoining  to  the 
former  house  has  been  paid  to  the  Bailiffs  and  by  them  constantly 
paid  to  4  poor  widows  according  to  the  will. 

Commissioners  order  and  decree  the  85.  a  year  shall  be  paid  for  ever 
to  the  8  Alms  people  in  the  Alms  house  next  the  Church  and  the  45. 
given  to  4  poor  widows  there  shall  be  for  ever  paid  to  them  according 
to  the  directions  of  the  said  will  That  the  £6  135.  ^d.  shall  be  placed  out 
and  the  Interest  thereof  applied  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  to  be 
Elected  by  the  Town  of  Burford  or  any  three  of  them  for  the  future 
according  to  the  directions  of  the  same  will  and  not  by  the  Bailiffs  only. 

Vesseys.  This  is  under  the  directions  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens. 
All  Sorts  of  Money  seems  wholly  under  the  Directions  of  the  Bailiffs 

and  Burgesses  of  Burford  and  the  Commissioners  have  not  made 

any  Decree  as  to  the  persons  who  are  to  place  out  the  money 

on  Bonds  and  receive  the  money  when  paid  in  again. 
Bridge. 

Holloway.   This  is  under  the  directions  of  the  Churchwardens. 
Cheveley.    This  is  in  the  surviving  Trustee  who  should  make  a  new 

assignment  thereof  pursuant  to  the  Donors  directions.     The 

feoffees  appointed  by  the  Commissioners  have  nothing  to  do  in 

the  direction  or  application. 
Almshouse.   The  BaiUffs  and  Burgesses  are  the  sole  persons  concerned 

in  this  charity. 
Hoptons.    The  Bailiffs  and  4  Senior  Burgesses  are  the  sole  Persons 

concerned  in  this  charity. 
Collyer.    The  Bailiffs  and  Overseers  of  the  poor  to  dispose  of  this 

charity. 
Gilkes.   The  Vicar  and  Churchwardens  only  concerned  in  this  charity. 
BruUm.    The  Churchwardens  and  Overseers  of  the  poor  to  dispose  of 

this  charity. 
WiUmott.   The  Churchwardens  to  Distribute  this  Charity. 
Harman.    The  constables  to  distribute  this  charity. 
John  Castie.   This  given  to  the  minister  of  .Burford. 
John  Loyd.   Bailiffs  Churchwardens  and  Overseers  of  the  Parish  to 
als  Hughes.       receive  and  pay  this  charity. 
Aston.    Mr  John  Jordan  to  pay  and  apply  this  charity. 
Palmer.    The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  to  receive  and  pay  this  505. 

a  year  to  the  constables  who  are  to  apply  the  same  according 

to  the  Donors  will  and  give  an  acct.  thereof. 
Meady.     Bailiffs  and  4  Senior  Burgesses  solely  concerned  in  this 

charity. 
Hayter.    Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  or  any  three  of  them  to  place 

out  the  £6  135,  4d.  and  apply  the  Interest  thereof  as  the  will 

directs  and  not  the  Bailiffs  only. 


5o8  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

3.  A  thin  folio  volume,  bound  in  grey  paper,  containing  another 
copy,  in  identical  terms,  of  the  decrees  of  the  Commission  of  1738 
with  the  exceptions  taken  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  and  the 
judgements  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  thereon. 

The  only  point  of  difference  between  this  and  the  quarto  volume 
transcribed  above  is  that  the  index  summary,  which  concludes  the 
quarto  volume,  is  placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  thin  folio,  and  includes 
some  charities  not  mentioned  in  the  index  of  the  quarto  volume. 
They  are  as  follows  : 

Lenthals  Charity.    This  Remains  to  be  Applyed  by  the  Heir  of  the 

Donor  and  the  Bailiffs  of  Burfbrd. 
Tanfields.    The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  must  Appoint  Workmen  to 

View  and  Estimate  the  Repairs  of  the  Tomb  and  Isle  and  when 

the  Tomb  and  Isle  Repaired  and  a  person  appointed  to  look  after 

the  same  and  his  sallery  and  the  Repairs  paid  for  the  Residue 

of  the  Rents  of  the  House  given  for  such  Repairs  of  the  Tomb 

is  to  be  paid  over  to  the  Minister  and  Bailiffs  of  Burford  and  by 

them  Applyed  according  to  the  will. 
Harris.   The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  are  to  be  accountable  for  and  pay 

to  the  Bailiffs  and  Churchwardens  of  Burford  the  £50  lent  to 

Winsmore  and  Lost. 
This  is  under  the  directioift  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of 

Burford. 
Cohb  Hall.   The  Rent  thereof  is  given  to  the  poor  of  Burford. 
Frethems.   This  405.  to  a  maid  servant  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  Minister 

and  Bailiffs  of  Burford. 
Pools.    This  Remains  in  the  power  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of 

Burford. 
Fifteenths.   This  Charity  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  Bailiffs  of  the  Town 

of  Burford. 
Heylin.    This  seems  to  be  wholly  under  the  direction  of  the  Bailiffs 

and  Burgesses  and  Churchwardens  as  to  the  putting  out  Boys 

Apprentices. 
Dr.  Castle.    This  is  under  the  Directions  of  the  Bailiffs  and  four  Senior 

Burgesses. 

4.  A  thin  folio  volume,  bound  in  vellum,  containing  a  third  copy 
of  the  decrees  of  the  Commission  of  1738,  with  notes  in  the  margins 
obviously  written  from  the  point  of  view  of  John  Lenthall  and  those 
who  acted  with  him  in  attacking  the  management  of  the  charities. 
Indeed  some  of  the  notes  are  actually  in  John  Lenthall's  handwriting. 
The  general  tenor  of  the  notes  is  that  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  had 
usurped  the  sole  management  of  trusts  over  which  they  had  no  right 
to  be  supreme  ;  that  they  had  misapplied  money,  and  in  one  or  two 
cases  were  open  to  a  suspicion  of  actual  embezzlement ;  that  they 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     509 

had  lost  certain  sums  by  carelessness  and  disregard  of  the  donors' 
directions  ;  that  they  had  let  trust  property  fall  into  ruin  ;  and  that 
in  general  they  only  disposed  of  the  charity  money  to  those  who  would 
be  subservient  to  them,  and  would  spend  money  at  their  shops. 

5.  A  portion — folios  28-65— of  *  MS.  copy  of  the  pleadings  in  the 
lawsuit  following  the  Commission,  The  Baihffs  and  Burgesses  of  Bur- 
ford  Exceptants  v.  John  Lenthall,  Esq.  and  others  Respondents. 

Folio  28  (the  end  of  the  pleadings  with  regard  to  the  Grammar 
School)  contains  a  summary  of  the  depositions  of  some  witnesses  as 
to  the  neglected  state  of  the  School  and  the  mental  condition  of  Mr 
Richard  Griffiths. 

Folio  29 — ^The  Fifteen  Lands.  The  respondents'  answer  to  the 
exceptants'  case  was  that  the  rents  of  the  houses  being  ultimately 
for  the  benefit  of  the  town  at  large,  the  churchwardens  and  overseers 
were  quite  properly  joined  by  the  decree  to  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
in  administering  the  property ;  that  there  had  not  been  for  some  time 
any  Alderman  or  Steward,  and  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  had  no 
sole  right  in  the  property  ;  and  that  the  decree  of  1628  appointed  the 
fegffees  to  receive  the  rents. 

Folio  30 — Heylin's  Charity.  This  folio  is  interesting  as  revealing 
the  feelings  at  the  back  of  the  dispute.  The  exceptants'  case  with 
regard  to  the  joining  of  *  the  churchwardens  to  be  elected  by  the  town 
of  Burford  '  in  the  administration  was  that,  there  being  four  church- 
wardens— one  appointed  by  the  Rector,  one  by  the  Vicar,  and  two 
by  the  town — the  two  appointed  by  the  town  were  '  always  under  the 
influence  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  John  Lenthall  Esq  and  for  this 
reason  the  exceptants  apprehend  the  other  two  are  excluded  by  the 
Commission's  decree  *. 

Folios  31  &  32 — Castle  Charity.  The  respondents  remark  that  they 
cannot  conceive  why  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  should  object  to  giving 
an  account,  if  they  intend  to  administer  the  property  justly. 

Folio  32 — Veysey  Charity.  Another  interesting  point  about  the 
churchwardens  is  made.  The  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  claimed  the  right 
to  elect  one  of  the  two  town  churchwardens.  The  respondents'  answer 
.  was  that  of  the  four  the  one  chosen  by  the  Rector  was  appointed  for 
a  '  Tything  outside  the  said  Borough  *  which  had  separate  officers 
and  made  separate  rates,  the  one  chosen  by  the  Vicar  was  the  normal 
Vicar's  warden,  and  the  remaining  two  were  chosen  by  the  inhabitants 
at  large  and  no  one  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  alone.  It  appears 
from  the  summary  of  depositions  on  this  point  (Evidence  of  Henry 


5IO  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Walker,  Fol.  33)  that  the  outward  tything  was  Upton  and  Signett. 
The  exceptants  do  not  seem  to  have  pursued  their  point,  but  fell 
back  again  on  the  suspicion  of  the  town  wardens  as  being  under  the 
influence  of  Mr  Lenthall. 

Folios  33  to  35 — All  Sorts  of  Money.  The  respondents  had  no 
serious  answer  to  make  to  the  dase  of  the  exceptants'  plea  that  the 
Corporation  lands  had  been  by  a  former  decree  made  liable  for  recoup- 
ing losses. 

Folios  36  to  44 — ^The  Church  Lands.  The  pleadings,  mostly  con- 
cerned with  the  damage  done  to  Bowls's  house,  consist  of  directly 
contradictory  evidence  as  to  the  responsibility  for  payments  made 
or  not  made  in  the  past. 

Folios  44  to  48 — ^The  Bridge  Lands.  Similar  counter-pleas  and 
evidence  with  regard  to  payments  alleged  to  have  been  made  and  the 
sum  claimed  by  the  Corporation  as  excess  of  expenditure  over  receipts. 
The  two  parties  were  in  direct  opposition  as  to  the  validity  of  entries  in 
the  Corporation  books  and  the  respondents  alleged  deliberate  falsifica- 
tion of  the  books.  There  was  dispute  as  to  the  due  receipt  of  rents  in  the 
past,  and  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  tenants  of  Bridge  Land  houses. 

Folios  48  to  50 — Holloway's  Charity.  The  same  points  raised  as 
on  Folio  32  with  regard  to  the  appointment  of  the  town  churchwardens 
to  receive  the  rents.  The  respondents  raised  the  new  point  that  the 
town  churchwardens  were  the  proper  persons  to  appoint  since  the 
warden  for  the  outward  tjrthing  was  in  no  way  concerned  with  town 
affairs. 

In  this  charity  Hart  pleaded  that  there  was  not  sufficient  evidence 
to  charge  him  with  the  repayment  of  £5  which  had  been  lost.  He 
could  have  shown  receipts  for  £4  and  205.  had  been  appUed  to  *  another 
charity '. 

Folios  50  &  51 — Counter-pleas  on  the  point  that  the  Commission 
had  no  authority  to  over-ride  a  donor's  appointment  of  Trustees  and 
to  order  the  payment  of  rents  to  the  general  body  of  Trustees. 

Folios  52  to  54 — ^The  Almshouse.  The  same  pleas  by  the  exceptants 
against  the  power  of  the  Commission  to  place  the  receipt  of  i;ents  and 
the  appointment  of  poor  widows  to  the  Almshouse  in  the  hands  of  the 
general  body  of  Trustees.  The  respondents  declined  to  accept  the 
Corporation  books  as  sufficient  evidence  of  the  right  of  the  Bailiffs 
and  Burgesses  to  assume  control  of  this  charity  ;  and  pleaded  that  the 
Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  had  *  misbehaved  themselves '  in  the  matter 
of  admissions  to  the  Almshouse. 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS     511 

Folios  55  to  57.  Pleadings  with  regard  to  the  payment  of  the  Com- 
mission's charges.  The  respondents'  case  was  that  there  had  been 
an  agreement  between  the  two  parties  to  share  the  costs. 

Folios  57  &  58.  The  infliction  of  £163  damages  on  the  Bailiffs  and 
Burgesses.  Exceptants  denied  that  they  had  obstructed  the  enquiry 
and  contested  the  power  of  the  Commission  to  order  the  payment  of 
damages.  The  respondents  affirmed  that  there  had  been  deliberate 
refusal  or  neglect  to  produce  deeds  and  documents  needed  for  the 
purposes  of  the  enquiry. 

Folios  59  &  60.  Order  for  the  keeping  of  a  book  recording  transac- 
tions in  connexion  with  charity  property  and  for  the  annual  reading 
of  accounts  on  Easter  Monday  at  the  Town  Hall.  The  pleadings  on 
this  point  are  important  in  view  of  a  dispute  that  arose  as  late  as  1899 
with  regard  to  the  ownership  of  the  Tolsey.  The  exceptants  say 
'  that  ye  sd  Town  Hall  is  the  freehold  of  the  exceptants  and  not 
within  ye  authority  or  jurisdiction  of  ye  sd  Comm"  to  order  or  direct 
anything  to  be  done  therein  '.  Respondents  '  insist  that  the  same  was 
built  by  and  at  ye  expence  of  ye  Inhabitants  of  ye  sd  Borough  &  other 
contributors  thereto  and  Intended  and  designd  for  ye  PubHck  good 
and  convenience  of  ye  sd  Town  and  that  ye  sd  exceptants  have  no 
ffrehold  or  Interest  therein  and  that  there  is  no  just  foundation  for 
their  exception  in  relacion  thereto '.  The  depositions  for  the  exceptants 
relate  to  the  ordering  by  the  Bailiffs  of  repairs  to  the  Tolsey  and  to 
payment  for  work  done  being  made  by  the  Bailiffs  or  some  other  of 
the  Burgesses.  Respondents  only  produced  one  witness  who  said  that 
he  did  not  know  at  whose  expense  the  Tolsey  was  built. 

Folios  60  to  62.  Order  appointing  new  Trustees.  The  exceptants 
relied  on  the  appointment  of  Trustees  made  after  the  Commission  of 
1702.  The  respondents  objected  to  the  validity  of  that  appointment 
as  not  having  been  made  either  by  Mr  Lenthall  and  Wm  Bowk 
as  surviving  feoffees  nor  by  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  '  in  their  cor- 
porate capacity '.  There  was  again  dispute  as  to  the  power  of  the 
Commission  to  make  orders  over-ruling  previous  appointments. 

Folios  62  &  63.  Order  as  to  the  making  of  a  schedule  of  the  deeds 
and  documents  concerning  charity  property.  The  exceptants  pleaded 
the  expense  of  such  a  schedule.  The  respondents  urge  that  the  order 
should  be  enforced  to  prevent  papers  in  future  being  *  secreted  and 
concealed  '. 

On  Folio  63  is  the  following  :  '  Note  all  ye  feoffees  of  ye  Charity  Lands 
given  to  ye  Town  of  Burford  that  are  now  living  are  ye  Respondents 


512  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

John  Lenthal  Esq.,  Paul  Silvester,  Matthew  Underwood,  John  Green, 
Daniel  Dicks  Burgesses  of  ye  sd  Town  of  Burford '. 

Folios  64  &  65.  The  beginning  of  the  pleadings  as  to  Pool's  Lands. 
The  document  gets  no  further  than  the  recital  of  the  decree,  and  ends 
in  the  middle  of  a  sentence. 

6.  Various  bills  of  costs  in  the  proceedings  made  out  by  Mr  Ingles, 
solicitor,  to  Silvester,  Underwood,  Green  and  others,  and  the  BailifiEs 
and  Burgesses.    1738  to  1742. 

7.  A  letter  to  Thomas  Wainewright,  solicitor,  signed  by  J.  Castle, 
Thos.  Tash,  and  John  Tash,  authorizing  him  to  pay  money  due  for 
rent  and  arrears  of  rent. 

8.  A  list  of  names  of  Trustees. 

9.  A  copy  of  pleadings  on  the  hearing  as  to  costs  of  the  action  in 
Chancery,  9  May,  1 743.  The  exceptants,  besides  a  plea  that  the  attack 
on  the  management  of  the  charities  had  been  vexatious  and  only 
designed  to  transfer  the  power  over  them  into  other  channels,  pleaded 
also  that  the  enquiry  had  gone  on  so  unreasonably  long  that  their 
undertaking  to  pay  a  share  of  the  costs  could  not  be  enforced  upon  them. 

10.  An  Indenture  Tripartite,  dated  21  December,  25  George  II,  1751, 
settling  the  incidence  of  the  costs  among  those  who  had  taken  the 
action  leading  to  the  appointment  of  the  Commission. 

The  indenture  is  between  :  William  Upstone  of  Burford,  maltster, 
of  the  first  part ;  John  Lenthal  of  Burford  Esquire,  Samuel  Patrick 
of  Burford,  clothier,  and  Thomas  Clare  of  Burford,  innholder,  of  the 
second  part ;  Robert  Castell  of  Burford,  glover,  executor  of  the  late 
William  Castell,  Edward  Chavasse  of  Burford,  innholder,  John 
Andrews  of  Burford,  clothier,  Elizabeth  Faulkner  of  Burford,  widow, 
and  John  Faulkner  of  Burford,  yeoman,  executrix  and  executor  of 
the  late  John  Faulkner,  William  Griffin  of  Blackbourton,  yeoman, 
executor  of  the  late  James  Griffin,  and  Simon  Badger  of  Burford, 
mason,  of  the  third  part. 

The  indenture  sets  out  that  whereas  on  or  about  29  May,  1737,  at 
a  full  vestry  then  held  for  the  parish  of  Burford  in  the  parish  church 
there,  *  it  was  agreed  by  general  consent  that  a  Commission  of  Charit- 
able Uses  should  be  sued  out  and  that  the  churchwardens  and  over- 
seers should  be  empowered  to  su^  out  the  Commission  ' ;  and  whereas 
Thomas  Clare,  Samuel  Patrick,  and  the  late  John  Faulkner,  then 
churchwardens,  and  James  Griffin  and  William  Upstone,  then  over- 
seers, did  by  writing  on  17  June  1737  authorise  Alexander  Ready 
of  Filkins,  gentleman,  to  procure  a  Commission  and  engaged  to  pay 


COMMISSIONS  AND  LEGAL  PROCEEDINGS    513 

his  fees  ;  and  whereas  John  Lenthall,  Clare,  Patrick,  Upstone,  Andrews, 
Castell,  Chavasse,  William  Lenthall,  Francis  Potter,  then  Vicar  of 
Burford,  Thomas  Hunt  of  Burford,  brazier,  Edward  Deane  of  Burford, 
weaver,  Henry  Walker,  John  Faulkner,  James  Griffin,  William 
Castell,  and  John  Patrick — the  nine  last-named  all  since  deceased — 
petitioned  the  Lord  Chancellor  for  a  Commission ;  and  whereas  the 
Commission  sat  and  made  decrees,  to  which  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses 
made  exceptions,  and  a  case  was  heard  by  the  Lord  Chancellor,  who 
gave  judgement  in  May  1743 ;  and  whsreas  Alexander  Ready  sent 
in  a  bill  for  £719  135.  to  WilUam  Upstone,  and  subsequently  took  out 
a  writ  against  him  for  the  money ;  and  whereas  Upstone  in  Hilary 
Term  1749  entered  a  suit  firstly  against  Alexander  Ready  asking  for 
the  taxation  of  his  bill  of  costs,  and  secondly  against  Lenthall  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  parties  named  above  asking  that  they  be  ordered  to 
pay  their  shares  of  the  costs  ;  and  whereas  the  parties  had  agreed  to 
come  to  terms  ;  the  present  indenture  witnesses  that  in  consideration 
of  the  payment  to  John  Lenthall  of  the  sum  of  £210  in  the  following 
shares  : 


L 

s. 

d. 

Robert  Castell  (as  executor) 

9 

14 

I 

Upstone 

26 

19 

5 

Chavasse 

23 

5 

5 

Andrews 

33 

5 

5 

Castell  (for  himself) 

26 

19 

5 

E,  and  J.  Faulkner 

23 

5 

5 

Griffin 

33 

5 

5 

Badger 

33 

5 

5 

Lenthall,  Patrick,  and  Clare  undertake  to  pay  to  Alexander  Ready 
all  his  claims  upon  Upstone,  Castell  and  the  rest ;  and  Lenthall  also 
acquits  Upstone  and  the  rest  of  all  his  claim  upon  them  in  connexion 
with  a  sum  of  £273  i8s.  paid  to  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  on  account 
of  costs. 

Witnesses  :  D.  Lea,  James  Chavasse, 

Enclosed  with  this  indenture  are  various  documents  bearing  on 
the  agreement — a  copy  of  Lenthall's  receipt  for  the  £210,  the  original 
authority  to  Ready  signed  by  Patrick  and  the  others.  Ready's  full 
acquittance,  dated  20  December,  1 751,  for  his  charges  and  his  written 
consent  to  the  dismissal  of  the  case  brought  against  him  by  Upstone, 
a  receipt  by  one  Martin  (who  had  acted  as  secretary  to  the  Commission) 
for  £20,  etc.,  etc. 


3304 


Ll 


514  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

APPOINTMENTS  OF  NEW  TRUSTEES 

1745  to  1856 

Tolsey,  Bundle  M 

1.  25  January,  19  George  II,  1746. 

Conveyance  by  John  Lenthal  Esquire  of  Burford,  as  the  only 
surviving  feoffee  of  those  named  in  the  Tnftt  Deed  of  1702  (see 
Cheatle  collection),  to  Sir  Thomas  Read  of  Shipton  under  Wychwood, 
Bart.,  William  Lenthal  of  Burford  Esquire,  Robert  Stevens  of  Kemp- 
scott  Esquire,  William  Wanley  the  younger  of  Eyford,  Glos.,  Esquire, 
Francis  Potter  of  Burford  Clerk,  Thomas  Godfrey  of  Hailey  Esquire, 
Henry  Walker  of  Burford  maltster,  Thomas  Hunt  of  Burford  iron- 
monger, Robert  Castle  of  Burford  glover,  Samuel  Patrick  the  younger 
of  Burford  clothier,  Thomas  Clare  of  Burford  innholder,  and  John 
Falkner  of  Burford,  yeoman. 

Witnesses  :  Chas.  Taylor,  He.  Edmonds. 

2.  31  October,  17  George  III,  1775  {sic). 

Conveyance  by  William  Lenthal  of  Burford  Esquire,  as  sole  sur- 
viving feoffee,  to  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis  Knollis  of  Burford 
Clerk,  John  Lenthal  the  elder  of  Burford  Esquire,  John  Lenthal 
the  younger  of  Burford  Esquire,  Charles  Fettiplace  of  Swinbrook 
Esquire,  George  Davis  of  Ducklington  Esquire,  Henry  Herries  of 
Burford  Clerk,  William  Chapman  of  Burford  Esquire,  William  Chavasse 
surgeon,  Thomas  Kimber  mealman,  William  Young  brasier,  and 
Thomas  Clare  innholder. 

Witnesses  :  James  Smart,  James  Benjamin  Waters,  James  Baldwin. 

8.    13  August,  16  George  III,  1775. 
Lease  for  a  year,  by  the  same  to  the  same. 

4.  30  October,  17  George  III,  1776. 
Lease  for  a  year,  by  the  same  to  the  same. 

5.  30  August,  1827. 

Conveyance  by  the  Rev.  James  Knollis  of  Penn  in  the  county  of 
Buckinghamshire  Clerk,  eldest  and  only  son  and  heir  at  law  of  the  Hon. 
and  Rev.  Francis  Knollis,  sole  trustee  and  feoffee,  to  William  John 
Lenthallof  Burford  Esquire,  William  Hervey  of  Bradwell  Grove  Esquire, 
Edward  Francis  Colston  of  Filkins  Esquire,  the  Rev.  William  Birch 
of  Burford  Clerk,jthe  Rev.  Alexander  Robert  Charles  Dallas  of  Burford 


APPOINTMENTS  OF  NEW  TRUSTEES         515 

Clerk,  the  Rev.  Charles  Loder  Stephens  of  Kencot  Clerk,  Robert 
Henry  Pytt  of  Burford  surgeon,  Christopher  Kempster  Faulkner 
gentleman,  John  Large  of  Broughton  gentleman,  William  Hine  of 
Burford  mercer  and  draper,  Thomas  Osman  of  Burford  spirit  merchant, 
and  William  Ward  of  Burford  printer. 

Note. — See  the  following  bundle  for  documents  bearing  upon  this 
transaction. 

6.  20  October,  1838. 

Appointment  by  Lenthall,  Hervey,  Colston,  Birch,  Dallas,  Stephens, 
Pytt,  Large,  and  Ward  of  the  following  as  new  Trustees  to  act  with 
them,  viz. :  The  Rev.  Edward  Philip  Cooper,  now  Vicar  of  Burford, 
Thomas  Cheatle  of  Burford  surgeon,  John  Bartholomew  Phillips  of 
Burford  gentleman,  David  Faulkner  of  Burford  grocer,  Thomas 
Edward  Tanner  of  Burford  draper,  and  Robert  Durham  of  Burford 
baker. 

7.  19  October,  1838. 

Lease  for  a  year,  by  the  same  to  the  same. 

8.  I  March,  1851. 

Appointment  by  Ward,  Cheatle,  Phillips,  Faulkner,  and  Durham 
of  new  Trustees  to  act  with  them  viz. :  The  Rev.  James  Gerald  Joyce, 
now  Vicar  of  Burford,  William  Pytt  of  Burford  gentleman,  William 
Robert  Cooke  of  Burford  surgeon,  Charles  John  Tanner  of  Burford 
draper,  Walter  Stephens  Ward  gentleman,  and  Edward  Ansell  of 
Burford  tanner. 

Endorsed  with  the  following  further  appointments  on  9  February, 
1856,  viz. :  Robert  Dannatt  Foster  of  Burford  ohemist,  George 
Hambidge  of  Burford  grocer,  and  William  Gregory  Westrope  of 
Burford  draper. 

NINETEENTH-CENTURY  DOCUMENTS.    I 
Tolsey,  Bundle  N 

1.  A  packet  of  papers  relating  to  the  conveyance  of  the  Burford 
Charity  properties  to  new  Trustees  by  the  Rev.  James  Knollis  in  1827. 

A  difficulty  had  arisen  in  this  way.  The  Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis 
Knollis  had  been  left  sole  surviving  feoffee  of  those  appointed  in  1776.^ 
He  had  died  intestate,  and  the  Rev.  James  Knollis,  as  his  heir  at  law, 

•  This  conveyance — Bundle  M,  no.  2 — is  dated  1775  in  error. 
Ll2 


5i6      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

entered  into  responsibility  for  the  Charity  properties.  His  natural 
course  would  have  been  to  appoint  new  Trustees,  but  it  was  discovered 
that  the  decrees  of  Royal  Commissions  regulating  the  Burf  ord  Charities 
made  no  provision  for  the  appointment  of  new  Trustees  by  the  heir 
at  law  of  a  sole  survivor. 

Counsel's  opinion  was  taken  of  Mr.  T.  C.  Treslove,  Lincoln's  Inn. 
The  case  as  submitted  to  him  throws  some  significant  sidelights  upon 
the  management  of  the  charities  at  this  time.  One  of  the  principal 
tenants  of  charity  property  was  one  Tuckwell,  '  leading  member  of 
the  Burford  Corporation ',  who  held  the  chief  part  of  Pool's  Land 
and  some  Church  Land.  He  was  at  least  seven  years  in  arrear  with  his 
rents  and  was  estimated  to  owe  about  £400.  All  the  other  charity 
tenants  were  also  in  arrear.  Counsel  is  warned  that  one  of  the  dangers 
is  that,  unless  the  disposition  of  the  Trusts  by  Mr.  James  KnoUis  is 
flawless  in  law,  the  tenants,  especially  Tuckwell,  will  take  advantage 
of  any  irregularity  to  escape  payment  of  arrears.  Mr  Knollis  confessed 
himself  in  ignorance  as  to  who  received  the  rents  and  when  they  were 
last  paid  (letter  from  him  to  Mr.  Price,  solicitor,  Burford,  20  Sept.  [i 826]). 
The  Hon.  ^nd  Rev.  Francis  Knollis  had,  some  twelve  months  before 
his  death,  taken  steps  to  appoint  new  Trustees,  and  had  made  a  list 
of  twelve  suggested  feoffees,  *  unconnected  with  the  Corporation 
thereby  meeting  the  views  and  wishes  of  the  Commission  ' ;  a  draft 
feoffment  was  made,  but  Mr.  KnoUis  was  growing  increasingly  feeble 
and  never  returned  the  draft. 

Another  important  point  submitted  to  counsel  was  about  the 
collection  of  rents  in  arrear.  His  opinion  was  that  these  must  be 
collected  by  the  heir  at  law  of  the  last  surviving  feoffee ;  the  new 
feoffees  could  not  claim  them. 

Ultimately  it  was  decided  that  the  best  way  to  proceed  would  be  by 
petition  to  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  for  authority  to  nominate  new 
Trustees.  This  course  had  been  rendered  possible  by  a  recent  Act 
of  Parliament  (Sir  Samuel  Romilly's  Act)  for  an  easier  way  of  redressing 
anything  amiss  with  charity  trusts.  Previously  the  only  way  had  been 
to  lay  an  information  with  the  Attorney  General,  which  was  a  trouble- 
some and  expensive  process  (see  letter  from  Mr.  James  Knollis  to  the 
Corporation  20  Sept.  1826). 

A  copy  of  the  petition  to  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  signed  by  William 
John  Lenthall,  Willigjn  Ward,  and  William  Hine,  requesting  him  to 
order  one  of  the  Masters  in  Chancery  to  consider  a  draft  list  of  feoffees 
and  authorize  the  transfer  of  the  Charity  properties  to  them,  is  in  the 


NINETEENTH-CENTURY  DOCUMENTS        517 

packet.  So  also  is  a  copy  of  the  order  made  thereupon  by  a  Master 
in  Chancery  giving  the  necessary  authority. 

On  21  April  1827  the  Rev.  James  Klnollis  writes  to  Mr.  Price 
giving  him  a  list  of  the  persons  he  nominates  as  feoffees.  They  are 
the  persons  named  in  the  conveyance  of  1827,  Bundle  M,  no.  2.  Mr. 
Knollis  says  he  has  been  careful  to  choose  '  three  persons  out  of  each 
of  the  four  classes  of  society '.  Evidently  he  means  the  upper  class 
with  the  title  of  Esquire,  the  clergy,  the  *  gentlemen ',  and  those  he 
calls  *  respectable  inhabitants  '.  It  appears  from  some  correspondence 
that  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  persuade  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  to 
accept  nomination. 

Tuckwell's  final  account  is  in  the  packet,  dated  29  Nov.  1827. 
Presumably  other  arrears  were  paid  on  occasions  when  the  Rev.  James 
Knollis  came  to  Burford  to  settle  up  the  Trust  business.  There  is  much 
correspondence  concerning  these  visits.  There  is  also  a  good  deal  of 
correspondence  with  Tuckwell  with  regard  to  his  rendering  an 
account. 

2  &  8.  Two  packets  of  papers  concerning  the  survey  of  Charity 
properties  in  1859  and  the  subsequent  sale  of  certain  portions  in  i860 
and  1862. 

The  survey  was  made  in  July  1859  by  Mr.  Francis  Field  of  Oxford. 
The  following  is  a  summary  of  his  report : 

Almshouse  Estate. 

Dovecot  House  and  large  garden  occupied  by  James  Harris :  in 
bad  repair  :  sale  recommended. 

School  room  and  two  cottages  in  the  tenure  of  the  Vicar :  not  in 
good  repair  :  sale  recommended. 

Common  Poor  Estate, 

Cobb  Hall  and  three  cottages :  a  good  deal  out  of  repair :  sale 
recommendedg 

Tanfield  Estate. 

House,  stable,  and  garden  in  Sheep  Street  occupied  by  James  S. 
Price  :  in  excellent  repair. 

Church  Estate. 

The  Bull  Inn  .•  parts  out  of  repair  and  roof  bad  :  sale  recommended. 

The  Bell  Inn,  High  Street :  a  dirty  dilapidated  place  :  sale  recom- 
mended. 


5i8  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Chemist's  shop  in  High  Street :  in  indifferent  repair :  sale  recom- 
mended. 

Small  house  and  inn  in  Sheep  Street,  occupied  by  Humphrey  R. 
Porter  :  in  good  repair. 

Fifteenths  Estate. 
Small  house  and  garden  in  Priory  Street :  a  newly  tuilt  house. 

Mullender's  Lane. 

First  block — four  small  cottages,  one  sitting  room  and  one  bed 
room  each  :  tolerable  repair. 

Second  block — three  similar  cottages  :  also  tolerable  repair. 

Poole's  Estate. 

Shop  in  High  Street  occupied  by  Griffin,  watchmaker  :  poor  house 
in  bad  repair :  sale  recommended. 

Coach  house  and  stable  at  bottom  of  Bull  Yard,  and  a  warehouse 
opposite  on  north  side  of  Witney  Street :  in  middling  repair. 

Public  house  in  Sheep  Street,  the  Fleece,  with  a  cottage  adjoining 
and  another  cottage  :  small  cottages  but  in  fair  repair. 

Cottage  in  Sheep  Street  occupied  by  Wm.  Hill  and  a  small  close  of 
pasture  :  in  fair  repair. 

Castle  Yard  Estate. 

Small  cottage  in  Witney  Street  and  two  cottages  in  Guildenford : 
the  first  very  dilapidated,  the  other  two  in  very  fair  repair. 

School  Estate. 

The  Eight  Bells  public  house  :  sale  recommended.  House  occupied 
by  Geo.  Packer  and  Wm.  Forest :  in  fair  repair. 

Wisdom's  Almshouse. 

A  house  of  three  rooms  :  very  bad  and  unfit  for  habitation  :  sale 
recommended  for  site  value. 

Cottage  occupied  by  Wm.  Nunney  adjoining :  sale  recommended. 

Note. — ^The  following  were  School  property,  though  not  so  entered. 
House  and  yard  and  currier's  shop  near  the  river  :  in  fair  repair. 
House  with  timber  yard  occupied  by  Wm.  East. 
House  occupied  by  Thos.  Hall :  fair  repair. 
House  lately  occupied  by  Thos.  Wiggins  :  in  very  fair  repair. 
Two  cottages  occupied  by  Henry  Pratley  and  Thos.  Winfield : 
generally  in  a  good  state. 


NINETEENTH-CENTURY  DOCUMENTS        519 

Cottage  occupied  by  Benj.  Charles. 

Cottage  occupied  by  E.  Moss — both  these  cottages  in  fairly  good 
repair. 
Cottage  occupied  by  James  Hill :  very  dilapidated^ 
Small  house  occupied  by  E.  Bastin  :  bad  state. 
Cottage  occupied  by  H.  Ball :  fair  repair. 
Small  house  occupied  by  J.  Faulkner  :  in  middling  repair. 
Small  House  occupied  by  Widow  Barnes  :  fair  repair. 
Cottage  occupied  by  T.  Beckley  :  not  in  good  condition. 

The  following  premises  were  put  up  for  auction  on  16  July,  i86q  : 

Lot  I.  The  Dovecot  House  etc. 

Lot  2.  The  school  room  and  two  cottages. 

Lot  3.  Cobb  Hall  and  three  cottages. 

Lot  4.  The  Tanfield  House. 

Lot  5.  The  Bull  Inn. 

Lot  6.  The  Bell  Inn. 

Lot  7.  The  chemist's  shop  in  High  Street. 

Lot  I  was  bought  by  James  Wiggins  for  £210. 
Lot  6  was  bought  by  William  Nunney  for  £200. 
Lot  7  was  bought  by  William  Wheeler  for  £410. 

The  following  were  put  up  for  auction  at  the  Bull  Inn  on  6  June, 
1862  : 
Lot  1.  Schoolroom  and  two«cottages. 
Lot  2.  Cobb  Hall  and  three  cottages. 
Lot  3.  The  Bull  Inn  with  the  stable,  warehouse,  etc. 
Lot  4.  Mullender's  Lane — four  cottages. 
Lot  5.  Mullender's  Lane — three  cottages. 
Lot  6.  Shop  (Griffin's)  on  Poole  Estate. 
Lot  7.  The  Fleece  and  two  cottages. 
Lot  8.  Castle  Yard  cottage  in  Witney  Street. 
Lot  9.  Wisdom  Almshouse  and  cottage  adjoining. 
Lot  ID.  House  with  Currier's  shop  and  next  house.  . 

Lot  II.  Three  cottages — Chowles,  Hill  &  Moss. 
Lot  12.  House  and  yard  (Wiggins). 
Lot  13.  Cottages — Bastin'  and  Ball. 
Lot  14.  Small  house — ^Faulkner. 
Lot  15.  Small  house — Widow  Barnes. 
Lot  16.  Cottage — Beckley. 


520  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Lot  I  was  bought  by  J.  and  C.  Wiggins  for  £200. 
Lot  8  was  bought  by  Phoebe  Tuckwell  for  £200. 
Lot  9  was  bought  by  G.  Jennings  for  £65. 
Lot  II  was  bought  by  Miss  Harriett  Ansell  for  £180. 

The  following  lots  were  subsequently  disposed  of  by  tender : 

Lot  2  (purchaser  not  named)  for  £200. 

Lot  12  to  J.  B.  Walter  for  £180. 

Lot  13  to  T.  Perrin  for  £160. 

Lots  14  &  15  for  £140  (purchaser  not  named). 

4.  A  packet  of  leases  of  Charity  properties, the  first  dated  2  February, 
1828,  and  the  last  dated  24  April,  1861. 


NINETEENTH-CENTURY  DOCUMENTS.    II 

Tolsey,  Bundle  O 

1.  Various  documents  affecting  the  later  history  of  the  Charity 
Lands.' 

3  October,  i860. 

Scheme  of  the  Charity  Commission  on  the  dissolution  of  the  Burford 
Corporation,  vesting  the  Burford  Charity  properties  in  Trustees  in 
trust  for  the  Burford  Charities.  The  only  portions  of  the  properties 
for  which  any  particular  arrangements  were  made  were  the  Fifteenths 
Estate,  the  proceeds  of  which  were  ordered  to  be  allotted  to  the 
National  Schools ;  Wisdom's  Almshouse,  which  was  ordered  to  be 
sold  and  the  money  allotted  to  the  Great  Almshouse ;  and  the 
Tradesmen's  Fimd,  allotted  to  the  Grammar  School. 

3  July,  1863. 

Scheme  of  the  Charity  Commission  under  the  Act  24  &  25  Victoria, 
amalgamating  the  funds  of  the  Great  Almshouse,  the  Tanfield  Charity, 
the  Widows'  Fund  (comprising  Vesey's,  Atwell's,  and  Willett's  gifts), 
Meady's  Charity,  and  certain  holdings  of  stock  into  one  fund  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Great  Almshouse. 

5  April,  1869. 

Exchange  of  a  house  forming  part  of  the  School  Lands  for  another 
house  near  the  School. 


NINETEENTH-CENTURY  DOCUMENTS         521 

The  School  Lands  house  was  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street, 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  river  Windrush,  on  the  west. by  the 
cottage  and  garden  of  Letitia  Smith,  and  on  the  east  by  cottages- 
called  Leather  Alley.  It  was  occupied  by  T.  Beckley.  The  house 
for  which  it  was  exchanged  belonged  to  J.  Banbury  and  was  in 
Lawrence  Lane  and  bounded  by  the  School  playground  on  the  south 
and  east.    Banbury  received  also  a  consideration  of  £20. 

13  April,  1886. 

Scheme  by  the  Charity  Commission  consolidating  the  Great  Alms- 
house, Castle's  Almshouses,  and  Edmond  Harman's  Chjirity. 

The  Great  Almshouse  at  this  time  possessed  : 

i.  The  buildings  on  Church  Green. 

ii.  A  rood  of  land  at  Ducklington. 

iii.  About  11  acres  of  land  at  Curbridgtf. 

iv.  The  Tanfield  house  in  Sheep  Street. 

V-  £3  a  year  from  Poole's  Lands, 

vi.  £5  4_y.  a  year  from  Church  Lands, 

vii.  £868  13s.  ^d.  ■  Consols, 

viii.  £221  155.  id.    Consols.  « 

Castle's  Almshouses  possessed  : 

i.    The  buildings  in  Guildenford. 
ii.    A  cottage  in  Guildenford. 
iii.    £187  95.  id.    Consols. 

Harman's  Charity  of  £4*45.  a  year  proceeded  out  of  the  Port  Mills, 
then  owned  by  Miss  Youde. 

12  May,  1891. 

Order  by  the  Charity  Commission,  since  the  County  Council  had 
taken  over  ^he  Bridge  as  a  County  bridge,  to  transfer  to  the  Council 
a  sum  of  £87  95.  Sd.  in  2f  %  Consols,  belonging  to  the  Bridge  Estate. 

1893- 

Draft  of  a  scheme  by  the  Charity  Commission  for  the  sale  of  the 
Fifteenths  Estate,  18  perches  of  land  and  a  cotta^  which  had  become 
ruinous  in  Priory  Lane.  The  draft  authorizes  the  sale  of  the  property 
for  £120. 

2.  A  packet  of  papers  relating  to  a  dispute  in  1899  as  to  the  owner- 
ship of  the  Tolsey. 

The  Parish  Council  wished  to  obtain  a  lease  of  the  building  with 


522  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

a  view  to  its  preservation.  The  Charity  Trustees  claimed  to  be  the 
owners,  and  had  received  a  rent  of  is.  a  year  from  the  Reading  Room 
Committee  as  owners. 

A  case  was  submitted  to  counsel  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the 
building  '  had  formerly  always  been  used  by  the  Lord  of  the  Manor 
and  the  Corporation  conjointly,  by  the  Lord  for  holding  his  aimual 
Court  there,  he  claiming  also  a  right  to  stallage  underneath  the  building, 
and  by  the  Corporation  for  an  armoury  for  the  Militia.  The  county 
magistrates  prior  to  1840  held  their  justices'  meetings  at  the  Tolsey 
with  the  permission  of  the  Corporation  '. 

Counsel  (Mr»  Corrie  Grant)  held  that  probably  the  claim  of  the  Lord 
of  the  Manor  was  barred  by  Statute,  he  having  apparently  made  no 
claim  since  1863.  But  whether  no  claim  had  been  made  was  doubtful. 
This  opinion  is  dated  11  Oct.,  1899. 

Subsequently,  after  the  publicatioil  of  the  volume  of  the  Historical 
Manuscripts  Commission  containing  certain  Burford  documents, 
Mr.  Corrie  Grant's  opinion  was  again  asked,  the  new  fact  presented 
to  him  being  that  on  p.  42  of  that  volume  it  appears  in  the  course  of 
the  Rules  of  the  Fellowship  of  Burgesses  of  Burford  that  the  Corpora- 
tion charged  for  stallage  under  the  Tolsey  in  1605.  Mr.  Corrie 
Grant  was  of  the  opinion  that  this  reference  did  not  help  towards 
a  solution  of  the  main  question ;  to  conclude  from  this  that  the 
Corporation  were  the  owners  of  the  building  would  be  too  large 
a  deduction. 

Included  in  this  packet  is  a  lease  of  the  Tolsey  by  the  Charity 
Trustees  to  the  Parish  Council. 


FRAGMENT  OF  THE  RECORD  BOOK  OF  THE  BURFORD 
BOROUGH  COURT 

1596  to  1597 

Tolsey 

Note. — ^The  foUouyng  fragment  of  the  Record  Book  of  the  Borough 
Court  was  found  by  R.  H.  Gretton  at  the  Tolsey  in  October  1915. 
Another  fragment  was  found  by  the  Rev.  W.  D.  Macray  among  the 
Cheatle  Papers,  when  he  examined  the  Burford  Records  for  the 
Historical  MSS.  Commission  in  1899. 

The  handwriting  is  very  crabbed.    But  the  real  difficulty  in  tran- 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT       523 

scription  has  been  that  the  clerk  knew  very  littje  Latin  and  had  clearly 
learned  by  rote  certain  formulas  sufficient  for  the  ordinary  entries. 
When  he  has  to  make  other  kinds  of  entries  he  uses  words  out  of  these 
formulas  without  any  regard  for  case  of  nouns  or  tense  of  verbs.  At 
times  he  gives  up  altogether  and  inserts  phrases  in  English.  All  this 
makes  the  transcription  nonsense  as  Latin  at  several  points.  But  the 
meaning  is  clear  enough. 

The  entries  of  pleas  of  debt  repeat  themselves  so  often  that  the 
transcription  has  only  been  made  in  full  for  the  first  two  folios.  After 
that  it  has  been  transcribed  with  the  original  abbreviations  unaltered, 
except  where  ^ny  unusual  entry  occurs. 

The  clerk's  method  was  to  enter  in  the  left-hand  margin  the  date 
at  which  the  action  was  entered,  writing  the  word  *  actio  '  followed  by 
the  date,  and  to  enter  under  this  date  the  various  dates  at  which  the 
suit  was  heard.  Most  of  the  cases  have  at  the  head  the  words  *  narr 
de  rec  '  which  I  take  to  mean  *  narratio  debiti  recepta  ' — '  statement 
of  the  debt  received  ' ;  but  occasionally  the  heading  is  '  non  narr  * — 
which  would  mean  that  no  statement  had  been  filed.  Two  other 
entries  occur,  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  pages — '  s  fe  pd  ',  which 
appears  to  mean  '  secta  feodi  predicti ' ;  and  *  attac  p  psons  ',  which 
seems  to  be  the  clerk's  way  of  saying  that  the  parties  attended  in 
person.  • 

fol  13 

Burford  William  Webbe 

in  Com  Oxon  Richard  nuberi        Ballivi 

Curia  ibidem  tenta  14°  die  mensis  maii  a**  regni 
domine  nostre  Elizabethe  38°  coram 
predictos  Ballivos  et  William  Sy-        Geast  cler 
mons    aldrman    Simonem     Grene        ibidem 
stuard  lohannes  RofiEe  et  Radulphus        12°  curia 
Wisdom  Burgeses  * 

1596 
accon  15  maii  Willelmus  fowler  de   Barington   Glou   querente 

versus  mychaell  Burson  in  placito  debiti  quod 
reddit  ei  xs. 

plegii  pro  querente  Thomas  Daniell  et  pro 
defendente  lohannes  Daniell  Glover 
40  lunii  concordant  ante  banc  curiam 


524 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


1596 
accon  22  mail 


1596 
accon  29  maii 


1596 
accon  14  lune 


25  lune 

26  lulii 

6  augustii 

fol  13  rev 

1596 
accon  30  lune 

4°  lunii 


1596 
acco  40  lunii 

14  maii 


25  lune 
20  lulii 


Edmundus  Secole  querente  versus  thomam  howse 
in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei 

pro  defendente  plegius  Wm  Webbe 

Thomas  Goddenoughe  de  bradwell  querente  ver- 
sus lohannem  Dameye  in  placito  debiti  quod 
reddit  ei  iiiy.  iiiii/. 

concordant  eodem  die 

Edmundus  bieron  versus  Edmundum  Ryley  gent 
in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei  xd. 

plegius  pro  querente  wm  neale  et  pro  defen- 
dente Wm  Walker 
dies  datur  defendenti  ad  proximam  responden- 
dum. 

defendens    confessus    accionem    in    Curia    ideo 
indicium  datur  per  curiam  solvetur  debitum 
et  costagia  apud  proximam  curiam  debitum  non 
est  solutum  apud  banc  curiam  ideo  plegius 
est  solvere  eidem 


narr  de 
Ricardus  Walker  de  barrington  magna  querente 
versus  lohannem  Striver  defendentem  in  placito 
debiti  quod  reddit  ei  viLj.  iiiiJ. 

dies  datur  defendenti  respondendum  at  proximam 
aliter  adward  versus  eum 
concordant  6°  lunii 

narr  de 
Johannes  Ward  querente  versus  Willelmum  hall 
in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  6i  iiis. 

dies  datur  per  curiam  pro  defendente  responden- 
dum ad  proximam  curiam 
Indicium    datur    per    curiam    pro    debito    quia 
defendens  non  apparet 
et  pro  costagiis  de  secta 

concordant  apud  banc  curiam 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


525 


1596 
acco  30  lunii 

4°  lunii 

1596 
acco  3°  lunii 

1596 
acco  3  lunii 

cur  4  lune 
cur  25  lune 

fol  15 

1596 
accon  25  lune 

16  lulii 

6  augustii 

1596 
acco  II  lulii 


1596 
accon  14  lulii 


1596 
acco  14  lulii 

16  lulii 
6°  augustii 
27°  augustii 


Ricardus  meriwether  querente   versus  Thomam 
sowdley  in  placito  debiti  quod  Reddit  ei    vuis.  xd. 
concordant  ante  curiam 


Ricardus  meriwether  querente  versus  Willelmum 
Eve  in  placito  debiti  quod  Reddit  ei        \iis.  iiud. 

Robertus    Syrrell    querente    versus     Ricardum 
hodges  in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei        xxiilf. 
continuatum  est  ad  proximam  curiam  per  p 
concordant  apud  banc  curiam  25  lune 


te    , 
narr  de  in  q  Rec 
Ricardus  swettnam  de  Burford  miller  querente 
versus  Danielle  scheper  in  placito  debiti 
quod  reddit  ei  xv^. 

plegius  pro  defendente  agnes  hayt  vidua 
defendens  essoigne  per  Edmundum  Sutton 


Willelmus  Barthelemew  querente  versus  Ricardum 
Walgrave  alias  Walldem  in  placito  debiti  quod 
reddit  ei  •    xis.  inid. 

concordant  eodem  die  et  sic  finis 

lohannes  shur(?)  de  Witney  fuller  querente  versus 
Ricardum  Coocke  de  Strowd  in  com  Gloc  in 
placito  supra  computaciones  inter  predictum 
lohannes  et  Ricardus  ad  valenc  xvs. 

concordant  eodem  die  et  sic  vacatum 

s  fe  pd 
Willelmus  Taylor  querente  versus  Ricardum  hancks 
in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei      xv5.  ixd.  curia 
dat  dies  defendenti  respondendum  ad 
proximam  curiam 
concordant 


526 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


1596 
accOn  14  lulii 

16  luIii 

6°  augustii 

27  augustii 
24  Sept 

fol  15  rev 

Burford 
Burg 


1596 
accon  16  lulii 

6"  augustii 

1596 
accon  17  lulii 


6°  augustii 

1596. 
accon  29  lulii 

6  augustii 

27  august 


s  fe  pd 
Simon  Grene  querente  versus  Robertum  Beddall 
in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei  xxs. 

dies  datur  defendenti  per  curiam  respondendum 
apud  proximam  curiam 

continuatum  per  assent  querentis  ad  proximam 
pro  id.  soluto  per  defendentem 
defendens  apparet  in  propria  persona  et 
confessus   accionem   ideo   iudicium   versus   eum 
solvendum  apud  proximam  aliter  beware 


William  Webbe 

Richard  nuberi        Ballivi  a°  1596 
apud  curiam  ibidem  tentam  decimo-  sexto   die 
lulii  aP  Regine  domine  nostre  Eliza- 
beethe    xxxviii"   coram   predictos 
Ballivos  Willm  Symons  alderman 
Simonem  Grene  stuard  Jhon  Lym  Tobye  Dallam 
Burgesses 

Wm  Symons  alderman 

Symon  Grene  stuard 


Geast  cler 
15°  cur 


Willelmus  taylor  istius  ville  Chandler  querente 
versus  lacobum  hicks  de  cheppingnorton  in 
placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei  xii^. 

concordant  eodem  die 

michaele  yong  de  ascot  subter  Whichewood 
querente  versus  Willelmum  peake  de  istius  ville 
baker  in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei  iii^.  mid. 
plegius  pro  defendente  Simon  Dallam 

concordant  apud  banc  curiam  ante  vocatur 

narr  de  rec  s  f  e  pd 

Thomas  tuncks  sadler  querente  versus  Willelmum 
haddon  in  placito  debiti  quod  reddit  ei  iii^.  iiiii. 
Dies  datur  per  curiam  pro  defendente  apud 
proximam  curiam  respondendum 

concordant  27  august  ante  curiam 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


527 


1596 
acco  14  lune 


29  lune 

6°  lulii 
6°  augustii 

27  august 

£oli6 

1596 
acco  ultimo  lulii 

6°  augustii 

1596 
acco  ultimo  lulii 

6°  agustii 


27  agustii 

24  Sept 
15  Octob' 
9  Novemb 
26  Nove' 
17  Dec 

1596 
acco  3  augustii 


6  augustii 
29  agustii 

24  Sept 


Edmundus  hiron  versus  Edward  Ryley  in  pladto 
debiti  quod  reddit  ei  xi. 

plegius  pro  querente  Wm  neale  et  pro  defen- 

dente  Wm  Walker 
dies  datur  per  curiam  pro  defendente  responden- 
dum apud  proximam  primam  curiam 
defendens  confessus  accionem  in  curia  2°  cur 
ideo  Indicium  datur  per  curiam  solvere  debitum 
et  costagiis  at  proximam  curiam 
Wm  Walker  solvit  debitum  et  costagia  ad  manum 
simonis  Simons  vz  ii5.  xd. 


Hewgone  owen  queritur  vss  Gryffin  lewes  in  plit 

iii^. 


debit  qd  reddit  ei 

concordant  ante  cur 


feodem  pro 
intrante 
non  solutum 


narr  de  rec 
Thomas  silvester  q  vss  Edmd  holiday  in  plit 
debit  qd  redit  ei  xix5. 

def  non  app  ideo  distreng  vss  eum'sed  nichill 
non  inventus  est  apud  banc  cur  et  non  solvit 
Feod  cur 

Def  app  in  ppria  psona  et  cur  dat  diem  defti 
respond  apud  px  cur 

cont  p  q  ad  px  cur 

cont  p  q  usque  px 

cont  p  q  usq  px 

cont  p  q  usq  px 

cont  p  q  p  solut 

narr  de  rec 
willmus  Walker  q  vss  Ihoem  Jordan  in  plit  debt 
reddit  ei  iiis.  xii. 

s  f  e  pd 
Cont  est  p  q  in  px  cur  pro  2d.  solut 
essoygne  per  uxorem  defendentis  pro  uno  denario 
soluto  usque  px  cur 

concordant  24  Sept 


7  Janr  cont 
cont  28  Jan 
i8feb 
II  mche 
I  aprill 
22  aprill 


528 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


1596 
accon  3  augustii 


1596 
acco  5  august 

6  agustii 

fol  16  rev. 

Burg  de 
Burford 


1596 
acco  6  augustii 

6  augustii 
27  Augustii 

1596 
accon  7  august 


acco  7  august 


1596 
acco  7  august 


narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

Elizabeth  Walclet  vidua  de  Alington  wroughton 
in  com  Wiltes  vidua  q  vss  Ihoem  CoUyng  de 
Burford  in  placito  detencionis  pro  divers  parcelles 
bonorum  ut  per  narracionem  suam  apparet  ad 
somam  xviis. 

pleg  p  q  Ihoes  Wallclet 

concordant  apud  banc  cur 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

Simo  star  q  vss  thomam  williams  in  plit  debit 

qd  reddit  ei  vii^.  iiiJ. 
concordant  ante  cur 

1596 

William  Webbe 

Richard  nuberi        Ballivi 
apud  curiam  ibidem  tentam  6**  die  augustii  a? 
regine  domine  nostre  Elizabeeth  dei  gracia  Anglie 
francie  et  hibemie  Reginae  fidei 
defensoris  38°  coram  pd  Ballivos 
Willm  Simons  aldermann  Simo- 
nem  Grene  stuard  Ihoes  Lym  Ihoes  hannes  Ihoes 
Rofie  et  Radulphus  Wisdom  Burgesses 

narr  de  rec  s  f e  pd 

Agneta  Hayter  vid  q  vss  Robertum  Beddall  in 

plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  vi^.  viiii. 
Cont  apd  banc  cur  p  qp  2d.  solut 
concordant  27  august  ante  cur 

Ihoes  Colbome  istius  ville  q  vss  Ihoem  Haslewood 
in  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xv'iid. 

concordant  eodem  die 
Edms  Serrell  q  vss  Robtum  lifolie  de  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  pro  duodecim  boshells  ordei  ad  valen 

Concordant  8°  agustii 

narr  de  rec  s  f e  pd 

Reginaldus  gorram  q  vss  Ihoem  lordan  in  plit 

debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxxixs.  xd. 
pleg  p  q  Andrew  ward 


Geast  cler 
16*  cur 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


529 


27°  augustii 
24  Sept 
fol  17 

1596 
acco  8  augustii 


1596 
acco  10  August 

27  Augustii 

24  Sept 

1596 
acco  17  august 

cur  27  augustii 

1596 
acco  20  august 

27  augustii 
24  Sept 

1596 
acco  21  august 


27  augustii 

24  Sept 
15  Octob 


fol  17  rev 

Burg  de 
Burford 

»3P* 


essoigne  p  uxorem  def  respond  apd  px 
Concordant  apd  hanc  cur  et  sic  finalis 


Georgius   alltoste   q   vss    Ihoem   Chander   alias 
Charm  in  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xs. 

pleg  p  q  Geor  Serrell 

concordant  eodem  die  et  sic  vac 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

Hughoe  owen  q  vss  ricardum  lowman  in  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  iiii^.  mid. 

To  hayt         dies  dat  defti  p  cur  respond 
pleg  p  def  apd  px  cur 

ludic  dat  p  cur  p  debit  et  costagiis 

s  fe  pd 
Willms  Taylor  q  vss  vid  raaior  vid  in  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  iiii^.  viii<f. 

concord  26  augustii  uno  die  ante  cur 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

Anna  Chadwell  vid  q  vss  Ihoem  taylor  in  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ea  xxii5.  viiirf. 

essoygne  p  Wm  taylor  respond  ad  px 
Concordant  ante  cur 

narr  de  rec 
Samuell  hurst  q  vss  Edmd  gorram  in  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  xxxviii^.  viid. 

pleg  p  q  thorns  arkell 
Def  apparet  in  ppria  psona  et  petit  dies  respond 
apd  px  cur 

Def  non  app  ideo  ludic  dat  p  q  p  debit  et 
p   costagiis  in  secta         concordant  apd  hanc 
cur  et  sic  finalis 


1596 

Willm  Webbe 
et  Ric  Nuberi 
apud  curiam  Ibidem  tentam  xxvii°  die  augustii 
M  m 


530 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


1596 
acco  26  august 

1596 
acco  26  august 

27  augustii 
24  Sept 

1596 
acco  25  august 

27  augustii 
24  Sept 

1596 
acco  26  august 

27  Augustii 
24  Sept 
15  Octob' 


1596 
acco  26  august 

27  Augustii 
24  Sept 
15  Octob'' 

1596 
foli8 

acco  26  August 

27  augustii 
24  [Sept 


Geast 
cleric 
17"  cur 

s  f  e  pd 


a°  regine  domine  nostre  Elizabeethe 
dei  gracia  38°  Qoram  pd  Ball  Willm 
Simons  allderman  Simon  Grene  stuard 
Simon  Simons  Richard  Meriwether 
Toby  Dallam  Burgess 

narr  de  rec 
Willm  Wisdom  q  vss  Simonem  fawler  in  pUt 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  p 

Oliverus  lloyd  alias  hewes  q  vss  Edmd  Silvester 
Junior  in  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxiiii^.  iid. 

Dies  dat  respond  apd  px  p  defti 
Concordant  24  Sept 

narr  de  rec  s  f e  p 

Willm  Wisdom  q  vss  Simonem  fawler  in  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  xviii^. 

Cont  p  q  ad  px  p  soluc  o 

Concordant  ante  cur 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

Ihoes  Ireland  de  barryngton  parva  q  vss  thomas 
baker  in  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  iis.  iid. 

def  non  app  ideo  d  est  dist  p  un  candebrum 
def  non  appar  apd  banc  cur 
def  appar  et  confess  acco  ideo  ludic  dat  p  debit 
et  p  costagiis  2s.  6d. 

baker  tarde  p  toto  feod 

narr  de  rec 
Edwds  lloyd  q  vss  thomam  Baker  in  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  vi5.  iiiii. 

def  non  app  ideo  d  est  deft  est  p  un  candelebrura 
def  non  appar  apd  banc  cur 

concordant  ante  cur  et  sic  vac 


narr  de  rec  s  f e  pd 

Robts  veysye  q  vss  anne  tymson  in  plit  debit  qd 
reddit  ei  xxiiii^. 

essoignat  p  cur  p  denar 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


531 


15  Octob'^ 

acco  26  August 

27  augustii 

24  Sept 

15  Octob'' 

acco  26  august 

27  augustii 

24  Sept 

15  Octob'^ 

5  Novemb'^ 

26  Novemb"^ 

17  Dec 

7  Jan 

28  Jan 

i8feb 

II  mche 

1596 

acco  ultimo 
augustii 

1596 
acco  4  Sept 


24  Sept 
15  Octob' 
5  Novemb'' 

26  Novemb'' 
17  Dec 

7  Jan 

27  Jan 
28feb 
II  mche 
1°  aprill 
22°  aprill 


Cpnt  p  cur  usq  px  cur  p        o 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

Item  eidem  Robts  vss  pft  anna  in  plit  debit  qd 
reddit  ei  xxiL;.  viiirf. 

essoigne  p  cur  p  denar 

Cont  p  cur  usq  px  cur  p        o 

narr  de  s  f e  p 

Thomas  arkell  q  vss  Willm  yeomans  in  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  iis.  vmd. 

cont  p  q  usq  ad  px  cur  p  soluc        o 

cont  usq  px  p  soluc  o 

cont  usq  px  p  soluc  o 

cont  usq  px  cur  p  solut  o 

cont  usq  px  cur  p  solut  o 

cont  usq  px  cur  p  solut  o 

cont  usq  px  cur  p  solut  o 

cont  usq  px  p  soluc  o 

cont  usq  px  p  o 

cont  II  mche  o 

Cont  I  aprill  o 

cont  22°  aprill  o 

s  fe  pd 
Willms  Wisdom  q  vss  margeria  humfreyes  als 
maior  vid  qd  redit  ei  xxviii^.  xd. 

concordant  15  Sept 

narr  de  rec 

attac  p  psons 
Simon  Dalbye  q  vss  Ihoem  tenman  als  tenpenny 
in  plit  detencionis  p  un  ore  (?)  ad  valenc  xiii^.  mid. 

pleg  p  q  hen  davis  et  p  def  wm  sessions 
def  app  in  ppria  psona  et  petit  copie  narr  respond 
apd  px  cur  apd  px 

Def  appar  et  ponit  seipsum  supra  duos  manus 
approbatos  quod  non  est  culpabilis  et  sic  dies 
defendenti  datur  per  curiam 

Def  fecit  legem  per  seipsum  et  duos  manus 
vz  hen  morris  et  thoma  Davis  ideo  iudic  vss 
q  pro  costagiis  35.  2d. 

M  m  2 


532 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


fol  1 8  rev 

1596 
acco  18  Sept 

24  Sept 
15  Octob"" 
5  Novemb 
26  Novemb 

1596 
acco  23  Sept 


24  Sept 
15  Octob"" 
5  Novemb  *■ 
26  Novemb"^ 


1596 
acco  23  Sept 

24  Sept 

15  Octob'' 


1596 
acco  23  Sept 


24  Sept 
15  Octob"" 

acco  23  Sept 


fowler  non  solut  sed  5  novemb 
Ihoes  wood  q  vss  Georgium  fowler  in  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  xxiiis. 

Cont  p  q  ad  px  p  soluc  2d.  solut 
Cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  2d.  solut 
Dies  dat  defti  resppnda  pd  px  cur  deft  confess 
acco  ideo  ludic  dat"^  P  q  P  debit  et  p  costagiis 

narr  de 
Simon   star  q  vss  andrew  ward  et  margareta 
uxorem   eius   administratores   bonorum   Ricardi 
Dalbie  defuncti  in  plit  qd  reddit  ei  xxxii^. 

Def  petit  dies  respond  apd  px  cur 
Cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  solut  2d. 
Dies  dat  defti  usq  px  qd  def  approbat  responden- 
dum suum  quod  querens  outlegatus  est  veil  non 
defendens  demonstravit  in  curia  brevis  utlegati 
sub  sigillo  versus  querentem  ideo  iudic  dat  pro 
defendente  pro  costagiis  et  accione  vacato 

ms. 

narr  de 
Thomas  arkell  q  vss  Walterum  gryffyn  in  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxxvi^. 

Def  appar  in  pson  et  confess  accon  ideo  Iudic 
dat  p  cur  p  debit  et  costagiis  lis. 

Concordant  inter  q  et  def  qd  def  solvat  wickle 
usq  debit  et  costagiis  solut  v  s  et  in  def— t  p  uno 
solut  tunc  a  levare  p  toto 

narr  de 
Thomas  Hathwaie  q  vss  ihoem  striver  in  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxs. 

pleg  p  q  Edmd  Sutton 
essoigne  per  uxorem  eius 
Def  appar  et  solvet  debit  et  p  costagiis  25. 

narr  de 
Thomas  hathewaie  q  vss  agneta  Tymson  in  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxii^. 

pleg  p  q  Edmd  Sutton 
essoygne  p  cur  respond  apd  px  cur 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


533 


24  Sept 

15  Octob'"  15 

5  Novemb'" 


fol  19 

Burg  de 
Burford 


1596 


acco  23  Sept 


24  Sept 
15  Octob' 


1596 
acco  24  Sept  in 
cur 


1596 

offycers  swome 
at  this  courte 


Def  confess  accon  et  promissum  dat  querenti 
recte  secured  ante  proximam  curiam  aliter  levare 
iudicium  versus  defendentem 
Concordant  inter  querentem  et  defendentem  quod 
defendens  solvet  every  monthe  iis. 

et  thomas  parsons  dat  verbum  suum  pro  predicta 
solutione  usque  debitum  solutum 


Ballivi 


Simon  Simons 

Ric  Meriwether 
apud  curiam  ibidem  tentam  xxiiii°  die 
Septembris    coram    predictos     Ballivos 
Simons  allderman  Simonem  Grene 
stuard   Ihoes  Lym    Ihoes   hannes 
Willm  Webbe  Burgesses 

narr  de 


mensis 
WilUn 

Gest  cler 
18°  cur 


vss 


Dalani  non  solut  fe 
Simonem  Dallam  in 
xviiif .  virf. 


Thomas  hathewaie  q 
plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei 

pleg  p  q  Edmd  Sutton 
essiyugne  p  Ihoem  Geast  apd  hanc  cur 
Def  appar  apd  hanc  cur  et  confess  accon  idee 
iudic  dat  p  q  p  debit  et  costagiis  2* . 

Def  solut  debit  et  costagiis  et  sic  finis 

Willm  Clarke  q  vss  Reynoldus  Gorram  in  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  2s.  Sd. 

pleg  p  def  andrew  ward 

concordant  eodem  die 

Memorandum  at  the  court  abovesaid  were  swome 
by  m'"  baylifs  for  cardners  of  the  market  for  this 
present  yeare  Robt  Serrell  and  Walter  gryffyn 
and  at  the  same  time  for  aletasters  Ihon  Colling 
and  william  neale 

Item  15  of  octob  was  swome  by  m'  baylifs 
to  be  wardman  for  that  yeare  Ihon  Saunders 


534 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


1596 
acco  2  octob"^  Rogerus  Harrisson  q  vss  Willm  Woodward  in 

plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xs. 

pleg  p  q  et  p  def 

Concordant  eodem  die  et  sic  vac 

narr  de 

Ricus  Wheler  de  ydbury  q  vss  Ihoem  tappyn  de 

eadem  in  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei        *         iii^.  iiii<i. 

pleg  p  q  hew  owen  et  p  def  thorns  smythe 

Concordant  15  octob'"  in  cur  et  sic  finalis 

dring  non  solut  fe  cur 

nee  p  2°  cur 

Ihoes    grenyng    de    cheppingfarrington    in    com 

berks   q   vss    Robtum   dring   de   Shulton   alias 

Shillton  in  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxxs. 

deft  ,  qi 

pleg  p  q  Ric  nubery  et  p  deft  Wm  townsend 
Def  non  appar  ideo  cur  dat  dies  penitorie  respond 
apd  px°  aliter  levare  vss  def 
Def  non  appar  ideo  ludic  dat  p  q  p  debit  et  p 
costagiis  cur  ii^. 

Thomas  hathewaye  q  vss  edmd  gorram  in  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxii^. 

pleg  p  q  ♦et  p  def 

Concordant  apd  stow  et  sic  vac 

Thomas  hathewaye  q  vss  Georgium  Cambrie  in 
plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  iis. 

pleg  p  q  et  p  def 

Concordant  eodem  die  et  sic  vac 

Note. — ^There  is  here  a  gap  in  the  fragment,  several  folios  being  missing, 
the  middle  portion  of  one  of  the  binding  sections  of  the  book. 

fol  30 

The  8  of  February  1596 

Robert  Beddall  sheweth  forthe  to  the  bayliffs  that  one  Stephens  a 

stranger  brought  unto  hym  the  7th  of  this  instant  feb  iiii  q'"  of  mutton 


iol  19  rev 

1596 
acco  9  octobr 

15  Octob 

1596 
acco  9  octob 


15  Octob 
5  Novemb 

26  Novemb 

1596 
acco  9  octob 

15  octob 

1596 
acco  9  octob  •■ 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT       535 

at  7  a  clock  at  nyght  requesting  him  to  sell  the  same  for  hym  as  he 
would  and  pay  for  the  same  on  fry  day  next  when  the  said  Stephens 
should  make  his  retume  to  burford  agayne 
the  marke  of 

wm  peake  pleg  p  beddall 
the  said  Beddall 
The  confession  of  mary  Berry  the  wyfe  of  Jhon  berry  examyned 
towchyng  the  matter  abovesaid 

Beyng  examyned  saythe  that  the  said  Stephens  beyng  a  butcher 
did  bryng  into  her  howse  certayne  shepe  and  dressed  them  in  a  house 
in  her  backsyde  late  in  the  occupation  of  the  said  Beddall  /  and  saythe 
she  dothe  know  that  the  said  Stephens  dyd  kyll  shepe  in  the  said  howse 
iii  tymes  vz  at  one  tyme  beyng  the  fyrst  tyme  one  sheppe  /  at  the 
second  tyme  ii  shepe  and  at  the  third  tyme  beyng  the  Sunday  7  of 
Feb  ii  sheppe 

Item  that  the  said  iiii  q**  of  mutton  were  browght  into  the  towlseie 
before  the  baylifEs  the  day  and  yere  abovesaid  and  prysed  by  andrew 
ward  thomas  parsons  and  wm  peake  and  wm  clarke  to  be  worth 

vi5.  viiii. 

Item  uppon  searche  made  in  the  howse  of  the  said  Berry  for  suspycion 
of  stelyng  of  sheppe  was  found  in  a  Barrell  in  the  said  Backhowse  ii 
good  fells  of  two  sheppe 

Item  the  said  Berry  beyng  examyned  Dothe  protest  that  she  is 
utterly  gylteles  of  all  the  matter  abovementioned 
Ihon  neap  pleg  p  berry 

fol  30  rev 

Burfford  Memorandum  that  a  hewen  cry  sent  from  brodwell 

by  Ric  mills  cunstable  9th  of  Feb  1596  for  then- 
query  of  a  white  gelding  with  a  red  sadle  uppon 
him  stowllen  from  brodwell  aforesaid  this  present 
nyght  last  past  which  came  to  the  hands  of  the 
bayl^ffs  of  Burford  about  7  of  the  clocke  in  the 
momyng  which  was  presently  sent  away  to  the 
next  tyothing 

acco  20  Feb  attac  p  psons 

159^  lohes  templer  q  vss  thomam  tuncks  de  plit  debit 

qd  reddit  ei  xxx5. 

II  mche  Cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  solut  2-0 


536 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


1°  aprill 
22°  aprill 

acco  22  Feb 

1596 
II  mche 


1596 
acco  16  Feb 
de  p  fe  8 

18  Feb 
11°  mche 
1°  aprill 
22°  aprill 


Cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  solut  8-0 

cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  solut  2-0 

tarde  p  se  p  entran 
Willm  more  de  aston  husbandman  q  vss  agnetam 
tymson  vid  istius  ville  de  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxy. 
Cont  est  p  q  usq  px  cur  2-0 

cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  solut  2-0 

concordabant  inter  seipsos  18  daye  of  mche 

1596  et  sic  finis 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  p 

Thomas  Williams   q  vss  Ric  Cakebred  de  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  mis. 

Def  confesseth  ideo  ludic  dat  p  debit  et  costagiis 

i&d. 
concordabant  et  sic  finis 


fol3i 

1596 
acco  16  feb 


II  marche 

1596 
acco  17  feb 

II  mche 


1596 
acco  17  feb 


11  mche 

1596 
acco  17  feb 


narr  de  rec  attach  p  psons 

Fraunciscus  peake  q  vss  Daniell  silvester  in  plit 
detencionis 

debit  qd  reddit  ei  pro  quinque  boshells 

of  wheate  xxxiii^.  imd. 

concordabant  et  sic  finis 

narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

Ihoes  worthall  alias  crow  q  vss  Georgium  fowler 
de  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  us.  imd. 

cont  p  q  usq  px  cur 

cont  p  q  usq  px        concordabant        2  4d.  solut 
et  f  in  cur 

Ihoes  Jordan  q  vss  Robtum  lordan  de  plit  debit 
qd  reddit  ei  *  vi^.  yid. 

cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  2d. 

q  non  ideo  acco  vac  11°  mche  1596 

narr  de  rec 
Lodovic  lones  cler  q  vss  Ihoem  lordan  de  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxxiis.  vid. 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


537 


II  mche  Def  non  app  ideo  distreng  cpat  p  i6d.  p  embollina- 

tiones 
1"  aprill  Def  confesseth  accon  ideo  iudic  dat  p  cur  p  debit 

22°  aprill  et  p  costagiis  sect  cur 

concordabant  et  sic  finis 
acco  17  feb  Eidem  Lodowic  lones  cler  vss  Ihoem  lordan  de 

1596  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  x^.  id. 

33  mche  Def  confessith  acco  ideo  iudic  dat  p  cur  p  debit 

2  apnll  et  p  costagiis  sect  de  cur 

P  concordabant  et  sic  finis 


fol  31  rev 

1596 
acco  17  feb 

18  feb 
12  mche 
I  aprill 

1596 
acco  18  feb 


II  mche 
I  aprill 

concordabant  p 
iudic  Simon 
Simons  et  Ric 
meriwether 

1596 
acco  18  feb 


II  mche 


narr  de  s  f e  pd 

Thomas  Williams  q  vss  Ric  Cakebred  de  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxw. 

Def  confesseth  accon  ideo  iudic  dat  vss  eum  p 
debit  et  p  costagiis  xviiii. 

concordabant 

non  narr  attac  p  persons 

Symon  fildman  de  barryngton  parva  q  vss  Willm 
Broshe  de  Ensam  et  ursulam  uxorem  eius  administ 
bonorum  Wm  hewes  defunti  in  plit  debit  qd 
reddit  ei  xxiiil;. 

pleg  p  q  andrew  ward  et  p  def  Thomas  Sowdley 
q  demonstravit  in  cur  narrationem  pro  willmo 
per  nominem  thomas  ideo  vac 

materia  refert  esse  determinacione  ad  Simoni 
Simons  et  Ric"  meriwether  baylifis  in  quinque 
libris  eche  to  other  ante  px  cur 

non  narr  *    attac  p  psons 

Symon  fildman  de  barryngton  parva  q  vss  willm 
broshe  de  Ensam  et  ursulam  uxorem  eius  administr 
bonorum  Wm  hewes  defunti  de  plit  debit  qd 
reddit  ei  xxxviii^.  viiit^. 

pleg  p  q  andrew  ward  et  p  def  thomas  sowdley 
q  demonstravit  in  cur  narrationem        p  yff{\\o 
per  nominem  thomas  ideo  vac 


538 
I  aprill 


1596 
acco  19  feb 


II  mche 

fol  32 
Burford 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

materie  refertur  ad  iudicium  et  determinacionem 
Simoni  Simons  et  Ric  meriwether  bayliffs  per 
assensum  q  et  def  et  obligati  sunt  in  quinque  libris 
eche  to  other 

Concordabant  per  iudic  Simone  Symons  et 

Ric  meriwether  Ball 

attac  p  psons 
hen  hollens  q  vss  humfridum  Cornsbye  de  plit 
debit  qd  reddit  ei  viii^.  wid. 

pleg  p  q  Thomas  smythe 
def  solvit  debit  Ud  manum  thome  parsons  ante 
cur  II  mche 


1596 
acco  19  feb- 


12  mche 
I  aprill 

concordabant  p 
iudic  Simon 
Simons  et  Ric* 
merrywether  Ball 

1596 
acco  19  feb 


Ball 


Symon  Symons 
■    Ric  merywether 
apud  curiam  ibidem  tentam  iS*'  die  feb  1596 
coram  ballivos  predictos  Wm  Sy- 
mons   alderman    Simonem    Grene        Gest  cler 
stuard  Ihoes  Roff  e  andrew  ward  Wm        26  cur 
taylor  thomas  Sessons  Burgesses 

Richd  Goodman 

Wm  Hayter        cunstables 

thos  Williams 

John  Saunders       wardesmen 

narr  de  rec  attac  p  psons 

Willms  Broshe  de  Ensam  q  vss  Symonem  fildman 
de  Barrington  parva  millare  in  plit  debit  qd 
reddit  ei  xxv^. 

pleg  p  q  Symon  Dallam  et  p  def  Andrew  ward 
def  petit  curiam  narrationi  respondendum  apud 
px  cur  aliter  iudicium  versus  eum  q  et  def  stant 
obligati  to  stand  to  thadward  of  the  ii  bayliffs 
in  v^i  eche  to  other  for  all  matters  depending 
betwene  them  ante  px  cur 

narr  de  rec  attac  p  psons 

Willmus  Broshe  de  Ensam  q  vss  Simonem  fildman 
de  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxv^. 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


539 


12  mche 
I  aprill 


fol  32  rev 

1596 
acco  19  feb 


II  mche 
I  aprill 


22  aprill 

1596 
acco  26  feb 


del  petit  curiam  narr  respond  apd  px  cur  aliter 
iudic  vss  eum 

q  et  def  stant  obligati  in  5^^  eche  to  other  to  abide 
thadwar^of  the  ii  bayliffs  for  all  matters  depending 
betwene  them  ante  px  cur 

concordabant  p  iudic  Simon  Symons  et  Ric 

meriwether 


narr  de  rec  attac  p  psons 

Edward  hongerford  gen  q  vss  Willm  Edgeley 
carriar  in  plit  de  computationis  ad  valent    xxxixs. 

pleg  p  q  Raphe  wisdom  et  p  def  Wm  Bartle- 

mew  essoygne  p  Wm  Bartlemew  et  dies  dat 

defti  respond  ad  px  cur 
Cont  p  cur  respond  apd  px  cur  aliter  Iudic  vss  eum 
Def  app  p  thomam  Edgeley  attomatimi  suum  ideo 
dies  querenti  def  respond  apd  px  cur  aliter  iudic 
vss  eum  et  post  hoc  in  eadem  curia  thomas 
edgeley  iurat  quod  distring  est  bonorum  q  ad 
vi*^  sed  sunt  bonorum  predicti  thome 

concordabant  px  cur  eodem  die  in  presentia 

Wm  Bartl^piew 

Willmus  (illegible  owing  to  fading)  de  dodington 
\  in  com  Gloc  q  vss  peter  peers  de  chippingnorton 

cordwayner  de  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei      viiy.  viiid. 
pleg  p  q  Edmd  serrell 
concordabant  eodem  die 

1596  narr  de  rec  s  f e  pd 

acco  10  mche  Thomas  prickevance  q  vss  Robtum  prickevance 

de  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xxviii^. 

II  mche  Dies  dat  defti  p  cur  respond  apd  px  cur  aHter 

1°  aprill  iudic  vss  eum 

22  aprill  Cont  p  q  usq  prx  cur  p  solut  a-o 

the  ii  of  may  1597   Def  non  respond  ideo  iudic  dat  p  cur  p  debit  et 

p  costagiis  solv  ante  px  cur  2/6 

Note. — Written  in  later  in  faded  ink  and  overrunning  the  next  entry. 

preysers  of  two  bottles  one  barell  one  griddiron  (?) 


540 


1596 
acco  10  mche 


22  mche 

I  aprill 
22  aprill 


fol33 


Burg  de 
Burford 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

taken  by  Dystres '  of  Robert  Pryckevance  and 
at  vii^.  viiii. 

by  Ihon  Rofie  Ihon  hunt,  Thomas 
(illegible)  Thomas  (ilUegible). 

Thomas   hayter   q   vss   hewgone  owen   de   plit 

detencionis 

debit  qd  reddit  ei  xiid. 

Dies  dat  defti  p  cur  respond  apd  px  cur  aliter 

iudic  vss  eum 

Def  dicit  non  est  culpabilis  et  ponit  seipsum  supra 
duos  manus  approbatos  apud 
px  cur  def  fecit  legem  per  ipsum  et  duos 
manus  vz  Stephen  wekniethe  et  nicolas  temple  ideo 
Iudic  vss  q  p  debit  et  p  costagiis  sect  cur  iii^.  iid. 
nondum  solvitur 

26  feb  aP  1596 
memorandum  the  day  and  yere  abovesaid  there 
were  comytted  to  m*"  bayliffs  by  my  lord  cheffe 
barron  at  the  assize  then  holden  at  Burford  these 
persons  folowyng  subscribed 

Katheryn  wild 

agnes  Boothe        all  of  • 

Anne  Wilkins        cheppingnorton 

margery  walker 
at  wch  tyme 

for  saying  of  the  said  Bayliffs  harmles  Ihon 
myston  and  arthure  wild  of  norton  aforesaid 
dyd  affirme  and  promysse  and  have  hereunto 
Subscrybed  thyr  names  accordingly  as  afore- 
said 

John  miston 
arthure     * 

sign 

willd 

Simon  Simons  Ball 

Richard  meriwether 
apud  curiam  ibidemt  entam  xi<^  die  mensis  martii 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT       541 

a**    domini    1596    coram    predictos 
Ballivos  Wm  Simons  alderman  Simo-        ^ 
nem  Grene  stuard  Ihoes  Roffe  Ihoes 
Gryflfyn  Wm  taylor  thomas  parsons  Burgesses 

Richd  goodman 

Wm  hayter        cunstables 

Richd  hawten 

thomas  levet        wardsmen 

1596  narr  de  rec  attac  p  psons 

acco  II  mche  Ihoes  Roffe  q  vss  Ric  cobur  de  ffulbroke  chandler 

de  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  iius. 

def  essoygne  p  wm  haddon  usq  px  cur  et  tunc 

respond 

I  aprill  def  app  et  dicit  non  est  culpabilis  et  ponit  seipsum 

supra    duos    manus    approbates    apud    px    cur 

materie  ref  ad  iudic  Symon  Symons  et  Ric 

merywether  ante  px  cur  aliter  . . .  p  lege 

Noie. — The  writing  is  so  faded  here  as  to  be  illegible. 

1°  die  lulii  Arbitrat  .  .  .  arbitrum  .  .  .  inter  q  et  def  ideo  cont 

.  . .  usq  ad  px  cur 
27"  die  lulii  continuat  p  q  usq  proxim  cur 

Iudic  conceditur  versus  deft  de  plit  debit  pfat 

cum  costag  curie  ii^.   viiirf.   vi^.   viiii.  solvend 

ante  pxim  cur 

fol  33  rev 

1596  attac  p  psons 

acco  1 2th  of  mche   Ihoes    makrethe    de    cheppingnorton    in    com 

draper  q  vss  nicolaum  Beard  de  plit  debit  qd 

reddit  ei  xs, 

1°  aprill        cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  2-0 

cont  p  q  usq  px  cur  p  2-0 

22  aprill                   cont  p  q  usq  px  p  2-0 

1596  •  attac  p  psons 

acco  14  mche  Edward  gorrham  de  baryngton  magna  in  Com 

berks  q  vss  Robt  chapman  de  plit  debit  qd 

reddit  ei  xxxix^.  xi<2. 

concordabant  eodem  die 


542 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


1596  attac  p  psons 

acco  14  mche  Thomas  parsons  et  Robt  Serrell  q  vss  Edwardum 

1°  aprill  Somner  de  plit  qd  reddit  eis    xxxiii^.  iiii<i. 

22  aprill  Cont  p  cur  usq  px  cur 

1596  attac  p  psons 

acco  14  mche  Thomas  parsons  et  Robt  Serrell  q  vss  Edwardum 

Somner  de  plit  qd  reddit  eis    xxxiii^.  iiii<i. 

I  aprill  cont  p  cur  usq  px  cur 

22  aprill 

1596  attac  p  psons 

acco  14  mche  Thomas  parsons  et  Robe  Serrell  q  vss  Edward 

Somner  de  plit  qd  reddit  eis    xxxiiiy.  iiii<i. 

I  aprill  cont  p  cur  usq  px  cur 

22  aprill 

1596  narr  de  rec  a  f e  pd 

acco  14  mche  lacobus  morthew  de  eaton  bastings  in  com  berks 

sheppard  q  vss  Willm  Jordan  iunior  de  plit  debit 

qd  reddit  ei  xxxiii^. 

pleg  p  Willm  Webbe 

I  aprill  def  non  appar  ideo  amerciatus  est  et  distring 

awarded  vss  eum 
22  aprill  def  non  appar  ideo  amerc  vss  eum  -vs. 

1596  non  narr  s  fe  pd 

acco  19  m  Ricds  Wilkins  de  Barington  magna  in  com  Gloc 

weaver  q  vss  Ihoem  worthall  alias  crow  de  plit 

detencionis  pro  una  parcella  ordini  vocati  a  cone 

.  or  cocke  of  barley  ad  valent  xxs. 

pleg  p  q  henry  sowtham 

I  aprill  Cont  est  p  q  iisq  px  cur  p  ,  2-0 

22  aprill  concordabant  inter  seipsos 

acco  ultimo  die  narr  de  rec  s  fe  pd 

martii  1597  Ihoes  ward  q  vss  thomam  smyth  de  plit  debit 

qd  reddit  ei  ii5.  yiiid. 

I  aprill  def  confesseth  acco  ideo  ludic  vss  eum  p  debit   et 

p  costagiis  ii^. 

22  aprill  def  non  appar  et  non  sol  vet  debit  ideo  amerciatus 

est  xiid. 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


543 


fol  34  rev 

a  taxacion  15  aprill  1596  towards  the  fumyshyng  of  sowdiars  under 
the  two  lord  generalls  therle  of  Essex  and  id.  admirall  now  at  sea  in 
her  maiesties  service  for  the  some  of  20s.  ceassed  by  Wm  Webbe  Ric 
meriwether  Symon  Grene  Ihon  Roffe  Burgesses  henry  sowtham 
Ihon  hewes  Ihon  coliar  Thomas  hether  Wm  taylor  Ihon  hunt  and 
Edmimd  Serrell  as  also  for  iiii^.  mid.  due  to  frymc  (?)  a  sowdiar  the 
same  tyme  into  Ireland 


Imprim  Wm  Webbe 

vii. 

Robt  Cobar 

iii. 

Ric  nuberi 

\\d. 

Thos  Cobar 

M. 

Wm  Symons 

vii. 

Thos  Rossell 

M. 

Symon  Grene 

\\d. 

Agnes  hayter 

virf. 

Ihon  Lym 

vii. 

Wm  Wisdom 

mid. 

Symon  Symons 

\\d. 

Lawrence  holding 

U. 

Ihon  Roffe 

\\d. 

Thomas  butcher 

U. 

Ric  merywether 

v\d. 

Ihon  Saunders 

iSad. 

Ihon  Hannes 

\\d. 

Ihon  Ward 

mi. 

Toby  Dallam 

iiiiJ. 

Wm  Daye 

iii. 

Raphe  wisdom 

viiii. 

Samuell  hurst 

iii<i!. 

M"  Chadwell 

\id. 

Wm  Calkot 

villi. 

Alice  Reynolds 

iiiii. 

Ihon  Gryffyn 

vii. 

Mary  R«idy 

Thomas  hemyng 

md. 

Ihon  stryver 

iii. 

Ric  harris 

iii. 

Gryffyn  lewe's 

Wd. 

Francis  perks 

U. 

Andrew  Yates 

i\d. 

Thomas  Kempe 

M. 

Ric  Levet 

\\d. 

Ric  lordan 

iii. 

Wm  Walker 

\\d. 

Ihon  Wood 

wad. 

Thomas  luckyns 

\\d. 

Waf  hayter 

U. 

Ric  hodges   ' 

\'\d. 

Wm  taylor 

md. 

m*"  harman  jhonson 

vii. 

Wm  hayter 

md. 

George  fowler 

iii. 

Thomas  Daniell 

U. 

Thomas  Parsons 

vii. 

thomas  fowler 

M. 

andrew  ward 

\\d. 

Symon  star 

U. 

Edmond  Serrell 

\\\d. 

Ric  hanks 

M. 

Widow  maior 

iii. 

Thomas  taylor 

M. 

Ihon  Scar  brow 

i\d. 

Thomas  axtell 

U. 

Wm  Sessions 

vii. 

Robt  lordan 

M. 

Thomas  hayter 

M. 

Wm  Bartlemew 

wad. 

Symon  fawler 

iii. 

Ihon  Walburge 

U. 

Wm  peake 

iii. 

Robt  Moliner 

M. 

Robt  veyse 

iiiii. 

Ric  hawten 

iU. 

Thos  Silvester 

iiii. 

Innocent  greneway 

•    \\d. 

hew  owen 

!!f 

wm  eve 

iii. 

Ihon  lordan 

md. 

henry  lovering 

M. 

Robt  Serrell 

mid. 

Edward  lloyd 

M. 

Thos  harding 

\\\\d. 

Wm  Combe 

vaad. 

544 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


iii. 

Symon  taylor 

ud. 

ud. 

Ric  Cakebred 

vd. 

iiii<2. 

Ihon  hall 

ud. 

iid. 

Alexander  grynder 

ud. 

iiiiJ. 

Thomas  hajrter 

ud. 

ud. 

Edmd  Silvester 

mid 

iid. 

henry  hayter 

ud. 

iid. 

Wm  lordan 

iid. 

iid. 

Jhon  Collar 

ud. 

iid. 

Ric  Carlton 

ud. 

P^  lyfoly 
Wm  Clarke 
Ihon  hunt 
henry  sowtham 
Ihon  Templer 
Rich  goodman 
Wm  townsend 
Ihon  Hewes 
Thos  bygnell 
Symon  Dalby 

fol36 

1°  die  aprilis  a°  1597 

memorandum  that  the  day  and  yere  abovesaid  Wm  Veysye  hathe 
yeven  hys  word  that  all  his  under  (illegible)  shall  fifrom  henceforth 
be  of  good  behavior  in  the  towne  and  that  none  of  them  shall  goe 
a  begging. 

memorandum  that  allmatters  depending  in  this  cowrt  betwene 
Wm  Broshe  of  Ensam  and  Symon  fildman  of  little  Barryngton  were 
by  bothe  theyr  assents  commytted  at  the  cowrt  here  holden  the  first 
day  of  Aprill  1597  to  Symon  Symons  and  Richard  mery wether  bayliffs 
to  be  determyned  before  the  next  cowrt  here  to  be  holden  fior  per- 
formance whereof  the  said  parties  became  bound  eche  to  other  in  v'" 
apece  to  abyde  by  thadward  of  the  said  Bayliffs  by  geving  of  iid.  eche 
to  other. 


1597 
acco  II  aprill 


22°  Aprill 


1597 
acco  14  aprill 


non  narr  attach  p  psons 

Willm  Browne  de  cheppingfarrington  in  Com 
berks  ostler  q  vss  franciscum  Bower  de  Stow  in 
com  Gloc  de  plit  debit  qd  reddit  ei  xx5. 

pleg  p  q  Stephen  Bateman 
Concordabant  per  dicentes  Stephen  Bateman 

non  narr  attac  p  psons 

Ihoes  Gryffin  q  vss  Ihoem  Wyet  de  plit  qd  reddit 
ei 


ixs.  xi<2. 
22°  Aprill  Cont  p  q  usqye  px  p 

f ol  36  rev 
A  ceassment  for  the  xv'*"  rated  by  Wm  Webbe  Symon  Grene  Ihon 

day  of  a°  Domini  1596. 


Hannes  and  Ihon  hunt  the 

Iniprim  Wm  Webbe  xiid. 

Ric  nubery  xiiJ 

Wm  Symons  xiid. 


Symon  Grene 
Ihon  Lym 
Symon  Symons 


laid, 
yid.  ' 
imd. 


BURFORD  BOROUGH  COURT 


545 


Ihon  Roffe 

xiii. 

Ric  meriwether 

xiii. 

Ihon  Hannes 

xiii. 

Toby  Dallam 

TOid. 

Raphe  Wisdom 

ixd. 

Thomas  Symons 

ixi. 

M"  Chadwell 

xviii^f 

Alice  Reynolds 

xiii. 

Mary  Reddy 

ixi. 

loane  taylor 

iiiii. 

Agnes  hayter 

xiii. 

Wm  Wisdom 

yid. 

Lawrence  holding 

iiiii. 

Thos  Harrisson 

inid. 

Thomas  butcher 

vid. 

Ihon  Saunders 

vii. 

Edwd  Hieron 

vid. 

Ihon  ward 

-vid. 

loane  Ward 

iiiii. 

Thomas  hincks 

iiiii. 

Wm  Day 

iiiiii. 

Symon  Dalby 

iiiii. 

Ihon  Muncke 

iiiii. 

Ihon  Striver 

iiiii. 

andrew  yate 

iiud. 

Ric  levet 

xiii. 

thomas  wyet 

iiiii. 

arthure  Cotton 

iiiii. 

Wm  Walker 

iiiii. 

Thomas  luckins 

vid. 

Ric  hodges 

xiid. 

m*"  harman  Ihonson 

xd. 

George  fowler 

vid. 

Thomas  parsons 

xiii. 

Andrew  ward 

xiii. 

Edmd  Serrell 

vid. 

Wm  Bartlemew 

vid. 

Thomas  axtell 

vid. 

Ihon  Walburge 

vid. 

Robt  Moliner 

iiiii. 

Ihon  Coliar 

vid. 

Ric  hawten 

vid. 

Innocent  Greneway 

iiii(2. 

WmEve 

iiiii. 

harry  lovering 

mid. 

Edward  lloyd 

iiiii. 

Simon  lloyd 

iiiiJ. 

Wm  Combes 

vid. 

Pet'  Lifolie 
Wm  Clarke 
Thos  Silvester 
Ihon  Crow 
hew  owen 
Ihon  smart 
Ihon  iordan 
Robt  Serrell 
Robt  hemyng 
Tho  harding 
Robt  coliar 
Tho  Rossell 
Edmd  Silvester 
harry  hayter 
Edmd  somner 
Thoms  sowdley 
Thomas  noke 
Samuell  hurst 
Wm  Calkot 
Ihon  Colling 
Ihon  Gryffin 
Ihon  Walclet 
Thomas  hemyng 
ffrancis  perks 
Ric  harris 
Wm  Haddon 
thomas  Kempe 
Ric  iordan 
Ihon  Wood 
Wat*"  heyter 
Wm  taylor 
Wm  hayter 
Symon  star 
Thomas  fowler 
Wm  Smythiar 
Ric  hancks 
Gryffin  lewes 
Ihon  hunt 
Thomas  waldron 
harry  sowtham 
Ihon  Templer 
Ihon  lloyd 
Rich  goodman 
Thomas  bignell 
Symon  Dalby 
Symon  Dallam 
Symon  taylor 
hew  Davis 


vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

iiiii. 

iiiiJ. 

iiiii. 

vid. 

ixd. 

niid. 

ixd. 

iiiic^. 

md.. 

vmd. 

iiiii. 

iiud. 

iiii^^. 

imd. 

vid. 

xviiii. 

iiiii. 

xiid. 

iiiiJ. 

vid. 

iind. 

inid. 

vid. 

imd. 

iiiid. 

viud. 

vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

iiii<f. 

vii. 

iiiid. 

xnd. 

iiiii. 

uiid. 

vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

imd. 

iiiii. 

imd. 


2304 


Nn 


546 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Thomas  Williams  inid. 

Ihon  berry  mid. 

Ric  Cakebred  iiii<i. 

Ihon  hall  iiii<i. 

Thomas  marshall  iiii^i. 

widow  prior  inid. 

Thomas  Imbry  iiiii. 

Thomas  hayter  vid. 


Thomas  coliar  iiiirf. 

Ihon  Scarbrow  vid. 

Wm  Sessions  viiid. 

Symon  fawler  iiiii. 

Wm  peake  iiiid!. 

Wm  lordan  iiiii. 

Robt  veysy  xiid. 

Wm  Jordan  junior  iiiirf. 


TOLSEY 


VARIOUS  BOOKS  OF  RECORD 


The  following  books  are  deposited  at  the  Tolsey  : 

1.  Fragment  of  the  Book  of  the  Borough  Court,  1596-7.  See 
transcription  above. 

2.  A  book  of  accounts  roughly  bound  in  vellum,  containing  entries 
for  various  years  between  1735  and  1745.  It  appears  from  internal 
evidence  to  have  belonged  to  Paul  Silvester,  who  was  Bailiff  in  1734 
and  other  years.  The  volume  contains  private  accounts  as  well  as 
some  Bailiffs'  Accounts.  The  latter  show  payments  in  connexion 
with  the  Royal  Commission  of  1738  to  solicitors  and  others,  receipts 
and  payments  in  the  Lenthall  and  Tanfield  Charities,  &c.  The  only 
entry  of  particular  interest  is  as  follows  : 

A  Coppy  of  a  Wrighting  del  to  Jno.  Lenthal  Esq  by  the  Corporation 
wch  he  was  desired  by  them  to  be  Read  at  a  Vestry  the  29  of  May 
1737 :  wch  he  did  not  doe  /  Whereas  divers  aspersions  are  Industriously . 
Cast  on  the  Bayhffs  of  the  Bourough  of  Burford  relating  to  their 
disposeing  of  the  Benefactions  given  to  pious  uses  wch  Representations 
in  all  Likelihood  tends  to  create  a  Breach  in  our  Neighbourhood  &  is 
Consequently  destructive  to  the  Commonwelth  of  the  said  town, 
Now  we  the  Bayliffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford  aforesaid  being  conscious 
to  ourselves  that  none  of  the  Charitys  have  been  by  us  either  abused 
or  Misemployed  and  being  willing  to  prevent  &  set  aside  all  faction 
and  disturbance  betwixt  us  &  our  Neighbours  do  hereby  Consent  & 
agree  to  all  Such  Measures  as  shall  be  properly  proposed  &  taken 
and  is  thought  most  agreeable  for  the  Ease  &  wellfare  of  the  parish 
In  order  to  wipe  of  the  aforesaid  aspersions  and  Satisfie  every  one 
Concerned,  May  the  29  :    1737. 

3.  A  volume  lettered  A,  bound  in  grey  cardboard,  containing  accounts 
of  the  School,  Poole's,  the  Church,  the  Almshouse,  the  Common 
Poor,  the  Bridge  Estates.    From  July  3, 1747,  to  1770. 


VARIOUS  BOOKS  OF  RECORD  547 

4.  A  volume  lettered  B,  similarly  bound,  containing  the  same 
accounts  from  June  16, 1747,  to  May  6, 1776. 

5.  A  ledger  lettered  C,  bound  in  vellum,  containing  the  same 
accounts  from  December  16,  1776  to  Michaelmas  1827. 

6.  A  small  quarto  volume  lettered  D,  entitled  *  Feoffees  entry  book 
of  Meetings  ',  containing  memoranda  of  the  meetings  from  December  9, 
1776,  to  January  20, 1818. 

7.  A  small  quarto  volume  lettered  E,  bound  in  marbled  paper, 
containing  the  account  of  the  Chancery  case.   See  transcription  above. 

8.  A  small  quarto  volume  lettered  F,  bound  in  vellum,  containing 
accounts  of  the  Tanfield  Charity  from  1747  to  1786. 

9.  A  ledger  bound  in  led  vellum,  labelled  '  Burf  ord  Charity  Trustees ' , 
containing  accounts  from  1829  to  1856. 

10.  A  ledger,  bound  in  sheepskin,  containing  similar  accounts  from 
1828  to  December  1855. 

11.  A  ledger,  similarly  bound,  containing  accounts^from  April  1856 
to  December  1867. 

HI.      DOCUMENTS     IN     THE     POSSESSION     OF     THE 
GOVERNORS  OF  BURFORD  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL 

Burf  ord  Grammar  School  was  founded  in  the  year  1571.  Simon 
Wisdom  traditionally  occupies  the  honoured  position  of  the  Founder  ; 
but  the  documents  which  follow  show  that  tradition  in  this  instance 
requires  some  modification.  The  honour  of  the  first  movement  in 
the  founding  of  the  school  does  not  belong  to  him.  His  deed  of  gift 
is  dated  in  October  1571  ;  but  in  May  of  that  year  certain  prominent 
Burford  men  had  already  set  up  an  endowment  for  the  purposes  of 
a  school. 

Yet,  since  a  school  must  have  a  Founder  to  revere,  Simon  Wisdom 
has  no  bad  claim  to  the  position,  for  more  than  one  reason.  Firstly, 
he  gave  to  the  school  houses  which  were  his  private  property,  whereas 
the  earlier  deed  is  less  a  deed  of  gift,  strictly  speaking,  than  an  alloca- 
tion to  new  purposes  of  property  long  previously  given  to  charitable 
uses.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  conveyance  by  certain  co-feoffees  of  parish 
lands,  to  new  feoflfees,  of  lands  and  houses  formerly  given  to  the  Church 
and  the  Gild.  In  the  proceedings  which  followed  the  Edwardian 
Act  dissolving  the  Gilds  and  Chantries  much  of  the  old  charity  property 
in  Burford  was  confiscated.  Some  of  it  escaped  for  a  time,  only  to 
be  claimed  later  by  the  Crown.    The  claim  failed,  but  the  feoffees  in 

N  n  2 


548  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

possession  of  the  property  may  well  have  felt  that  the  best  way  to 
secure  for  the  town  any  doubtful  items  was  to  allocate  them  to  a  new 
use  much  in  favour  with  the  Crown  at  that  time — the  provision 
of  education  for  the  young.  That  had  been  the  more  or  less  explicit 
intention  of  Edward  VI's  Commissioners  in  the  scheduling  of  Gild 
and  Chantry  property,  though  private  greed  and  the  opportunity 
of  profitable  investment,  by  obtaining  Crown  grants  of  the  confiscated 
lands,  had  vitiated  the  intention  ;  and  the  founding  of  schools,  which 
had  begun  in  his  reign,  had  advanced  rapidly  under  Elizabeth.  It 
would,  therefore,  be  very  natural  for  these  Burford  feoffees  to  turn 
their  minds  in  that  direction  when  they  felt  their  title  to  some  of  the 
charity  lands  to  be  insecure  ;  and  in  the  wide  and  grasping  inter- 
pretation then  given  to  the  term  '  superstitious  uses  ',  it  is  obvious 
that  property  such  as  the  Cakebred  land,  of  which  the  original  purpose 
— the  endowment  of  an  obit — was  recorded  in  their  muniments,  or 
like  '  Jesus  acre ',  which  betrayed  its  purpose  in  its  name,  might  at 
any  time  be  claimed  for  confiscation. 

Nor  is  it  only  the  different  and  more  personal  character  of  Simon 
Wisdom's  gift  which  entitles  him  to  rank  as  the  Founder.  Evidently 
the  first  movement  had  hung  fire  until  he  brought  his  energy  to  bear 
upon  it,  for  although  the  conveyance  of  the  charity  property  is  dated 
in  May  1571,  the  new  feoffees  did  not  actually  enter  into  possession 
until  February  1572.  Moreover,  the  creation  of  an  endowment  was 
not  the  only  necessity.  The  School  could  not  come  into  existence 
until  it  had  constitutions  and  a  scheme  of  practical  working  drawn 
up  for  it ;  and  this  Simon  Wisdom  did.  Appended  to  his  deed  of  gift 
are  the  Rules  and  Constitutions,  written  with  his  own  hand.  They 
are  careful  and  thoughtfully  devised,  a  little  exacting,  from  the 
modem  point  of  view,  in  the  hours  of  teaching  which  they  enjoin, 
and  jejune,  perhaps,  in  the  subjects  they  propose  for  teaching.  In 
one  point  they  provoke  a  smile ;  the  clause  concerning  the  daily 
recital  of  certain  prayers  ordains  that  one  of  these  shall  be  the  Collect 
beginning  '  Almighty  God,  the  fountain  of  all  wisdom  ' — a  singular 
way,  to  say  the  least,  of  commemorating  the  Founder's  name. 

Simon  Wisdom  does  not  in  his  own  deed  speak  of  himself  as  *  the 
Founder ',  but  as  *  one  of  the  founders  '.  Still,  it  is  fairly  clear  that 
•  his  energy,  and  still  more  his  love  of  organization  and  system,  which 
is  traceable,  for  instance,  elsewhere  in  the  form  of  oath  which  he  drew 
up  for  the  Steward  of  the  Fellowship  of  Burgesses,  were  the  main 
factors  in  the  successful  creation  of  the  Grammar  School ;  and  he  may. 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  549 

therefore,  be  regarded  as  having  done  much  more  than  just  adding 
to  the  first  endowment  a  sum  which  made  the  income  sufficient, 
in  the  money  of  that  time,  for  the  engagement  of  a  schoolmaster. 

Endowment,  however,  was  not  all  that  had  to  be  provided.  A  fund 
for  the  erection  of  buildings  was  also  necessary.  We  gather  from  the 
constitutions  that  subscription  was  expected  to  provide  this  money ; 
provision  is  made  for  certain  privileges,  in  connexion  with  the  nomina- 
tion of  pupils  and  the  official  visiting  of  the  school,  to  be  enjoyed  by 
those  who  should  give  sums  of  moneyt  But  it  is  also  to  be  gathered, 
from  the  earliest  leases  of  the  lands  and  houses  conveyed  in  1571, 
that  another  method  of  raising  the  building  fund  was  to  grant  leases 
at  a  comparatively  small  rent  in  consideration  of  cash  payments. 

Here,  again,  Simon  Wisdom  evidently  helped  the  project  forward. 
Entries  in  the  Corporation  Memorandum  Book  of  this  period  recording 
sums  repaid  to  him  on  account  of  the  School,  or  due  to  him  for  repay- 
ment, show  that  he  advanced  ready  money  for  paying  the  builders, 
and  had  it  refunded  to  him  as  money  came  in  from  the  other  sources 
which  have  been  mentioned. 

Thus  arose  the  building  at  the  comer  of  Church  Lane  which  survives 
to  this  day,  plain  and  simple,  but,  in  its  comparatively  humble  way, 
of  some  dignity.  The  School,  as  originally  founded,  was  for  the  youth 
of  the  town  and  parish,  and  was  therefore  what  we  should  now  call 
a  day  school.  The  master  apparently  lived  in  a  house  elsewhere  in 
the  town.^  Thus  the  only  building  required  was  one  that  would 
provide  class-rooms  for  the  elder  boys — the  Grammar  Scholars — 
and  the  younger  boys,  or  '  petties ',  as  they  were  called,  who  were 
not  beyond  the  stage  of  learning  their  alphabet ;  hence  the  simple 
character  and  ground  plan  of  the  old  school  block. 

Within  a  very  short  time  Burford  Grammar  School  had  produced 
the  first  of  its  notable  alumni,  Peter  HeyUn  and  Marchmont  Needham, 
both  of  whom  attained  some  notoriety,  if  not  distinction,  among  the 
partisan  writers  of  the  Civil  War  period.  The  Heylin  name  appears 
frequently  in  the  preceding  Records,  and  the  Needham  name  is  also 
to  be  found. 

With  the  exception  of  these  pupils  the  School  may  be  said  to  have 
no  history  for  the  first  century  and  a  half  of  its  existence.  Its  income 
was  increased  by  the  raising  of  rents  which  the  Royal  Commission 

1  Owen  Thomas,  for  instance,  one  of  the  earliest  masters,  lived  in 
Witney  Street  (see  p.  340)  and  Richard  Griffiths  in  Sheep  Street. 


550  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  1628  ordered  in  all  branches  of  the  Burford  Charities.  The  two 
school  'wardens  '  were  regularly  appointed,  as. the  Register  of  Parish 
Officers  shows  ;  and  the  surviving  early  books  of  accounts  are  carefully 
kept.  ^ 

Then,  unfortunately,  the  School  fell  into  that  slough  of  mismanage- 
ment in  which  the  whole  of  the  charity  administration  in  Burford  had 
become  involved  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  The  first  sign  of 
this  is  that  soon  after  1700  the  school  accounts,  instead  of  containing 
entries  of  expenditure  on  various  schpol  purposes  by  the  wardens, 
enter  merely  the  payment  of  the  whole  proceeds  of  the  school  property 
to  the  master,  Richard  Griffiths.  This  would,  of  course,  have  been 
incorrect  procedure,  even  if  Griffiths  had  been  an  honest  man,  fit 
to  be  trusted  with  the  entire  responsibility.  It  becomes  worse  than 
incorrect  when  we  find,  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Royal  Commission 
of  1738,  that  he  was  idle,  careless,  and  unfit  for  his  pqst.  The  School 
was  utterly  neglected  ;  no  usher  had  been  appointed  for  years  past 
to  attend  to  the  younger  boys,  and  Griffiths  himself  made  no  pretence 
of  teaching  the  elder^ones.  He  was  drawing  the  whole  of  the  school 
income,  and  spending  it  himself.  By  the  time  the  Commission  was 
appointed,  he  was  actually  of  unsound  mind.  He  evidently  had  stood 
very  well  with  the  Burgesses,  and  they  incorporated  defence  of  him 
with  their  own  defence  in  the  Chancery  suit  that  was  the  sequel  to 
the  Commission. 

The  School  must  have  taken  some  time  to  recover  from  such  neglect. 
But  that  it  did  so  we  may  gather  from  the  fact  that  before  this  century 
ended  two  more  notable  men  had  had  their  early  education  here. 
They  were  Sir  WilHam  Beechey,  the  Royal  Academician,  who  was 
bom  in  Burford  in  1753,  and  Charles  Jenkinson,[first  Earl  of  Liverpool 
and  Prime  Minister.  The  Jenkinsons  were  seated  at  Walcote,  and  some 
of  them  served  as  Trustees  of  the  Burford  Charities,  which  may  perhaps 
account  for  Charles  Jenkinson  being  sent  here  to  school. 

But  there  was  no  real  recovery.  By  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  School  had  ceased  to  exist.  An  attempt  to  revive  it  was 
made  in  1863,  a  meeting  of  the  Charity  Trustees  with  the  Assistant 
Charity  Commissioner  was  held,  and  the  School  was  reopened.  Five 
years  later  it  was  again  in  a  very  bad  condition,  and  was  the  subject 
of  an  inquiry  which  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  competent 
Master,  and  since  that  date,  with  the  present  Constitution,  drawn  up 
by  the  Charity  Commissioners  in  1876,  it  has  flourished,  filling  a  very 
valuable  place  in  the  life  of  the  country-side. 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  551 

S  18.    I  May,  13  Elizabeth  (1571). 

Lease  by  William  Partridge,  John  Lyme  the  elder,  William  Sylvester 
and  Thomas  Freer,  churchwardens,  Richard  Dalby  and  Edmund 
Sylvester,  Bailiffs  of  the  Borough,  Symon  Wysdom,  Alderman  of 
Burford,  John  Hannes,  Steward  of  the  Fellowship  of  the  Burgesses 
of  Burford,  Thomas  Fetteplace,  Walter  Mollyner,  Richard  Reynolds, 
William  Symons,  Bennett  Fawler,  Robert  Childe,  John  Wylliams, 
Robert  Scarboroughe,  and  WilUam  Phillippes,  Burgesses,  Robert 
Starre,  Thomas  Butcher,  William  Butcher,  John  Huntt,  John  Warde, 
Robert  Everest,  Robert  Sylvester,  Hughe  Davys,  Thomas  Hooper, 
Thomas  Warde,  and  John  Heme,  parishioners,  to  S>Tnon  Wysdom, 
Alderman  of  Burford.  A  messuage  or  tenement  with  a  close  and 
garden  adjoining  on  the  west  side  of  the  High  Street  between  a  tene- 
ment of  Symon  Wysdom  on  the  south  and  a  tenement  of  John  Floide 
alias  Hewes  on  the  north,  now  occupied  by  George  Patrick ;  one 
acre  of  meadow  in  High  Mead  occupied  by  Symon  Wysdom ;  one 
acre  of  arable  in  the  East  Field  of  Burford  called  Jhesu  Acre  occupied 
by  Simon  Wysdom.   For  41  years  at  20s.  a  year. 

The  lease  contains  a  clause  concerning  the  possibiUty  that  the 
premises  may  be  put  '  to  any  other  more  necessary  or  laudable  use 
than  before  it  hath  been  accustomed  '. 

S  20.    24  May,  13  Elizabeth  (1571). 

Indenture  between  Richard  Dalby  and  Edmund  Sylvester,  Bailiffs, 
William  Partridge,  John  Lymme  the  elder,  and  Bennett  Fawler, 
three  of  the  Burgesses,  William  Silvester,  clotheman,  and  Thomas 
Freer,  tailor,  late  co-feoffees  of  the  parish  lands  of  Burford,  and 
Thomas  Fettyplace,  gentleman,  Richard  ReynoUds,  William  Symonds, 
John  Williams,  and  Robert  Scarborough,  five  of  the  Burgesses,  Robert 
Silvester,  broadweaver,  Thomas  Silvester,  John  Hannes  the  younger, 
Richard  Jordan,  tailor,  and  Richard  Hedges,  son  of  Richard  Hedges 
deceased.  Setting  forth  that  in  consideration  of  the  need  for  a  school 
in  Burford  (expressed  in  terms  almost  identical  with  those  of  Simon 
Wisdom's  foundation  deed,  transcribed  in  full  below),  the  first-named 
parties  purpose  to  enfeoff  the  second-named  of  lands  and  tenements 
to  the  annual  value  of  £3  12^.,  namely  :  a  bam  now  occupied  by 
Thomas  Lawrence  ;  the  clerk's  chamber ;  tenement  called  Banks 
House  on  the  north  side  oir  Church  Lane  ;  a  platt  of  mead  in  Bury 
Orchard  And  a  half-acre  in  High  Mead,  occupied  by  Thomas  Freers  ; 
an  acre  of  meadow  in  High  Mead  and  an  acre  of  arable  in  the  East 


552      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Field  now  occupied  by  Symon  Wysdom ;  an  acre  in  High  Mead 
occupied  by  Thomas  Hewis  alias  Calcott ;  a  tenement  with  appur- 
tenances sometime  occupied  by  Thomas  Sambage  now  by  Symon 
Wysdome ;  a  tenement  once  occupied  by  William  Lawrence ;  a 
tenement  occupied  by  John  Wyckins. 

Endorsed :  '  Lands  enfeoffed  by  the  Parishioners  of  Burford 
towards  the  erection  of  a  free  school  in  Burford/ 

S21.    24  May,  13  Elizabeth  (1571). 

Deed  of  Enfeoffment,  by  the  same  parties  to  the  same  parties. 
The  premises  named  in  the  preceding  document.  Setting  forth  the 
intent  of  the  feoffment,  that  the  wardens  of  the  school  appointed  or 
admitted  by  the  Alderman,  Steward  and  Bailiffs  and  others  of  the 
parish  according  to  the  constitutions  of  the  school  shall  receive  the 
rents  and  pay  thereof  the  stipend  of  the  schoolmaster. 

Witnesses  to  livery  and  seisin  (which  did  not  take  place  till  i  February, 
14  Ehzabeth — 1572) ;  Thomas  Hewis,  one  of  the  Bailiffs,  Symond 
Wysdome,  Alderman,  John  Floide,  WiUiam  Jordan,  William  Grene, 
John  Floide  junior,  George  Hedges. 

S  22.    20  October,  13  Elizabeth  (1571). 

This  Indenture  made  the  Twentie''^  daye  of  October  In  the  Threttenth 
yere  of  the  Raigne  of  o*"  Soveraigne  Lady  Elizabeth  By  the  grace  of 
god  of  England  France  and  Ireland  Queue  Deffender  of  the  ffaith 
Betwene  Symon  Wysedome  of  Burfford  in  the  countie  of  Oxenford 
clothier  on  the  one  partie  And  John  Hannes  the  elder  Thomas  ffryers 
Richard  Reynolds  Willm  Symons  Thomas  Wisedome  of  Shipton 
under  whichwood  in  the  said  countie  clothier  Richard  Dawbye  Ed- 
monde  Silvester  John  Lymm  the  elder  WJllm  Partridge  Thomas 
Hughes  Thomas  Silvester  John  Hunt  Radulph  Wisedome  Symon 
Allflett  Willm  Silvester  and  Edmond  Pittam  on  the  other  partie 
Wittenyssith  that  whereas  the  said  Symon  Wysedome  heretofore 
have  hadde  consideracion  and  doth  consider  what  greate  nomljer  of 
yowth  &  yong  children  have  been  and  yet  are  &  in  tyme  to  come 
maye  be  within  the  Towne  of  Burfforde  aforesaid  where  many  of  their 
parents  have  benn  not  able  to  ffynde  them  at  Schole  whereby  the 
more  part  of  their  yowth  have  Idely  spent  their  tyme  and  hath  not 
byn  traded  and  brought  uppe  in  no  good  order  of  Lemynge  or  knowlege 
wherby  they  myght  the  better  apply  their  selffs  to  knowe  their  duty 
both  towarde  Almightie  god  their  prynce  and  their  parents  as  also 
to  obtayne  increase  of  vertue  and  Lemynge  These  considerations 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  553 

aforesaid  consydered  and  for  the  advauncement  of  godes  honour  and 
glory  and  the  good  Scale  that  the  said  Symon  Wisedome  bearith  to 
the  comon  wealth  of  the  same  Towne  The  said  Symon  Wysedome  by 
the  good  mocyon  of  Almyghtie  gode  of  his  free  will  and  mynde  is 
contented  to  geve  graunte  &  Infeaffe  And  by  these  presents  do  geve 
graunt  land  infeoffe  to  the  said  John  Hannes  the  elder  Thomas  ffryers 
Richard    Reynolds    Willm    Symons    Thomas    Wysedome    Richard 
Dawlby  Edmond  Silvester  John  Lymm  the  elder  Willm  Partridge 
Thomas  Hughes  Thomas  Silvester  John  Hunt  Radulph  Wisedome 
Symon  Alflett  Willm  Silvester  and  Edmond  Pyttam  Certen  lands  and 
Tenements  to  the  yerely  value  of  ffyve  pounds  toward  the  ereccyon 
and  maynetenaunce  of  a  ffree  Schole  to  be  erected  within  the  Towne 
of  Burfforde  aforesaid  hereafter  in  these  presents  Indentures  expressed 
and  declared  Hit  is  nowe  covenanted  condicended  apd  agreed  Betwene 
the  said  parties  in  manner  and  fforme  ffolowinge  That  is  to  saye  The 
said  Symon  wisedome  for  the  consideracions  aforesaid  hath  geven 
graunted  and  infeoffed  and  by  these  presents  do  geve  graunt  and  infeofi 
to  the  foresaid  John  Hannes  the  elder  (etc.,  names  as  before)  ...  as 
feoffees  in  trust  of  and  in  all  those  his  Three  Tenements  in  one  Raunge 
adyoynynge  to  the  comon  Bridge  of  Burfford  aforesaid  and  now  in 
the  severall  tenures  and  occupacyon  of  Willm  Longe  Richard  Howldinge 
and  John  Sclatter  or  of  their  assignes  by  the  yerely  rent  of  Thyrtie 
Shillinges  And  also  of  and  in  one  other  Tenement  with  the  appur- 
tenances in  the  High  Strete  Lienge  betwene  the  Tenement  Late 
Allexander  Hodges  on  the  sowth  parte  and  the  Tenement  belongynge 
to  the  comon  Bridge  of  Burfford  aforesaid  on  the  northe  parte  And 
nowe  in  the  tenure  and  occupacion  of  John  Walbridge  or  of  his  assignes 
by  the  yerely  Rent  of  Twentie  six  Shillings  eight  pence      And  also 
of  and  in  Twoo  other  Tenements  with  the  appurtenances  under  one 
Raunge  Sett  Henge  and  beinge  in  a  certen  Streate  there  called  Wytteney 
Streate  in  Burfford  aforesaid  boundinge  uppon  gildenforde  Lane  on 
the  east  parte  And  a  Tenement  of  Thomas  Alflett  on  the  west  parte 
and  nowe  in  the  severall  tenures  and  occupacion  of  John  Gotten  and 
Roger  Tunks  or  of  their  assignes  by  rent  by  yere  Twentie  shillings 
And  also  of  and  in  one  other  Tenement  with  the  appurtenances  Sett 
Lienge  and  being  on  the  hyll  in  the  high  Streate  of  Burfford  aforesaid 
Betwene  the  Tenement  of  Thomas  hughes  on  the  sowth  parte  and 
a  Tenement  belonging  to  the  parishe  churche  of  Burfford  aforesaid 
on  the  northe  parte  And  now  in  the  tenure  and  occupacion  of  Evan 
ffloyde  or  of  his  assignes  of  the  rent  by  yere  Twentie  three  shillings 


554  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

ffower  pence  And  of  and  in  all  and  Singular  howses  edyfices  buyldyngs 
Barnes  Stables  Orchards  Gardens  yardes  Roomes  and  Esyaments 
proffitts  and  commodities  whatsoever  to  the  said  severall  Tenements 
or  to  everie  or  any  of  them  belongyng  remaynynge  or  apperteynynge 
the  Chieffe  Rents  and  Services  therefore  due  and  accustomed  to  the 
lord  or  lords  of  the  ffee  onely  excepted  And  also  one  Indenture  of  Lease 
bering  date  the  Twentie  daye  of  August  in  the  twelve'^  yere  of  the 
Raigne  of  o*"  Soveraigne  Lady  queue  Elizabeth  that  nowe  is  made 
by  the  said  Symon  Wysdome  unto  the  said  Thomas  Wisedome  of 
Shipton  under  which woode  in  the  countie  of  Oxenford  aforesaid 
clothier  and  to  his  assignes  of  all  the  severall  Tenements  and  other 
the  premisses  aforesaid  fior  the  terme  of  Twentie  and  one  yeres 
Lykewise  excepted  and  reserved  To  have  and  to  hold  the  said  severall 
Tenements  and  everie  of  them  and  all  other  the  premisses  aforesaid 
by  what  name  or  names  soever  thei  be  called  with  all  and  singuler 
their  appurtenances  and  everie  parte  and  parcell  thereof  Except  before 
excepted  Unto  the  said  John  Hannes  (etc.  as  before)  ...  to  the  onely 
use  and  intent  as  is  aforesaid  provided  alweys  and  neverthelesse  hit 
is  covenanted  graunted  concluded  condicended  and  ffuUy  agreed 
betwene  the  said  parties  by  these  presents  in  maner  and  fforme 
ffolowinge  That  is  to  saye  That  if  the  said  ffree  Schole  and  Scholehouse 
and  a  house  for  the  Scholemaister  under  one  Raunge  as  it  is  appoynted 
be  not  errected  within  the  said  Towne  of  Burforde  within  the  Space 
of  three  hole  yeres  next  after  the  insealinge  of  this  present  dede  of 
feoffement  indented  And  also  if  the  said  yerely  Rents  to  be  taken  of 
the  said  severall  Tenements  with  the  appurtenances  or  any  of  them 
be  converted  or  bestowed  to  any  other  use  intent  or  purpose  Than  is 
before  in  these  presents  declared  That  then  these  Indentures  of  feoffe- 
ment and  all  and  everie  covenant  grant  clawse  gyfte  article  and  sen- 
tence therein  conteyned  to  be  utterly  voide  and  of  no  effect  in  Lawe 
to  all  intents  construccyons  and  purposes  And  that  then  and  from 
thenceforth  and  everie  daye  after  hit  shall  and  may  be  Lawfull  to 
and  for  the  said  Symon  Wisedome  his  heires  and  assignes  into  all  and 
Singuler  the  said  Severall  Tenements  with  their  appurtenances  and 
into  everie  parte  and  parcell  thereof  Holy  to  Reenter  and  the  same 
to  have  againe  holde  possesse  Reposede  &  enioye  as  in  his  or  their 
ffirst  and  fformer  estate  or  estates  This  indenture  or  eny  thinge  therein 
conteyned  to  the  contrary  in  any  wise  notwithstandinge  And  hit 
is  ffurther  agreed  Betwene  the  said  parties  by  these  presents  That 
suche    gode  and  Reasonable  constitucions  made   by  the  advice  of 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  555 

the  said  Symon  Wisedome  beinge  one  of  the  ffirste  flounders  of  the 
said  Schole  and  by  his  Lemed  councell  fEor  the  goode  order  and  ffor 
the  contynuaunce  of  the  same  to  be  written  in  a  SheduU  and  to  be 
Annexed  to  this  said  dede  of  feoffement  ffor  this  intent  That  if  the 
said  constytucions  and  articles  and  everie  of  them  be  not  observed 
&  kepte  accordinge  to  the  true  intent  and  meaninge  of  the  said  con- 
stitucions  and  articles  that  then  the  Redresse  and  amendement  of 
the  same  shalbe  ordered  Redressed  and  Reformed  by  the  said  Symon 
Wysedome  and  his  heirs  at  all  tymes  hereafter  To  be  ordered  Redressed 
and  Reformed  accordinge  to  the  said  constitucyons  and  articles  unto 
these  presents  Annexed  In  witnes  whereof  to  the  one  parte  of  this 
Indentures  Remaynynge  with  the  said  feoffees  the  said  Symon  Wise- 
dome  have  putt  his  hande  and  Seale  And  to  the  other  parte  Remaynynge 
with  the  said  Symon  Wisedome  and  his  heirs  the  said  ffeoffees  ffor 
them  and  ffor  their  heires  and  Successors  have  putt  their  handes 
and  Scales  Geven  the  daye  and  yere  above  written. 

THE  intent  of  the  above  written  ffeoffement  is  this  That  the  said 
ffeoffees  shall  from  tyme  to  tyme  at  alltymes  hereafter  quietly  and 
peasably  permytt  &  Suffer  the  wardens  of  the  Schole  whiche  shalbe 
appointed  or  admytted  by  the  Alderman  and  Steward  of  the  ffelow- 
ship^  of  the  Burgeses  of  Burfford  The  twoo  Bailiffs  there  ffor  the 
tyme  beinge  and  other  of  the  parishe  Accordinge  to  the  constitucions 
and  orders  of  the  said  Schole  to  take  and  receave  all  suche  Rents 
proffitts  and  comodities  yerely  Renewynge  comingp  Rysinge  and 
growynge  owt  of  in  or  upon  the  said  Lands  and  Tenements  before 
inffeoffed  Towards  the  Sellary  or  Stipend  of  a  Scholemaister  to  teche 
a  Schole  there  within  the  towne  of  Burfford  aforesaid  ffrom  tyme  to 
tyme  without  any  Lett  Denyall  or  interrupcion  of  the  said  ffeoffees 
or  of  any  of  them  And  the  same  Rents  by  them  so  Receaved  to  paie 
■quarterly  unto  the  said  Scholemaister  Accordinge  as  it  is  appointed 
by  the  constitucions  &  orders  hereunto  Annexed 

By  me  Symon  Wysdome 
wrytten  w*  myne  owne  hand. 

THE  CONSTITUCIONS  And  orders  Indented  and  Made  by  Symond 
Wisdome  Alderman  of  the  Borowe  of  Burforde  One  of  the  ffirste 
ffounders  of  the  free  Schole  in  Burford  aforesaid  to  be  Erected  as  by 
his  deede  dated  the  Thirtenth  yere  of  the  Raigne  of  o""  Soveraigne 
Ladye  quene  Elizabeth  within  written  et  in  Anno  Domini  1571 
Hereunto  annexed  apperith. 


556  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

THE  FIRST  INPRIMIS  WHEARE  I  the  said  Symond  Wisdome 
hath  geaven  and  Enfeoffed  to  Certen.  Feoffeys  in  truste  to  the  Nomb'' 
of  Sixtene  As  by  the  Deede  hit  May  appeare  Certaine  Landes  and 
Tenementes  To  the  yerelie  value  of  fyve  poundes  towarde  the  Mayn- 
teynaunce  of  a  free  Sehole  in  Burforde  to  be  erected  there  PROVIDED 
ALWAIES  that  when  hit  shall  fortune  that  Any  of  the  said  Feoffeys 
To  deceasse  So  that  there  be  nott  paste  the  Nomb*"  of  eight  at  the 
Least  then  lyvinge  The  said  Eight  ffeoffeys  then  lyvinge  shall  within 
one  HoUe  yere  next  after  Make  newe  ffeoffeys  to  the  nomber  of  Syxtene 
As  ys  aforesaid  to  the  same  use  and  entent  as  in  the  former  Deede 
is  declared  SOE  THAT  THERE  be  never  from  tyme  to  tyme  under 
the  nomb*"  of  eight  at  the  Leaste  nott  Above  one  hole  yere  AND  THIS 
to  continewe  for  ever.  And  that  the  ollde  enfeoffements  to  Remayne 
and  be  savely  kepte  from  tyme  to  tyme  for  a  president  for  ever. 

THE  SECOND  ITEM  THERE  SHALBE  A  Cheast  made  withe 
thre  Lockes  and  thre  keyes  In  the  which  Cheast  there  shalbe  savely 
kepte  from  tyme  to  tyme  all  suche  Money  plate  or  Juells  as  also  infeoffe- 
ments  deedes  Evidences  constitucions  and  orders  Or  whatsoever  ys 
or  shalbe  geaven  made  or  done  By  the  ffownders  and  Benefactors 
of  the  same  free  Sehole  ffor  the  Goode  order  Maynteynaunce  and 
continewance  of  the  Same  ffrom  tyme  to  tyme  as  Oportunyte  shall 
serve  and  Requyer  Which  thre  keyes  shall  alwayes  Remayne  in  such 
custody  and  kepinge  as  followith  THE  FIRST  key  with  the  Alderman 
and  Steward  of  the  fellowshippe  of  the  Burgesses  of  Burford  or  with 
one  of  Them  THE  SECOND  kaye  with  the  two  Baylyffes  of  the  Towne 
of  Burford  aforesaid  for  the  tyme  Beyng  THE  THIRDE  kaye  with  the 
two  wardens  of  the  free  Sehole  for  the  yere  appoynted  soe  that  there 
shalbe  nothinge  taken  owte  of  the  same  Chest  nor  nothing  putt  in 
But  by  the  consent  of  the  Syxe  persons  aforesaid  And  att  eny  chaunge 
of  Alderman  Stewj^rd  Baylyffes  or  wardens  They  shalle  deliver  up 
their  keyes  to  their  successors  with  all  writings  Juells  plate  or  money 
or  Any  other  things  That  to  the  said  free  Sehole  dothe  Belong  or 
Appertaine  WHICH  BY  Invitorye  was  delyvered  unto  Them  AND  BY 
THE  SAME  Invitorye  to  deliver  the  same  ageyn  WHICH  Invitory 
to  be  indented  The  one  parte  thereof  Remayning  with  the  two  wardens 
of  the  free  Sehole  for  the  tyme  beinge  The  other  parte  with  the  church- 
wardens of  the  Towne  of  Burford  And  every  yere  A  newe  Invitorj^e 
to  be  made  atthe  chaunge  of  the  wardens  By  the  over  syght  of  the 
Alderman  steward  and  the  two  Baylyffes  And  fowre  of  their  auncient 
Brethren  of  the  Burges  AND  THIS  to  continewe  from  tyme  to  tyme. 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  557 

THE  THIRD  ITEM  THERE  SHALBE  two  Honest  men  of  theTowne 
of  Burford  one  Being  a  Burges  the  other  a  comyner  to  be  wardens  of  the 
free  Schole  for  one  holle  yere  to  be  Elected  and  Chosen  att  the  Church 
Account  By  the  Alderman  Steward  and  Burges  And  fower  of  the 
Beste  and  Auncient.Comyners  of  the  Towne  beinge  Elected  and  chosen 
By  the  Alderman  Steward  and  two  Baylyffes  ffor  the  tyme  beinge 
which  wardens  shall  receave  the  free  Schole  Rents  And  see  the  Scholem*" 
payd  quarterly  AS  ALSO  take  and  receave  all  such  profetts  comyng 
and  growing  toward  y*  maintenance  of  the  same  free  Schole  By  any 
constitucions  and  orders  made  for  the  same  WHICH  WARDENS 
shall  yerely  atthe  day  of  the  Church  Account  yeald  up  their  account 
of  their  Charge  And  bring  in  their  Bokes  of  Receytes  and  payments. 

THE  FOWRTH  ITEM  WHEN  HIT  shall  fortune  the  Schole 
Maisters  Rome  to  be  voied  to  be  electe  and  Chosen  by  thre  voices 
That  ys  to  saye  the  ffirst  voyce  shall  be  geaven  By  all  suche  as  geave 
any  Lands  or  tenementes  for  the  Mayntenaunce  of  the  said  free  Schole 
for  ever  they  to  have  the  first  voice  duringe  their  Lyves  THE  SECOND 
voyce  to  be  geaven  by  the  Alderman  and  Steward  of  the  fellowshippe 
of  the  burgesses  of  Burford  and  their  successors  for  ever  THE  THIRD 
voyce  to  be  geaven  by  the  Baylyflfes  of  the  Towne  of  Burford  for  the 
Tyme  being  And  fower  other  of  the  auncient  Burges  of  the  same 
Towne  for  ever. 

THE  FIFTE  ITEM  THE  SCHOLEM"-  beinge  Elected  by  the 
voices  aforesaid  the  two  wardens  for  the  free  Schole  beinge  for  the 
tyme  appointed  with  the  Alderman  and  Steward  of  the  same  Towne 
shall  compound  and  agree  with  the  Scholem*"  for  the  Nomber  of 
Schollers  that  he  shall  teach  Accordinge  to  his  Stipend  or  wages  As 
by  their  discretion  shall  seme  good  SOE  THAT  THE  Nomb'  of 
gramarian  Schollers  Besyde  the  peties  doe  nott  exceade  above  the 
Nomb''  of  fortie  AND  ATTHE  SAID  tyme  shall  take  order  that  the 
said  Scholem""  shall  by  his  discretion  dayly  and  wekely  appoynt  from 
tyme  to  tyme  One  two  or  thre  of  his  gramarian  schollers  of  the  said 
free  Schole  to  enstructe  and  teach  all  such  petye  schollers  nott  able 
to  leame  accidence  that  shall  come  unto  the  said  free  scole  being  any 
of  the  inhabitaunce  Sonnes  of  Burford  aforesaid  UNTYLL  SUCH 
tyme  there  maybe  some  better  or  larger  augmentacion  or  stipend 
gotten  or  atteyned  to  maynteyne  or  Recompence  some  other  usher 
or  mete  Scholler  to  teach  &  enstruct  the  said  petie  schollers  aforesaid 
AND  YF  HIT  be  thought  by  them  that  his  Stipend  appointed  be  not 


558  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

sufficient  for  his  Lyvinge  to  lycence  hym  to  take  Certen  Schollers 
by  nomb*"  to  his  own  comoditie  untyll  such  tyme  that  his  Stipend 
maybe  made  sufficient  to  and  for  the  Mayntenaunce  of  his  Lyving 
PROVIDED  ALWAIES  that  the  Alderman  Steward  and  wardens 
shall  nott  graunt  any  perpetuitie  to  any  scholem'"  Butt  from  yere  to 
yere  uppon  his  diligence  and  good  demener. 

THE  SYXT  ITEM  THAT  SYMOND  WISDOME  being  one  of 
the  firste  fownders  of  the  free  Schole  and  his  heires  shall  from  tyme  to 
tyme  for  ever  Elect  nominate  and  preferr  into  the  same  free  Schole 
to  Be  taught  freely  ffower  Schollers  to  be  called  Wisdoms  schollers 
WHICH  schollers  attheir  first  entering  into  the  free  Schole  TO  PAVE 
TO  THE  WARDENS  of  the  same  for  entering  Their  names  in  the 
free  Schole  Boke  ffower  pence  apece  AND  SO  FROM  TYME  TO 
TYME  att  every  chaunge. 

THE  SEVENTH  ITEM  HIT  SHALL  nott  be  Lawfull  to  the 
Scholem""  to  take  any  Scholler  into  the  free  Schole  there  to  be  taught 
w^owt  the  consent  or  knowledge  of  the  wardens  WHICH  WARDENS 
shall  Register  the  names  of  Every  Scholler  in  a  booke  AND  TO  TAKE 
for  their  entring  Into  the  free  Schole  as  ys  appointed  And  to  make 
a  trewe  account  thereof  once  in  the  yere  at  the  Church  Account  what 
Schollers  hath  been  Receaved  Into  the  free  Schole  AND  WHAT  THEY 
HAVE  RECEYVED  of  them  particulerly  by  name. 

THE  EIGHT  ITEM  THAT  EVERYE  Scholler  that  shalbe 
Receaved  into  the  free  Schole  their  parence  Being  dwelling  in  the  Towne 
of  Burford  shall  pay  unto  the  wardens  of  the  ffree  Schole  att  the 
firste  entring  into  the  firee  Schole  for  every  Scholler  fower  pence  and 
to  pence  every  quarter  after  AND  EVERY  Scholler  that  cometh 
owt  of  the  Countric  to  pay  att  his  first  entring  into  the  ffree  Schole 
twelve  pence  AND  Syx  pence  every  quarter  for  the  tyme  of  their 
Contineweaunce  EXCEPTE  such  as  have  ben  Benefactors  to  the 
Edifieing  and  Buylding  of  the  same  ffree  Schole  howse  They  to  pay 
for  Their  entring  of  every  Scholler  fower  pence  and  fower  pence  every 
quarter  during  the  said  tyme  ALL  WHICH  somes  of  Money  to  be 
collected  and  taken  as  ys  aforesaid  SHALBE  EMPLOYD  to  the 
Reparacions  of  the  ffree  Scole  howse  and  keping  cleane  of  the  same 
And  towards  the  wages  of  such  an  usher  as  shalbe  appoynted  to  teach 
the  peties  And  otherwise  as  hit  shall  seme  good  to  the  Alderman 
Steward  Baylyffes  and  wardens  for  the  good  Continuance  of  the- 
same. 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  559 

THE  NYNTH  ITEM  THE  SCHOLEM''  with  his  Schollers  to  be 
atthe  Schole  In  the  Summer  tyme  by  Syxe  of  the  clocke  in  the  Mom- 
ynge  AND  IN  THE  WYNTER  att  seaven  And  there  to  continewe 
untill  a  Leaven  And  then  to  dynner  And  to  be  att  schole  ageyne  By 
one  of  the  Clocke  And  there  to  Leame  untyll  Syxe  of  the  Clocke  in 
Sommer  and  fower  in  The  Wynter  AND  ATT  their  ffirst  entringe 
into  the  Schole  Every  momyng  atthe  howres  Before  appoynted  to 
goe  before  their  M""  or  his  depute  two  and  two  orderly  from  the  Schole 
Howse  to  The  Churche  to  the  morning  prayer  yf  any  there  be  atthe 
said  howres  AND  THERE  TO  SERVE  god  devoutUe  in  singinge  or 
Sayinge  of  Salmes  AS  BY  THEIR  M^'they  shalbe  instructed  AND  YF 
HYTT  be  not  mominge  prayer  atthe  Churche  Thatt  Then  the  maister 
shall  appoynt  one  of  his  scollers  wekely  by  order  att  a  deske  in  the 
Scholehowse  To  beginne  to  Singe  or  saye  a  salme  or  two  by  their 
maisters  appoyntment  And  all  the  reste  of  the  scollers  to  singe  or 
saye  with  him  And  a  Chappiter  to  be  reed  of  the  old  testament  or 
newe  By  The  M*"  or  by  one  of  his  Schollers  AND  IN  THEND  thereof 
to  singe  a  Salme  to  the  praise  of  God  And  to  reed  thre  Collects  One 
to  the  laud  and  praise  of  god  Another  for  the  prince  AND  THE 
LASTE  to  be  the  Collect  Begynnynge  almightie  god  the  fountaine 
of  all  wisdome  and  so  furth  etc  AND  THEN  to  their  Bokes  And  att 
their  departinge  from  Scholle  att  evenynge  in  Lyke  manner  to  geave 
thankes  to  almightie  god  for  the  founders  of  the  ffree  Schole  And  to 
Singe  a  Salme  By  the  appointment  of  their  M  and  soe  to  departe 

by  me  Symon  Wysdome 
wryttyn  w'  myne  awne  hand. 

THE  TENTH  ITEM  THE  ALDERMAN  AND  STEWARD  of 
the  fellowshippe  of  the  Burges  of  Burford  and  their  Successors  from 
tyme  to  tyme  shalbe  Regarders  and  Hedmaisters  of  the  Scole  to  over 
see  the  wardens  that  shalbe  from  tyme  to  tyme  elected  That  they 
and  every  of  them  doe  Justely  truely  and  indifferently  See  all  suche 
constitucions  and  orders  Nowe  made  or  hereafter  to  be  made  for  the 
good  order  and  contynuaunce  of  the  Same  schole  to  be  well  and  truely 
observed  and  kepte  withowt  mede  faver  or  affection  of  any  manne 
AND  YF  THEY  DOE  THE  CONTRARY  Thatt  Then  the  said  Alder- 
man and  Steward  withe  the  assystaunce  of  the  two  Baylyffes  ffor 
the  tyme  beinge  and  fower  of  the  auncient  Burges  of  the  same  Towne 
To  Reverse  amend  and  reforme  the  same  anythinge  heretofore  towch- 
inge  their  office  nott  with  Standinge. 


56o  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

THELEAVENTH  ITEM  THAT  THE  SAIED  Alderman  and 
steward  with  the  two  Baylyffes  for  the  tyme  beinge  w*^  y*  two  wardens 
and  ffower  auncient  Burges  beinge  Appoynted  by  the  Alderman  and 
Steward  shalle  fowre  tymes  In  the  yere  THAT  YS  TO  SAYE  Every 
Quarter  diligently  to  forsee  that  there  be  Alwayes  one  appoynted 
by  Collection  for  his  Stipend  Or  otherwise  to  teach  and  Enstructe 
the  Petyes  SOE  THAT  EVERYE  man  of  the  towne  and  parishe  . 
of  Burford  myndinge  to  sett  his  Childe  to  scole  beinge  men  children 
havinge  noe  infirmite  or  sicknes  Shalbe  enstructe  and  taught  in  the 
same  scole  his  abse  Chathechissme  his  premer  to  wright  &  reed  untyll 
he  be  able  to  be  preferred  to  the  grame*"  schole  payinge  att  his  entring 
and  Quarterly  as  appeareth  in  the  Eighte  Artycle  above  mencioned. 

THE  TWELFFE     ITEM  THAT  THE  SCOLEM"^  ffor  the  tyme 

Beinge  shall  every  Sondaye  in  the  yere  appoynt  his  ScoUers  to  be 

atthe  Scole  howse  or  atthe  Scolemaisters  howse  Atthe  Second  peale 

to  Mattens  or  mominge  prayer  To  wayte  on  their  M''  to  the  church 

orderly  Except  some  Reasonable  cause  to  the  contrary  And  there  to 

serve  god  devoutly  As  by  their  M*"  they  shalbe  enstructed  And  to 

Sett  in  such  place  in  the  Church  as  ffor  them  shalbe  appoynted  AND 

ALSO  the  saied  Scolem''  shall  fower  tymes  in  the  yere  THAT  YS 

TO  SAYE  att  Christmas  after  Witsontyde  &  AlhoUontyde  att  the 

Breakinge  upp  of  their  Scole  for  the  tyme  THE  SAID  M*^  or  one  of 

his  ScoUers  by  him  appoynted  Shalle  stand  att  a  deske  in  the  Scole 

Howse  And  there  to  exorte  the  ScoUers  to  geave  thankes  To  god  And 

Resyte  their  names  orderly  of  all  the  flounders  Benefactors  And  firste 

erectors  of  the  Scole  Which  names  to  be  wrytten  in  a  Table  which 

Table  Alwayes  to  Remayne  in  the  scolehouse  And  there  to  singe  or 

saye  a  Salme  or  prayer  to  the  Laude  and  praise  of  god  And  soe  departe 

the  Scole 

by  me  Symon  Wysdome 

Wrytten  by  &  w'  my  owne  hand. 

S25.    13  December,  34  Elizabeth  (1591). 

Assignment  of  Lease  by  Andrew  Yate,  '  showmaker ',  to  Owen 
Thomas  of  Teynton,  clerk.  Tenement  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street 
with  backside,  garden  and  a  little  piece  of  land  shooting  down  to  the 
river  between  a  bame  of  Alexander  Hedges  on  the  east  and  a  tenement 
called  the  Oxhouse  occupied  by  Joan  Sylvester,  widow,  on  the  west. 
The  document  recites  the  lease  of  i  May,  13  Elizabeth,  to  John  Wekens 
(S  23 :  see  p.  323)  and  sets  forth  that  on  Wekens's  death  the  lease  passed 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  561 

to  his  wife,  from  her  to  Symon  Partridge,  at  his  death  to  his  wife, 

who  then  married  Andrew  Yate,  who  now  assigns  the  remainder  of 

the  term  of  41  years  to  Owyn  Thomas  for  a  consideration  of  £3  los. 

Witnesses  :  William  Webbe,  Jhon  Scarbroughe.  • 

S  26.    3  April,  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  Richard  Merywether,  Alderman,  and  Symon  Symons, 
Steward,  with  the  consent  of  Robert  Serrell  and  William  Sessyons, 
yeomen,  now  wardens  of  the  school,  John  Roffe  and  John  Yate, 
Bailiffs,  John  Lyme  alias  Jenkins,  William  Webbe,  and  Toby  Dallam, 
Senior  Burgesses,  to  Thomas  Bollton  of  Burford,  glover.  Messuage 
*  at  the  northe  end  of  the  towne  '  between  the  tenement  of  Lawrence 
Holdinge  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of  Thomas  Butcher  on  the 
south.  For  21  years  at  265.  Sd.  a  year.  Lease  granted  in  consideration 
of  a  payment  of  6s.  Sd. 

Witnesses  :  John  Roffe,  John  Yate,  Wylliam  Webbe,  John  Huntt. 
Andrew  Ward,  Raphe  Wisdom,  John  Griffith,  William  Taylor,  Edmond 
Serrell. 

S  28.    14  Februar>',  41  Elizabeth  (1599). 

Lease  by  the  same  (excluding  Merywether),  to  Richard  Merywether. 
The  tenement  on  the  north  side  of  Witney  Street  formerly  leased  to 
Wekens,  now  described  as  between  a  bam  on  the  east  occupied  by 
Lawrence  Xanfeild  Esquire  and  the  Oxhouse  occupied  by  John  Templer. 
For  90  Years  at  135.  a  year.  Lease  granted  on  surrender  of  an  old 
lease  having  14  years  to  run.  The  purchase  of  the  premises  by  Mery- 
wether and  Dallam  from  Typper  and  Dawe  is  recited. 

Witnesses  :  John  Yate,  Bailiff,  Symon  Symons,  Steward,  John 
Templer,  Tobye  Dallam,  Edmond  Serrell,  Walter  Hayter,  *  the 
wryter  hereof '. 

S32.    14  October,  4  James  I  (1606). 

Counterpart  of  Lease  by  Richard  Merywether,  yeoman.  Alderman 
of  the  Town,  Symon  Symons,  Steward  of  the  Fellowship,  Richard 
Merywether  aforesaid  and  Toby  Dallam,  Baihffs,  William  Webbe, 
Andrew  Ward,  John  Yate,  William  Taylor  and  Thomas  Parsons^ 
four  of  the  elder  Burgesses,  Andrew  Ward  aforesaid  and  William 
Huntt,  wardens  of  the  free  school,  to  Richard  Taylor,  tanner.  A  little 
strip  of  ground  being  a  water  course  or  passage  leading  into  the  river 
there  between  a  tenement  in  the  tenure  of  William  Wisdome  belonging 
unto  the  free  school  on  the  east  and  the  King's  highway  leading  over 
Burford  Bridge  on  the  west.    For  21  years  at  lod.  a  year. 

2304  o  o 


562  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

S  33.    20  January,  4  James  I  (1607). 

Lease  by  the  same  parties  (with  the  exception  of  Symon  Symons 
and  Thomas  Parsons),  to  Symon  Symons,  tanner.  Steward  of  the 
Fellowship.  A  plot  of  meadow  ground,  *  being  two  croocks  of  ground 
marked  and  bounded  out  with  three  severall  mearestones  lying  and 
being  within  the  severall  meadow  ground  nere  unto  the  churchyard 
of  Burford  commonly  called  or  known  by  the  name  of  Burye  Orchard 
and  bounding  upon  the  Ryver  there  over  against  a  parcell  of  medow 
grounde  of  Samuell  Cocks  Esquire,  now  or  late  occupied  by  Edward 
Massye  ' ;  a  half-acre  of  meadow  called  Cakebredd  in  the  common 
lot  mead  called  High  Mead  and  usually  allotted  out  with  a  half-acre 
belonging  to  the  copiehold  of  John  Hannes  ;  one  acre  of  arable  in 
the  East  Field  called  Jesus  Acre  shooting  into  Dean  Acre  way  near 
unto  Burybames  ;  one  other  acre  of  arable  in  the  fields  of  Upton, 
now  or  late  occupied  by  Andrew  Warde.  For  31  years  at  205.  a  year. 
Lease  granted  in  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  seven  years  term 
of  an  old  lease  and  a  payment  of  £10. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Parsons,  Edmond  Serrell,  John  CoUyer,  Walter 
Hayter  junior,  Thomas  Hardinge. 

S  34.    Same  date.    Counterpart  of  the  above  lease. 
Endorsed  :    *  This  Lease  shewes  Burford  a  corporacion  consisting 
of  an  Alderman,  Bayhffes  &  Burgesses.' 

S  35.    20  April,  5  James  I  (1607). 

Lease  by  the  same  parties  as  in  S  32,  to  Thomas  Holdinge  of  Burford, 
yeoman.  Messuage  late  occupied  by  John  Floyd  alias  Evans  upon 
the  upper  part  of  the  hill  on  the  west  side  of  the  high  street  between 
a  tenement  of  Frauncis  Perks  on  the  north  and  a  bam  of  William 
Hewes  alias  Calcott  on  the  south,  with  garden  and  appurtenances. 
For  31  years  at  505.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Parsons,  Edmond  Serrell,  John  Collyer,  Walter 
Hayter  junior. 

S  36.    20  March,  6  James  I  (1609). 

Counterpart  of  Conveyance  by  Symon  Symons,  tanner.  Steward, 
Symon  Chadwell,  gentleman,  William  Webbe,  yeoman,  one  of  the 
elder  Burgesses,  John  "Hannes,  William  Hewes  alias  Calcott,  and 
Symon  Starre  of  Burford,  yeoman,  to  John  Collyer,  Thomas  Silvester, 
mercer,  William  Hxmtt,  William  Bartholomew,  John  Warde,  Richard 
Hanks,  and  Robert  Jurden,  Burgesses,  Samuel  Merywether,  William 
Symons,  William  Webbe  the  younger,  Symon  Parsons,  John  Taylor, 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  DOCUMENTS  563 

and  Edmond  Serrell  the  younger,  as  Feoffees  in  Trust.  Three  mes- 
suages in  one  range  adjoining  to  the  common  bridge,  sometime 
occupied  by  William  Longe,  Lawrence  Holdinge,  and  John  Stryvens, 
now  by  William  •  Wysdome,,  Lawrence  Holdinge,  and  John  Butt ; 
a  tenement  on  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street  between  a  tenement 
of  Symon  Partridge  on  the  south  and  a  tenement  belonging  to  the 
common  bridge  on  the  north,  now  or  late  occupied  by  William  Sessyons; 
two  messuages  in  one  range  in  Wyttney  Street  bounding  upon  Gylden- 
forde  lane  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  Johanna  Awflett,  widow, 
on  the  west,  occupied  by  Richard  Sowthe  and  Thomas  Hyett ;  two 
messuages  on  the  west  side  of  the  hill  in  the  highe  streete  between 
a  tenement  of  Wylliam  Hewes  on  the  south  and  a  tenement  of  William 
Potter  on  the  north,  occupied  by  Thomas  Hardinge  and  Frauncis 
Perks  ;  two  acres  of  meadow  ground  in  High  Mead  now  or  late  occupied 
by  Symon  Symons  and  Nicolas  Webbe  ;  a  messuage  on  the  north 
side  of  Wyttney  Street  between  a  tenement  and  bam  of  Symon 
Partridge  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  the  King's  Majesty  on  the 
west,  sometime  occupied  by  Owen  Thomas,  clerk,  and  now  or  late  by 
Robert  Grey  ;  a  messuage  on  the  west  side  of  Burford  near  to  the 
Vicarage  sometime  occupied  by  Thomas  Butcher  and  now  by  Symon 
Horton  ;  a  plot  of  Meadow  being  two  croocks  in  Bury  Orchard  ; 
a  half-acre  of  meadow  called  Cakebredd  Half-acre  ;  an  acre  of  arable 
called  Jesus  Acre ;  an  acre  of  arable  in  Upton.  In  trust  for  the 
purposes  of  the  Free  School. 

Witnesses  :  John  Templer,  Edmond  Serrell,  Walter  Hayter  junior, 
Thomas  Hardinge. 

S37.  Same  date.  The  conveyance  of  which  the  preceding  is 
counterpart. 

S  88.    13  April,  10  James  1, 161 2. 

Assignment  of  Lease  by  Andrew  Taylor  of  Taynton,  to  whom 
Thomas  Bolton's  lease  of  the  house  near  the  Bridge,  now  occupied  by 
Thomas  Sudeley,  coverlet  weaver,  had  been  assigned,  to  Paul  Silvester, 
tanner,  for  the  remainder  of  the  term. 

Witness  :  Thomas  Silvester. 

S  39.    2  August,  18  James  I,  1620. 

Lease  by  Simon  Symons,  Alderman,  and  William  Webbe,  Steward, 
with  the  assent  of  John  Huntt  and  David  Hughes  alias  Floyd,  yeomen, 
wardens  of  the  school,  William  Taylor  and  William  Barthollmew 
the  elder,  bailiffs,  John  Yate,  Thomas  Parsons,  John  Templer,  and 

002 


564  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

John  Collyer,  yeomen,  Senior  Burgesses,  to  Richard  Sowthe  of  Burford, 
curryer,  and  Katherine  Abram,  his  daughter.  Messuage  on  the  nonh 
side  of  Witney  Street  between  a  tenemerlt  of  Andrew  Osborne  alias 
Hibbarde  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  Thomas  Hayter  on  the  west, 
with  backside,  gardens,  etc.    For  21  years  at  26s.  Sd.  a  year; 

Witnesses :  Richard  Hanks,  Thomas  Silvester,  Leonard  Mills, 
Walter  Hayter  junior. 

S42.    Same  date. 

Lease  by  the  same  parties  with  the  same  assentors,  to  Andrew 
Osborne  aUas  Hibbarde,  roughe  mason.  The  comer  messuage  or 
tenement  where  Andrew  Osborne  now  dwells  in  Witney  Street,  between 
the  tenement  of  Richard  Sowthe  on  the  west  and  the  lane  to  Gildenford 
on  the  east.    For  21  years  at  265.  ^d.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  The  same  with  the  addition  of  Paul  Silvester. 

S59.    26  December,  1659. 

Lease  by  the  Charity  Trustees,  to  Thomas  Huntt  of  Burford,  tailor. 
Two  acres  and  a  swathe  in  High  Mead.    For  21  years  at  245.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Parsons  junior,  Symon  Randolph. 

S  67.   21  March,  31  Charles  II,  1679. 

Lease  to  John  White  of  Burford,  tanner.  Tenement. called  Broad- 
gates,  late  occupied  by  Thomas  Ashworth,  gentleman,  deceased,  on 
the  south  side  of  Church  Lane  ;  and  one  little  close  or  picked  paddock 
belonging  to  the  same,  on  the  south  side  of  Witney  Street,  a  close 
called  King's  Head  close  to  the  west  of  it.   For  21  years  at  £10  a  year. 

S85.    I  December,  8  George  II  (1734). 

Lease  to  WiUiam  Strafford  the  younger  of  Burford,  slatter  and  plas- 
terer. Messuage  with  appurtenances  oh  the  east  side  of  the  High  Street 
between  a  tenement  late  of  William  Hulls  on  the  north  and  a  tenement 
of  William  Midwinter  on  the  south.    For  21  years  at  305.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  William  Holland,  William  Jordan. 

Note. — The  following  document,  though  not  one  of  the  School  series, 
is  among  those  in  the  keeping  of  the  Governors  of  the  Grammar  School. 

CH  55.    28  December,  10  George  II,  1736. 

Lease  to  Humphrey  Nunny  and  John  Nunny,  broadweavers. 
A  house  at  the  end  of  Witney  Street  on  the  south  side,  between  a  tene- 
ment of  Edward  Harman  on  the  east  and  a  house  called  the  Meeting 
House  and  a  yard  thereto  belonging  on  the  west.  For  21  years  at 
365.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :    George  Underwood,  William  Jordan. 


SECTION  III 

CALENDAR  OF  RECORDS  PRESERVED  ELSEWHERE 

A.     EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  PUBLIC  RECORD  OFFICE 

In  the  following  Calendar  of  extracts  from  documents  preserved 
at  the  Public  Record  Office,  wherever  the  extract  has  been  made  from 
printed  volumes  of  the  Records  the  reference  to  the  volume  and  page 
will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the  extract.  In  every  case  where  no  such 
reference  is  given  the  extract  has  been  made  from  the  original  document. 

The  extracts  are  arranged  in  chronological  order  under  the  designa- 
tions commonly  used  for  the  various  classes  of  the  Public  Records, 
as  follows  : 

(a)  Exchequer  and  Chancery  Rolls. 

{b)  Exchequer  and  Chancery  Inquisitions. 

(c)  Lay  and  Clerical  Subsidies. 

{d)  Ministers'  Accounts. 

(e)  Early  Chancery  Proceedings. 

(/)  Rentals  and  Surveys. 

{g)  Records  of  the  Augmentation  Ofl&ce. 

(h)  Letters  and  Papers,  Henry  VIII. 

(i)  Miscellaneous  Documents. 

(a)  EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS 

1 176-7.    Pipe  Roll,  22  Henry  II. 

Oxinefordscira  .  .  .  De  misericordia  regis  pro  foresta  .  .  .  Clemens 
de  Bureford  debet  v  marcas  pro  eodem. 

1177-8.    Pipe  Roll,  23  Henry  II. 

Oxinefordscira  .  .  .  De  misericordia  etc.  .  .  .  Clemens  de  Bureford 
debet  v  marcas  pro  eodem.    In  thesauro  iii  marcas  et  debet  ii  marcas. 

Pipe  Roll  Society. 

[Similar  entries  continue  to  appear  in  the  Pipe  Rolls  for  several  years, 
the  amercement  being  paid  by  instalments.  As  late  as  1 1 86-7  (32  Henry  II) 
Clement  of  Burford  still  owed  half  a  mark.] 

1 194-5.    Rotuli  Curiae  Regis,  Roll  3,  6  Richard  I,  m.  2. 

Wiltescira,  Placita  et  Assise.  BaldewinuS  de  Bureford  ponit 
Robertum  fihum  suum  loco  suo  versus  Thomam  de  Chereb^^c  de  placito 
terrae. — Pipe  Roll  Society. 


566  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

119-.    Pedes  Finium,     Richard  I. 

Inter  Godehold  que  f  uit  uxor  Ricardi  filii  Alani  petentem  et  Thomam 
de  Langele  tenentem  de  tercia  parte  totius  ville  de  Langele  cum 
pertinenciis  et  de  tercia  parte  unius  hide  terre  cum  pertinenciis  in 
Hupton  et  de  tercia  parte  quinque  messuagiorum  Qum  pertinenciis  in 
Bureford  .  .  .  {and  other  third  parts)  .  .  .  ut  rationabilem  dotem  suam. 

1200.  Rotuli  Curiae  Regis,  i  John,  m.  16. 
•  dors.  Oxon.  Willelmus  Clericus  de  Bureford  qui  tulerat  breve  de 
recto  versus  Willelmum  de  Upton  et  Paulinam  uxorem  suam  de  ii 
messuagiis  et  dimidio  in  Bureford  unde  ipse  petiit  rationabilem  partem 
suam  que  eum  contingit  venit  et  relaxavit  loquelam  illam  et  dixit 
quod  ipse  tulit  preceptum  Regis  Willelmo  de  Faleiser  (Servienti 
Gloucestrie)  de  facienda  inde  inquisicionem. — Rot.  Cur.  Reg.,  Rolls 
Soc.  (1835),  vol.  ii,  p.  281. 

1199.  'Fine  Roll,  i  John,  m.  2. 

Honor  Gloc.  Willelmus  Clericus  et  Ricafdus  filius  Simonis  dant 
Regi  i  marcam  pro  habenda  inquisicione  per  legales  homines  de  visnete 
de  Bureford  utrum  particio  que  facta  fuit  inter  ipsos  et  Willelmum 
de  Hupton  et  Paulinam  uxorem  eius  de  ii  messuagiis  et  dimidio  cum 
pertinenciis  in  Bureford-rationabiliter  facta  fuit  aut  non  Cum  assensu 
iusticiorum  nostrorum  Et  si  rationabiliter  facta  fuit  teneat  sin  aliter 
pafticio  fiat  rationabiliter. 

1199-1200.    Pipe  Roll,  I  John. 

Honor  Gloecestr'  .  .  .  et  de  viii  Ii.  et  vs.  et  xrf.  de  redditu  assise  de 
Bureford  de  termino  S  MichaeHs  Et  de  vi  U.  de  tallagio  Et  de  xxv5. 
de  feno  vendito    Et  de  xiil^.  et  viiii.  de  perquisitis. 

Oxinefordscira.  .  .  .  Taillagium  factum  per  abbatem  de  Teokesberis 
et  archidiaconum  Staff'  et  Simonem  de  PateshuU  et  socios  eorum. .  .  . 

Villa  de  Bureford  vi  marcas  de  taillagio. 

1200-1.    Pipe  Roll,  2  John. 

Oxenefordscira.  .  .  .  Amerciamenta  facta  per  G.  filium  Petri  et 
socios  suos.  .  .  . 

Villata  de  Bureford  debet  vi  marcas  de  Taillagio  de  quibus 
magister  Suenus  et  Willelmus  de  Faleisia  responserunt  inde  in 
compoto  suo  in  anno  preterito.  Taillagium  factum  de  sergiantiis  et 
dominicis  Regis.  .  .  . 

Idem  viceoomes  reddit  compotum  de  vi  marcis  de  Bureford  de 
taillagio. 

Honor  Gloecestr'.    Willelmus  de  Faleisia  et  magister  swein  reddunt 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS         567 

compotum  de  xviii  It.  et  xs.  de  firma  de  Bradested  de  dimidio  anno 
antequam  data  erat  Amalrico  quondam  comiti  Ebroico  .  .  .  et  de 
xvi  It.  et  Hid.  de  firma  de  Bureford  de  eodem  termino  antequam 
daretur  predicto  Amalrico. 

Pipe  Roll,  4  John. 
Oxenefordscira.  .  .  .  Taillagium  factum  de  sergiantiis  et  dominici^ 
Regis  .  .  .  vi  marcas  de  taillagio  de  Bureford. 

1205.    Rotuli  Chartarum,  6  John. 

Confirmation  to  Bruem  Abbey.  .  .  .  duo  burgagia  in  Bureford  ex 
dono  Lowini lapis. 

1205.    Close  Roll,  7  John,  ps.  unica,  m.  3. 

Mandatum  est  Willelmo  de  Lafaleis'  quod  statim  visis  litteris  faciat 
habere  Amalrico  comiti  Ebroico  manerium  de  Bureford  cum  instauris 
et  pertinenciis  quia  illud  ei  commisimus  et  quod  domino  Regi  scire 
faciat  quae  instaura  ibi  fuerint  T  me  ipso  apud  Lam  xxx  die  Nov. 

m.  7.  Rex  Willelmo  de  La  Faleys'  Precipimus  tibi  quod  habere 
facias  A  comiti  Ebroico  omnia  arreragia  tam  de  Redditu  quam  tail- 
lagie  de  Bureford  que  retenta  fuerunt  quum  manerium  illud  recepit 
et  in  summam  nobis  scire  facias  Teste  me  ipso  apud  Brehull  xx  die  Dec. 

1214.    Close  Roll,  16  John. 

Petrus  dei  gratia  episcopus  Wintonensis  vicecomiti  Glouc'  salutem 
Scias  quod  dominus  Rex  dedit  dilecto  et  fideli  suo  Gaufrido  de  Maude- 
vill  Isabellam  filiam  Willelmi  Comitis  Glouc'  in  uxorem  cum  toto 
honore  Gloec'  qui  fuit  eiusdem  Comitis  in  dominicis  et  redditibus  .  .  . 
Excepto  . .  .  etc.  T  me  ipso  apud  Westm  ix  die  Aug. 

Idem  mandatum  est  Vicecomiti  Oxon  de  manerio  de  Bureford 
cum  omnibus  pertinenciis  et  de  omnibus  aliis  sicut  prius. 

1215-16.    Rotuli  de  Finibus,  17  John. 

De  (blank)  que  fuit  uxor  Gaufridi  de  Bureford  viginti  marcas  pro 
habenda  terra  que  fuit  viri  sui  et  pro  se  maritanda  Meni  quod  pacavit 
X  marcas  ad  custodiam  castellani  de  Nobe. — Rot.  Fin.  Records  Comm. 
(1835);  P-  553- 

1216.    Close  Roll,  18  John. 

Mandatum  est  vicecomiti  Oxon  quod  habere  faciat  Willelmo  de 
Cantilupe  iuniori  plenariam  saisinam  de  manerio  de  Bureford  cum 
pertinenciis  quod  dominus  Rex  ei  commisit  quamdiu  domino  Regi 
placuit  nisi  dominus  Rex  alii  illud  contulit  T  ut  supra  (i.  e.  T  Rege 
apud  Albu  Monasterium  vii  die  Aug.). 


568  *  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

1231.  Close  Roll,  15  Henry  III,  m.  12. 

•  De  roboribus  datis — Mandatum  est  Thome  de  Langele  quod  habere 
faciat  priori  Hospitalis  Sancti  lohannis  Bureford  iii  robora  in  foresta 
de  Wichewood  ad  focum  suum  de  dono  regis  Teste  rege  apud  Otinton 
xxix  die  Maii, — Cal.  Close  Rolls,  122^-31,  p.  510. 

1232.  Close  Roll,  17  Henry  III,  m.  15. 

De  herieto  perdonando — Rex  perdonavit  Edithe  que  fuit  uxor 
Ricardi  Caretter  heriettam  quod  ab  ea  exigitur  occasione  mortis 
ipsius  viri  sui.  Et  mandatum  est  ballivo  de  Bureford  quod  eidem 
Edithe  pacem  inde  habere  permittat.  Teste  ut  supra  (i.  e.  Teste  rege 
apud  Theck'  xxx  die  Decembris). — Cal.  Close  Rolls,  12JI-4,  p.  176. 

1232.  Close  Roll,  17  Henry  III,  m.  10. 

De  roboribus  datis.  Mandatum  est  Thome  de  Langele  quod  in 
foresta  de  Wichewood  faciat  habere  fratribus  hospitalis  de  Bureford 
V  robora  ad  focum  suum  de  dono  regis  (Teste  rege  apud  Otinton 
xviii  die  Maii). — Ibid.,  p.  63. 

[Similar  gifts  of  wood  are  entered  on  the  Rolls  in  1233  (twice),  and  1235.] 

1233.  Close  Roll,  17  Henry  III,  m.  8. 

De  quadam  equa  data.  Mandatum  est  P  de  Rivall'  quod  equam 
illam  que  inventa  fuit  in  manu  Hugonis  de  Cotingham  et  que  iam 
remansit  in  manu  regis  eo  quod  nullus  eam  sequitur,  faciat  habere 
fratribus  hospitalis  Sancti  lohannis  Baptiste  de  Bureford  de  dono 
regis  (Teste  rege  apud  Oxoniam  xxx  die  lunii). — Ibid.,  p.  233. 

1260-1.    Pedes  Finium,  45  Henry  III. 

Inter  Agnetam  la  Vylane  petentem  et  Robertum  priorem  hospitalis 
Sti  lohannis  de  Bureford  quem  Agneta  de  Taney  vqcavit  ad  warantum 
de  uno  messuagio  et  una  virgata  terre  cum  pertinenciis  in  Fifhyde 
Et  inde  placitum  fuit  inter  eos  in  eadem  curia  scilicet  quod  Predicta 
Agneta  la  Vylane  remisit  et  quielum  clamavit  de  se  et  heredibus  suis 
predicto  Priori  et  successoribus  suis  et  fratribus  et  sororibus  predicti 
Hospitalis  totum  ius,  etc. 

1 261.   Close  Roll,  47  Henry  III,  m.  12. 

Writ  to  the  Keepers  of  the  Honour  of  Gloucester  to  take  the  manors 
of  Thombury,  Bureford  and  Fairford  into  the  King's  hands,  and  render 
account  at  the  Exchequer. 

On  the  dorse  of  this  membrane  a  copy  of  the  Inquisitio  Post  Mortem 
concerning  the  lands  of  Richard  (de  Clare),  late  Earl  of  Gloucester. 
See  infra,  p.  581. 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS         569 

1273.    Patent  Roll,  i  Edward  I,  m.  8. 

Licence  to  Lambert  le  Fraunceis  of  Burford  to  export  20  sacks  of 
wool.— CaZ.  Pat.  Rolls. 

1276.    Hundred  Rolls. 

Extractum  Inquisicionum  factorum  per  preceptura  domini  Regis 
in  comitatibus  .  .  .  etc.  .  .  .  de  iuribus  et  libertatibus  domini  Regis 
subtractis  et  excessis  viceComitum  Coronatorum  Escaetorum  et 
aliorum  Ballivorum  domini  Regis  quorumcunque  aliorum  Ballivorum 
(sic)  quoquomodo  dominum  Regem  spectantibus  .  .  .  anno  regni 
Regis  E  filii  Regis  H  quarto. 

ViLLATA  DE  BUREFORD 

lurati  illius  villate  dicunt  de  feodis  domini  Regis  et  tenentibus 
eius  qui  ea  modo  tenent  etc. 

Dicunt  quod  Comes  Glouc'  tenet  duas  carucas  terre  apud  Bureford 
de  Rege  in  capite  et  burgum  similiter  tenuit  de  Rege.  Et  modo  tenet 
lohannes  GiSard  ex  dono  Comitis  ad  terminum  vite  sue  sed  nesciunt 
pro  quo  servicio  predictus  Comes  tenet  de  Rege  nee  predictus  lohannes 
de  Comite. 

Qui  eciam  alii  a  Rege  clamant  habere  retumum  brevium  et  alias 
libertates  etc. 

Dicunt  quod  lohannes  Giffard  habet  assisas  panis  et  cervisie  sed 
nesciunt  quo  waranto.  Rot.  Hund.  (1818),  i.  37. 

Note. — In  the  more  detailed  Roll  of  7  Edward  I  there  is  no  mention  of 
Burford  under  Com.  Oxon. 

1279.    Hundred  Rolls,  7  Edward  L 

HUNDREDUM  DE   BaMPTON 

Astallingeleye.  Lib.  Ten.  Prior  HospitaUs  de  Burford  tenet  in 
eadem  vi  acras  terre  de  feodo  Ricardo  Comubie  in  puram  et  perpetuam 
elemosinam. 

Fifhide.  Lib«  Tenent.  Dicunt  quod  Prior  HospitaUs  Sancti 
lohannis  de  Bureford  tenet  de  predicto  lohanne  xxxvi  acras  terre 
in  puram  et  perpetuam  elemosinam.  Dicunt  etiam  quod  idem  Prior 
tenet  de  predicto  lohanne^  ix  virgatas  terre  cum  pertinenciis  reddendo 
forins'  qun  curr'  et  hidag'  et  aliud  forins'  cum  viUat'  per  annum. 
Forins'.     Dicunt  quod  Prior  Hospitalis  Sancti  lohannis  de  Bureford 

'i.e.  lohannes  de  Fifhide. 


570  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

tenet  x  virgatas  terre  et  dimidiam  de  lohanne  de  Fifhide  ut  patet 
supra  De  quibus  tenet  in  dominico  suo  v  virgatas  terre  et  quartam 
partem  unius  virgate  que  valent  Mis.  vid.  et  quinque  virgate  et  quarta 
pars  virgate  tenentur  de  eodem  ut  patet  infra. 

WoTTON  Hundr'. 

Nerer  Orton.     De  feod'  Comitis  Glou'.     Ricardus  Parson  tenet 
ii  virgatas  terre  de  dono  lohanne  de  Bremesfeld.      Idem  lohannes 
tenet  de  Comite  Glou'nie  de  feodo  de  Bureford  reddendo  dicto  lohanni 
■  xs.  annuos  et  sectam  curie  de  iii  septimanis  in  tres  septimanas  de  Bure- 
ford pro  omni  servicio. 

Rot.  Hund.  ii,  pp.  694,  732,  842. 

1285.    Proceedings  before  Itinerant  Justices,  13  Edward  I. 

Villata  de  Bureford  venit  per  xii  iuratos  De  pannis  dicunt  quod 
Henricus  de  Blunham  vendit  pannos  contra  assisam  Ideo  in  miseri- 
cordia  De  libertatibus  dicunt  quod  lohannes  de  Giflfard  tenet  Manerium 
de  Bureford  de  heredibus  Gilberti  de  Clare  Comitis  Glouc'  ad  terminum 
vite  ipsius  lohannis  et  in  eodem  clamat  habere  furcas  tumbellas 
assisas  panis  et  cervisie  pillory  mercatum  singulis  septimanis  per 
diem  sabbatis  et  feriam  in  vigilia  in  die  et  in  crastino  sancti  lohannis 
Baptiste  nesciunt  quo  warranto  et  quia  predicte  libertates  spectant 
ad  Comitem  predictum  Et  habent  hie  diem  in  crastino  purificacionis 
beate  Marie. 

circa  1291.    Taxatio  Ecclesiastica. 
Taxacio    ecclesiarum    Pensionum    et    Porcionum    personarum 
ecclesiasticarum. 

Line.  Dioc.    Decanatus  de  Wytteneye. 

£     s.    d. 
Abbatis  de  Keynsham.   Ecclesia  de  Bureford  deducta 

porcio 

Porcio  Abbatis  de  Ibreya  in  eadem 

Item  porcio  Prioris  de  Munster  in  eadem 

Vicarius  eiusdem 
Beneficia  Ecclesiastica  ad  x  marcas  et  infra  taxata 
quorum  possessores  aliunde  non  sunt  beneficiati. 

Vicar'  de  Bureford  6    13    4 

Taxatio  bonorum  temporalium  reddituum  et  pro- 
ventuum  Religiosarum  personarum 

Abbas  de  Keynsham  habet  in  Bureford  in  redditu  3    o 


30 

0 

0 

4 

0 

0 

13 

4 

6 

13 

4 

EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS         571 

Wygorn.  Dioc. 

Taxacio    bononim    temporalium     Archidiaconatus 
Gloucestr' 
error  Hospitalis  Sancti  lohannis  de  Bureford 
Magister  Hospitalis  Sancti  lohannis  de  Bureford 
habet  in  Rysindon  unam  virgatam  terre  que  valet 
decern  solidos  summa  10. 

et  est  error  quia  pauperum  et  mendicantium. 

Tax.  Eccles.  (ed.  of  1802),  pp.  32,  41,  44,  238. 

1297.    close  Roll,  25  Edward  I. 

Orders  to  sheriffs  to  restore  to  certain  prelates  and  clergy  their 
lands  and  tenements  together  with  goods  and  chattels  taken  by  the 
sheriffs  under  the  King's  orders  concerning  all  lay  fees.  Among  the 
clergy  so  reinstated  in  Oxfordshire  were  :  Adam,  Vicar  of  the  church 
of  Burford,  Robert  the  Chaplain,  warden  of  St.  John's  House,  Bur- 
ford.— Co/.  Vat.  Chanc.  Rolls  (1912),  p.  58. 

1300.  Charter  Roll,  28  Edward  I,  m.  i. 

Inspeximus  and  Confirmation  of  a  charter  of  Henry  I  to  the  church 
of  St.  Mary  at  Tewkesbury,  confirming  gifts  by  Robert  FitzHamon 
and  others.  .  .  .  duas  domos  in  Bureford  de  dono  Radulfi  Sacerdotis. — 
Cat.  Chart.  Rolls,  vol.  ii,  p.  490. 

1301.  Close  Roll,  29  Edward  I,  m.  lod. 

May  4.  John  son  of  Richard  le  Sumenur  of  Bureford  came  before 
the  King  on  the  morrow  of  the  Invention  of  the  Holy  Cross  and 
sought  to  replevy  his  land  in  Bureford  taken  into  the  King's  hand 
for  his  default  before  the  baihffs  of  Ralph  de  Monte  Hermeri,  earl 
of  Gloucester  and  Hertford,  and  of  Joan  his  wife  in  their  court  of 
Bureford  against  Ralph  de  Whitindon  and  Richard  his  brother. 
This  is  signified  to  the  bailiffs.— Co/.  Close  Rolls,  I2g6-I302,  p.  491. 

1302.  Forest  Roll,  30  Edward  L 

Inquisicio  apud  Cherlebury  A°  30  EdWardi  tertii  de  statu  foreste 
de  Wychewood  in  Com.  Oxon.  .  .  .  Quidicunt  quod  quidam  venerunt 
.  .  .  cum  sex  leporariis  in  campo  de  Shipton  in  balliva  de  Burford  ad 
malefaciendum  domino  Regi. 

1306.    Close  Roll,  34  Edward  I,  m.  lod. 

William  de  Bureford,  clerk,  came  before  the  King  on  Sunday  after 
St.  Botulph  and  sought  to  replevy  to  Walkelin  le  Espicer  of  Bureford 
the  latter's  land  in  Bureford  which  was  taken  into  the  King's  hand 


572  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

for  his  default  before  the  justices  of  the  Bench  against  Agnes,  daughter 
of  Robert  le  Vykere  of  Bureford.  This  is  signified  to  the  justices. — 
Col.  Close  Rolls,  1302-y,  p.  450. 

Testa  de  Nevill. 

Com.  Oxon.  Hundredum  de  Bampton.  .  .  ,  Bureford  est  in  manu 
domini  Regis  et  fuit  dominium  Comitis  Glov'nie. — Testa  Nev.  (ed.  of 
1807),  p.  103. 

1314.    Close  Roll,  8  Edward  II. 

Delivery  of  lands  to  Matilda,  late  wife  of  Gilbert  de  Clare,  assigned 
by  the  King  as  dower,  including  lands  at  Bureford,  Netherorton  and 
Heyford  at  Bridge,  of  the  yearly  value  of  £14  65.  6d. — Cal.  Close 
Rolls,  1313-18,  pp.  131, 135. 

1322.    Fine  Roll,  15  Edward  II,  ps.  i,  m.  9.      • 

Commitment  during  pleasure  to  Richard  de  Foxcote  of  various 
manors  in  the  King's  hand,  including  Shipton  and  Burford  in  Com. 
Oxon,  late  of  Maurice  de  Berkele.  (April  2 1  )—Cal.Fine  Rolls,  I3ig-2J, 
pp.  122-4. 

1322.    Patent  Roll,  15  Edward  II,  ps.  2,  m.  16. 

William  Aylmer  appointed  to  keep  and  survey  the  stock  of  various 
manors,  including  Burford. 

m.  7.  Grant  of  the  manor  of  Burford  to  Hugh  le  Despenser,  late  of 
Maurice  de  Berkeley,  rebel.    (May.) — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls. 

1322.  Charter  Roll,  16  Edward  II,  m.  6. 

Gift  for  good  service  rendere(4  and  to  be  rendered  by  Hugh  le 
Despenser  the  younger  to  the  said  Hugh  and  Eleanor  his  wife  of  £20 
of  rent  in  Burefford,  Co.  Oxford,  late  of  John  Giflfard,  a  rebel  and  enemy 
to  the  King,  by  whose  forfeiture  it  has  escheated  to  the  King.  (York, 
July  i6.) — Cal.  Chart.  Rolls,  1300-26,  p.  449. 

1323.  Charter  Roll,  16  Edward. II. 

Grant  to  Hugh  le  Despenser  the  younger  and  his  heirs  of  a  yearly 
fair  at  their  manor  of  Borefcrd,  Co.  Oxford,  on  the  seven  days  before 
the  feast  of  the  Nativity  of  St.  John,  the  feast,  and  eight  days  after. 
(York,  July  3.)— Ibid.,  p.  353. 

1327.    Patent  Roll,  i  Edward  III,  ps.  i^m.  26. 

Grant  to  Robert  de  Prestbury,  King's  yeoman,  of  all  cattle,  wool 
and  hay  late  of  the  Despensers,  rebels,  and  WiUiam  Aylmere,  their 
adherent,  in  the  manors  of  Burford,  Shipton  and  elsewhere  in  Oxon 
and  Glouc— Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1327-30,  p.  22. 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS         573 

1327.    Patent  Roll,  i  Edward  IIL 

Grant  to  John  de  Wysam  of  the  manors  of  Fulbrook  and  Westhall 
with  members  in  Burford,  Upton  and  Swynbrok,  of  the  value  of 
£48  185.  2ld.—Cal.  Pat.  Rolls. 

1327.  Patent  Roll,  i  Edward  III,  ps.  3,  m.  6. 

Admission  of  Robert  le  Glasiere,  chaplain,  one  of  the  brethren, 
to  the  custody  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John,  Bureford,  void  by  the  death 
of  John  de  Sutton  ;  the  presentation  of  Robert  to  the  office  being 
made  by  the  brethren  to  the  King  by  reason  of  the  lands  of  Hugh' 
le  Despenser  and  Eleanor  his  wife  being  in  the  King's  hand. — Cal. 
Patent  Rolls,  1327-30,  p.  195. 

1327'.    Close  Roll,  I  Edward  HL 

Order  to  the  sheriff  of  Oxford  and  Berks  to  deliver  to  Isabella  de 
Clare  the  manors  of  Shipton  and  Burford,  except  the  borough  of 
Burford,  the  King  having  learnt  by  inquisition  that  Gilbert  de  Clare 
granted  the  premises  to  his  sister  Isabella  and  she  so  seized  of  them 
married  Maurice  de  Berkeley.  Maurice  de  Berkeley's  lands  were 
forfeit,  but  not  the  lands  of  Isabella,  which  included  the  manor  of 
Burford  except  the  borough,  worth  £10  yearly  in  all  issues. — Cal. 
Close  Rolls,  1327-30. 

1328.  Close  Roll,  2  Edward  III. 

Order  to  the  keeper  of  the  manor  of  Bureford  to  deliver  the  premises 
to  Eleanor,  late  wife  of  Hugh  le  Despenser,  as  the  King  did  not  consider 
it  consonant  with  justice  that  her  lands  should  be  forfeited  by  the 
forfeiture  of  her  late  husband's  lands. — Cal.  Close  Rolls,  1327-30. 

1332.    Patent  Roll,  6  Edward  III,  ps.  2,  m.  25d. 

Commission  of  oyer  and  terminer  to  John  Inge,  Richard  dc  Coleshull, 
William  de  Shareshull,  and  Robert  de  Aston  on  complaint  by  John 
Goudhyne  that  William  de  Horwod  the  younger,  Thomas  Corbot, 
William  de  Clynton,  clerk,  Richard  de  Berton,  Giles  de  la  Mote, 
Thomas  de  Bykenet  of  Witteneye,  Nicholas  Touwe  of  Burford, 
Nicholas  Cayfestre  of  Cirecestre,  John  de  la  More  of  Witteneye, 
'  boucher  ',  John  de  Kyngeston  of  Abyndon,  marchaunt,  and  Henry 
Blonham  of  Burford  and  others  carried  away  his  goods  at  Burford, 
CO.  Oxon.— Ca/.  Pat.  Rolls,  1330-4,  p.  350. 

1341.    Close  Roll,  15  Edward  III,  ps.  3,  m.  i. 
To  the  assessors  and  collectors  in  co.  Oxford  of  wools  granted  in 
the  last  Parliament :   orders  to  sell  up  wool  to  satisfy  various  persons 


574  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

for  wool  taken  from  them,  including  .  .  .  William,  parson  of  Bureford 
for  one  stone  of  wool. — Cat.  Close  Rolls,  1341-3,  p.  334. 

1344.    Patent  Roll,  18  Edward  III,  ps.  i,  m.  3. 

Licence  for  the  King's  kinsman  Hugh  le  Despenser  to  enfeoff  Edward 
de  Grymesby  and  William  de  Osbertson,  clerks,  of  the  manors  of  .  .  . 
Shypton  and  Burford  .  .  .  with  intent  to  regrant  the  same  to  the  said 
Hugh,  his  wife  and  their  heirs. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1343-5)  P-  268. 

1344.    Patent  Roll,  18  Edward  III,  ps.  2,  m.  8d. 

Commission  of  oyer  and  terminer  to  John  de  Stonore,  Thomas  de 
Besyle,  Joiin  de  Alveton  and  Thomas  de  Langeley  on  complaint 
by  Henry  Dauwes  of  Burford  that  Roger  de  Thomham,  vicar  of  the 
church  of  Burford,  Richard  de  Bureford,  chaplain,  and  others  assaulted 
him  at  Burford  so  that  his  life  was  despaired  of. — Ibid.,  p.  424. 

1349.  Close  Roll,  23  Edward  III,  ps.  i,  m.  20  &  m.  13.  • 

Orders  to  the  escheators  of  Oxford  and  other  counties  not  to  inter- 
meddle further  with  the  manors  of  .  .  .  Shipton  and  Burford,  and  to 
deliver  them  to  Elizabeth,  late  the  wife  of  Hugh  le  Despenser,  tenant 
in  chief.  Guy  de  Brian  and  John  de  Alveton  had  had  them  in  charge 
while  they  were  in  the  King's  hand ;  Inquisition  now  had  shown 
that  Hugh  and  Elizabeth  at  Hugh's  death  held  the  manors  for  them- 
selves and  their  heirs. — Cal.  Close  Rolls,  1340-54,  pp.  15,  17. 

1350.  Patent  Roll,  24  Edward  III,  ps.  2,  m.  23. 

Entry  of  Letters  Patent  of  Confirmation  of  the  Burford  Charters 
of  Henry  II.  By  fine  of  205.  paid  in  the  hanaper. — Cal.  Pat.  RoUs, 
1348-50,  p.  546. 

1352.    Patent  Roll,  26  Edward  III,  ps.  3,  m.  20. 

Licence  for  Guy  de  Briane,  *  chivaler ',  for  the  said  Guy  and  Eliza- 
beth his  wife  to  grant  to  Richard  de  Homyngton  and  Martin  Moulissh, 
clerks,  the  manor  of  Rotherfeld  and  the  hamlet  of  Emerugge,  co. 
Sussex,  the  manors  of  Shupton  and  Burford  and  the  town  of  Burford, 
CO.  Oxon,  and  the  manor  of  Stanford,  co.  Berks,  and  the  advowson 
of  the  church  of  this  manor,  held  in  chief,  as  is  said,  to  hold  for  the  life 
of  the  said  Elizabeth  with  the  knights'  fees,  views  of  frank  pledge, 
and  all  other  appurtenances  of  the  manors,  town  and  hamlet. — Cal. 
Pat.  Rolls,  1350-4,  p.  S5^- 

1352,  Dec.  20.    Patent  Roll,  26  Edward  III,  ps.  3,  m.  5. 

Licence  to  the  two  clerks  mentioned  above  to  grant  the  manors, 
etc.  as  above  to  John  de  Briane  and  John  Seys,  clerks. — Ibid.,  p.  379. 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS         575 

1353,  Apr.  20.    Patent  Roll,  27  Edward  III,  ps.  i,  m.  10. 

Similar  licence  to  Briane  and  Seys  to  grant  to  David  Vaghan  and 
Simon  Johan,  clerks. — Ibid.,  p.  430. 

1354,  Mch.  30.    Patent  Roll,  28  Edward  III,  ps.  i,  m.  17. 
Similar  licence  to  Vaghan  and  Johan  to  grant  to  Walter  de  Briene 

and  Thomas  de  Bentham,  clerk. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1354-8,  p.  26. 

1354,  May  17.    Patent  Roll,  28  Edward  III,  ps.  ij  m.  6. 

Similar  licence  for  Briene  and  Bentham  to  grant  to  Guy  de  Bryene, 
chivaler,  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  to  hold  for  the  life  of  Elizabeth. — 
/Wa.,p.  47. 

1355.  Patent  Roll,  29  Edward  III,  ps.  i,  m.  28. 

Pardon  to  John  le  Sclattere  of  Burford  of  the  King's  suit  for  the 
death  of  Thomas  le  Vikory,  as  the  King  has  learned  by  the  record 
of  William  de  ShareshuU  and  his  fellows,  justices  appointed  to  deliver 
the  King's  gaol  of  the  castle  of  Oxford,  that  he  killed  him  in  self- 
defence. — Ibid.,  p.  172. 

1355.    Patent  Roll,  29  Edward  III,  ps.  3,  m.  8. 

Licence  to  Thomas  de  Langele,  chivaler,  for  him  to  enfeoff  Geoffrey, 
vicar  of  the  church  of  Shipton  under  Wicchewode,  and  Walter,  vicar 
of  the  church  of  Boreford,  of  the  manor  of  Langley,  for  them  to  re-grant 
to  him  and  his  wife  with  remainders  to  their  heirs. — Ibid.,  p.  317. 

1359.    Close  Roll,  33  Edward  III,  m.  19. 

Order  to  the  escheators  to  deliver  to  Edward,  son  of  Edward  le 
Despenser,  kinsman  and  heir  of  Hugh  le  Despenser,  the  manors  of 
Shipton  and  Burford,  etc. — Cal.  Close  Rolls,  I354~^>  P-  582. 

1363.  Close  Roll,  36  Edward  III,  m.  39. 

Reference  to  Walter,  vicar  of  Burford,  in  connexion  with  Thomas 
de  Langeley's  enfeoffment  of  the  manor  of  Langley. — Cal.  Close  Rolls, 
1360-4,  p.  314. 

1364.  Patent  Roll,  38  Edward  III,  ps.  2,  m.  36d. 
Commission  of  oyer  and  terminer,  in  the  following  circumstances  : 

Whereas  at  a  Parliament  held  36  Edward  III,  it  had  been  complained 
that  Chaplains  were  dearer  in  salaries  and  stipends  since  the  pestilence, 
to  the  damage  and  depression  of  the  people,  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  and  the  Bishops  and  clergy,  at  the  motion  of  the  King 
and  other  magnates  had  advised  that  parish  Chaplains  taking  more 
than  6  marks  yearly,  and  chaplains  not  having  cure  of  souls  taking 
more  than  5  marks  yearly,  for  stipends  or  salaries  without  dispensation 


576  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

should  incur  suspension,  John  Bishop  of  Lincohi  had  sent  commis- 
sioners to  proceed  against  such  chaplains  ;  and  they,  while  in  session 
at  Leicester,  had  been  violently  assaulted  and  brought  in  fear  of  their 
lives  by  a  number  of  people,  including  Walter  de  Burford,  who  had 
since  bound  themselves  by  oaths  to  maintain  one  another,  and  who 
lay  in  wait  for  the  Bishop  and  his  commissaries. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls, 
1364-7,  P-  67. 

1374.    Patent  Roll,  48  Edward  III,  ps.  i,  m.  63. 

Commission  for  the  arrest  of  various  persons  including  John 
Ravenser,  '  bocher ',  of  Boreford,  co.  Oxon,  and  William  Bakere  of 
Burford  for  divers  felonies,  they  being  now  vagabond  in  various 
parts  of  the  realm. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  l3yo-4,  p.  489. 

1377.  Patent  Roll,  51  Edward  III,  ps.  unica,  m.  26. 

Mention  of  the  fact  that  Elizabeth  late  the  wife  of  Edward  le 
Despenser,  the  King's  kinsman,  had  the  keeping  of  the  manor  of 
Burford,  in  the  King's  hand  by  reason  of  the  minority  of  Edward's 
heir. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1374-^,  p.  442. 

1378.  Patent  Roll,  i  Richard  II. 

Commission  to  Robert  Tsesilian,  John  de  Nowers,  William  Hervy, 
Robert  de  Charleton  and  Hugh  Poure  to  enquire  toucliing  divers 
forestallings,  regrating  of  wools  and  other  merchandise,  concealments, 
false  weights  and  measures  and  withdrawals  of  presentments  therefor 
before  the  late  King's  ministers  at  Bureford  and  other  merchant 
towns  adjacent  to  the  marches  of  Codeswold. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls, I^yySl, 
p.  250. 

1379.  Patent  Roll,  2  Richard  II. 

List  of  loans  to  the  King,  including  John  Wynriche  of  Burford, 
£10.' — Ibid.,  p.  636. 

1379.  Patent  Roll,  2  Richard  II,  ps.  2,  m.  24. 

Entry  of  Letters  Patent  of  Confirmation  of  Burford  Charters. 

1380,  Mch.  9.    Close  Roll,  3  Richard  II,  m.  11. 

To  Simon  de  Burle,  constable  of  Wyndesore  castle,  or  to  his  lieu- 
tenant there.  Order  to  deliver  William  Hykeboy,  neif  of  Thomas 
son  and  heir  of  Edward  le  Despenser  of  his  manor  of  Burford,  co. 
Oxon,  who  is  imprisoned  in  that  castle  in  custody  of  the  constable, 
to  Elizabeth  who  was  wife  of  the  said  Edward  or  to  Richard  Earl  of 
Arundell  and  Surrey  and  Guy  de  Brien  knight  in  her  name,  or  to  any 
other  whom  she  shall  depute  to  receive  him,  as  the  said  Earl  and  Guy 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS         577 

have  mainpemed  for  her  that  she  shall  deliver  him,  if  living,  to  the 
said  Thomas,  a  minor  in  the  King's  wardship,  when  he  shall  come  to 
the  lawful  age.— CoZ.  Close  Rolls,  1377-81,  p.  398. 

1380,  Mch.  8.    Close  Roll,  3  Richard  II,  m.  i6d. 

Richard  Earl  of  Arundel  and  Surrey  and  Guy  de  Bryene  knight  to 
the  King  :  Recognisance  for  £40  to  be  levied  in  Surrey.  Memorandum 
of  defeasance  upon  condition  that  when  Thomas  son  and  heir  of 
Edward  le  Despenser  shall  come  of  age,  Elizabeth  who  was  wife  of 
the  said  Edward  shall  dehver  to  him  William  Hykeboy  of  Upton 
his  neif  of  his  manor  of  Burford  if  then  living.  Cancelled  by  the  King's 
command  under  the  Privy  Seal,  which  is  upon  the  Chancery  file  of 
7  Richard  II,  for  that  the  said  Earl  delivered  the  said  WilUam  to  the 
King  and  he  is  imprisoned  in  the  Flete  at  the  King's  will. — Col.  Close 
RoUs,  iSTjSl,^.  361. 

1389.  Patent  Roll,  13  Richard  II,  ps.  2,  m.  31. 

Grant  for  life  to  the  King's  clerk  WiUiam  Doune  of  the  wardenship 
of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John,  Boreford,  notwithstanding  any  prior 
grant  thereof  by  the  King  to  any  other  person  not  yet  executed. — 
Col.  Pat.  Rolls,  i388-g2,  p.  156. 

1390.  Patent  Roll,  13  Richard  II,  ps.  3,  m.  2. 

Pardon  at  the  supplication  of  John  Aubill,  parson  of  Whalton, 
to  Roger  Horold,  cordewaner,  dwelling  against  the  tavern  called  the 
*  cardinalishat '  by  Billyngesgate,  London,  of  suit  of  the  King's  peace 
and  outlawry,  if  any,  for  that  being  appealed  by  William  Palmere  of 
Burford  on  the  Wold,  co.  Oxford,  21  May,  12  Richard  II,  before  Adam 
Carlill  and  Thomas  Austin,  sheriffs,  and  John  Chauncye,  coroner  of 
London,  as  having  with  him  and  others  between  Midsummer  and  the 
Feasts  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  in  the  year  7  Richard  II  between  Godestowe 
and  Witteneye  in  that  county,  after  the  hour  of  nine,  robbed  a  man 
unknown  of  a  bay  horse  with  a  saddle  and  bridle,  a  pack  of  woollen 
cloth  of  divers  colours  value  loo^.,  and  40s.  in  money,  whereof  the  sai^ 
William  Palmere  had  as  his  share  40s.  and  the  said  Roger  and  others 
the  goods,  he  was  convicted ;  the  said  approver,  before  Robert 
Cherlton,  William  Venour  mayor  of  London,  John  Cassey  and  other 
justices  appointed  for  delivering  Newgate  gaol  having  retracted  the 
said  charges. — Ibid.,  p.  264. 

1390.    Patent  Roll,  14  Richard  II,  ps.  i,  m.  36. 

Pardon  to  John  Blaunchard  for  not  appearing  to  answer  John 
Milton  of  Boreford,  chaplain,  touching  a  debt  of  405. — Ibid.,  p.  282. 

3304  P  p 


578  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

1394.  Patent  Roll,  18  Richard  II,  ps.  i,  m.  33. 

Licences  for  those  bom  in  Ireland  to  remain  for  life  in  England, 
notwithstanding  the  proclamation  requiring  all  those  bom  there  to 
return  there  :  Walter  Bryan  of  Boreford,  for  a  fine  of  65.  Sd. — Cal. 
Pat.  Rolls,  1391-6,  p.  457- 

1395.  Patent"  Roll,  19  Richard  II,  ps.  i,  m.  26. 

Pardon  at  the  supplication  of  the  King's  aunt,  the  Duchess  of. 
Gloucester,  to  Cristina  wife  of  John  Cook  of  Boreford  for,  with  others, 
murdering  and  robbing  William  Schulton  of  Boreford  at  Boreford 
at  night  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Katherine,  17  Ric.  11. — Ibid.,  p.  604. 

1396.  Patent  Roll,  20  Richard  II,  ps.  3,  m.  20. 

Pardon  to  John  Hay  of  Burford  for  not  appearing  when  sued  with 
Maud  his  wife  to  answer  Edmund  Olyver  touching  a  debt  of  445. — 
Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1396-g,  p.  128. 

1397.  Patent  Roll,  20  Richard  II,  4s.  3,  m.  io. 

Licence  for  Geoffrey  Walker  alias  Ludlow  to  accept  the  vicarage  of 
the  parish  church  of  Burford  in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  void  by  the 
death  of  Henry  de  Norfolk,  to  which  he  has  been  provided  by  the 
Pope,  notwithstanding  the  Statute  of  Provisors. — Ibid.,  p.  142, 

1399.  Patent  Roll,  i  Henry  IV,  ps.  i,  m.  27. 

Entry  of  Letters  Patent  of  Confirmation  of  the  Burford  Charters  : 
for  a  fine  of  335.  ^d.  paid  in  the  hanapar. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1399-1401. 

1400.  Patent  Roll,  i  Henry  IV,  ps.  5,  m.  4. 

Grant  for  life,  in  aid  of  her  estate,  to  the  King's  kinswoman  Con- 
stance, late  the  wife  of  Thomas  late  lord  le  Despenser,  of  the  manors 
of  Caversham,  Burford,  and  Shipton,  co.  Oxford,  and  others. 

Ibid.,  ps.  5,  m.  4. 

Similar  grant  of  goods  and  chattels  in  various  castles  and  manors, 
including  Burford,  to  the  value  of  £200. — Ibid.,  pp.  204,  224. 

1400.    Patent  Roll,  i  Henry  IV,  ps.  6,  m.  4. 

Inspejfemus  and  confirmation  to  William  Hamme  Esquire  of  the 
county  of  Hereford  of  an  indenture  (French)  dated  at  London  27 
October,  i  Henry  IV,  witnessing  that  Thomas  le  Despenser  Earl  of 
Gloucester  has  retained  him  for  life  at  a  yearly  fee  of  10  marks  from 
the  manor  of  Burford,  and  if  the  Earl  shall  go  to  war  out  of  the  realm 
with  the  King  or  in  his  service  the  said  William  shall  go  with  him, 
and  if  he  is  commanded  to  come  to  the  Earl  at  any  parts  in  England 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY*  ROLLS    579 

or  Wales  he  shall  come  with  a  yeoman,  a  groom  and  three  horses  . . .  and 
shall  bring  with  him  any  number  of  men  required,  unless  he  has 
a  reasonable  1?xcuse. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  l3gg-J40J,  p.  263. 

1402.  Patent  Roll,  4  Hwiry  IV,  ps.  i,  m.  27. 

Ratification  of  estates  as  parsons  of  churches  :  Walter  Eymer, 
vicar  of  the  church  of  Boreford  in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln. — Cal.  Pat. 
Rolls,  1401-5,  p.  156. 

1403.  Patent  Roll,  4  Henry  IV,  ps.  i,  m.  4d. 

Commission  to  Richard  Drax,  serjeant  at  arms,  to  arrest  various 
persons,  including  John  Hostiller  of  Burford. — Ibid.,  p.  200. 

1405.  Patent  Roll,  6  Henry  IV,  ps.  2,  m.  30. 

Grant  to  the  King's  consort,  Joan  Queen  of  England,  of  the  custody 
of  the  manors  of  Caversham,  Burford,  and  Shipton,  co.  Oxon.,  with 
others  (as  in  the  grant  to  Constance  late  wife  of  Thomas  le  Despenser), 
during  the  minority  of  Richard,  son  and  heir  of  Thomas. — Cal.  Pat. 
Rolls,  1405-8,  p.  4. 

1406.  Patent  Roll,  7  Henry  IV,  ps.  i,  m.  9. 

Pardon  to  Walter  Aymere,  clerk,  alias  Walter  Eymer,  vicar  of  the 
church  of  Burford,  for  not  appearing  to  answer  Henry  Colbache, 
clerk,  and  Robert  Bridlyngton  touching  debts  of  40  marks  and  £io 
respectively. — Ibid.,  p.  136. 

1415.    Patent  Roll,  3  Henry  V,  ps.  2,  m.  13. 
Entry  of  Letters  Patent  of  Confirmation  of  the  Burford  Charters  ; 
for  a  fine  of  4  marks  paid  in  the  hanaper. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  14IJ-16. 

1422.    Patent  Roll,  10  Henry  V,  m.  12. 

Pardon  to  Edmund  Dyer  of  Burford,  co.  Oxon,  dyer,  for  not  ap- 
pearing before  the  Justices  of  the  Bench  to  answer  Robert  Yorke  of 
Wanteynge  and  John  Wodestok  of  Abendon  mercer  touching  a  debt 
of  112s.— Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1416-22,  p.  434. 

1431.    Patent  Roll,  9  Henry  VI,  ps.  i,  m.  26.  * 

Pardon  of  outlawry  to  John  Sely  of  Chepyngfaryngdon,  co.  Berks, 
yoman  or  citizen  and  fellmonger  of  London,  for  not  appearing  before 
the  Justices  of  the  Bench  to  answer  Williajn  Townesende,  executor 
of  Henry  Cotelere  or  Cotiller  of  Boreford  or  Burford  and  Richard 
Colas  and  Agnes  his  wife,  executrix  and  late  the  wife  of  the  said  Henry 
Cotelere,  touching  a  plea  that  he  render  £50. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  142^-36, 

P-93- 

p  p  2 


58o  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

1436.    Patent  Roll,  14  Henry  VI,  ps.  i,  m.  25. 

Pardon  of  outlawry  to  John  Hill  of  Bampton,  co.  Oxon,  esquire 
or  gentilman,  or  late  of  Burford  in  the  Wold,  gentilman,  for  not 
appearing  before  the  Justices  of  the  Bench  touching  a  plea  of  debt 
and  other  matters. — Ibid. 

1439.    Patent  Roll,  18  Henry  VI. 

Licence  for  Isabel  Countess  of  Warwick  to  grant  in  fee  by  a  fine 
to  be  levied  in  court  to  Ralph  Boteller,  John  Beauchamp,  William 
Mountfort,  and  William  Thomas,  knights,  John  Throkmorton,  John 
Noreys,  John  Nanfan,  and  William  Menston,  the  manors  of  Tewkesbury 
and  . . .  Burford,  co.  Oxon.,  and  . .  .  held  in  chief,  to  the  intent  to  fulfil 
thereof  her  last  will  to  them  to  be  declared. — Col.  Pat.  Rolls,  I43^~4^) 
V'  359-  .  ' 

1446.    Patent  Roll,  24  Henry  VI. 

Grant  to  the  King's  Esquire  for  the  body  John  Noreys  that  he  be 
chief  steward  of  all  manors,  lordships  and  lands  pertaining  to  the 
lordship  of  the  Spensers  .  .  .  except  the  stewardship  of  the  honour  of 
Gloucester  in  Bristol,  to  hold  as  they  were  held  in  the  lifetime  of 
Henry  late  Duke  of  Warwick,  during  the  minority  of  the  Duke's 
heir. — Cal.  'Pat.  Rolls,  1441-6,  p.  434. 

1465.    Patent  Roll,  5  Edward  IV. 

Pardon  to  John  Pynnok  of  Burford  in  le  Wolde  the  younger,  mer- 
chant alias  mercer,  of  his  outlawries  for  not  appearing  before  the 
Justices  of  the  Bench  to  answer  the  Prioress  of  Westwode  touching 
a  debt  of  5  marks  and  to  satisfy  others  of  a  debt  of  £20 — he  having 
surrendered  to  the  Flete  prison  and  satisfied  the  other  debtors  but 
not  the  Prioress. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  1461-y,  p.  470. 

1477.  Close  Roll,  17  Edward  IV. 

Entry  of  the  transfer  of  a  house  in  Burford  from  William  Brampton 
to  Henry  Bishop. 

1478.  Patent  Roll,  18  Edward  IV. 

Grant  to  the  King's  servant  John  Harcourt,  one  of  the  gentleman 
ushers  of  the  King's  chamber,  of  the  office  of  custody  of  the  King's 
'laund  called  Burfordlaund  with  the  lodge  of  the  same  within  the  forest 
of  Wychwode  .  .  .  with  wages  of  6d.  daily,  during  the  minority  of 
Edward  son  of  George  late  Duke  of  Clarence,  from  the  issues  of  the 
lordship  pf  Burford  with  all  other  profits. — Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  l4'/6-8^, 
p.  103. 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  ROLLS         581 

1479.    Patent  Roll,  19  Edward  IV. 

Grant  to  William  Noreys,  knight,  during  the  minority  of  Edward, 
son  and  heir  of  Isabel  late  the  wife  of  George  Duke  of  Clarence,  of . . . 
the  stewardship  of  the  manors  of  Boreford,  Shipton  and  Spellesbury 
and  the  Hundred  of  Chadlyngton,  and  13  marks  yearly  from  the 
issues  of  the  same  lordships  with  all  other  profits. — Ibid.,  p.  157. 

1482.    Patent  Roll,  22  Edward  IV. 

Grant  to  William  Hugford  Esquire  of  an  annuity  of  £5  from 
Michaelmas  last  during  the  minority  of  Edward  Earl  of  Warwick,' 
from  the  issues  of  the  lordship  of  Burford. — Ibid.,  p.  311. 

i486.    Patent  Roll,  i  Henry  VII. 

Grant  to  WilUam  Huggeford,  as  above. — CaJ.  Pat.  Rolls,  1485-04, 
p.  79-  '  - 

i486.    Patent  Roll,  i  Henry  VII. 

Grant  to  Anthony  Fetyplace  Esquire,  king's  servant,  of  the  office 
of  launder  of  the  laund  of  Burford  in  the  forest  of  Whichwood. — 
Ibid.,  p.  36. 

1489.    Patent  Roll,  5  Henry  VII. 

Grant  for  life  to  Anne  Countess  of  Warwick  of  the  manors  and 
lordships  of  Tewkesbury  .  .  .  Burford  .  .  .  etc. — Ibid.,  p.  298. 

1492.    Patent  Roll,  8  Henry  VII. 

Grant  for  life  to  Robert  Harcourt  Esquire  of  the  office  of . . .  steward 
of  the  manors  of  Burford,  Skypton  and  Spelesbury  .  .  .  which  offices 
are  in  the  King's  hand  by  reason  of  the  death  of  Anne  Countess  of 
Warwick  .  .  .  With  such  fees  as  Reynold  Bray  enjoyed  for  the  said 
offices. — Ibid.,  p.  405. 

{b)  EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  INQUISITIONS 

1261.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Henry  III,  File  27,  No.  5,  m.  41. 
46  Henry  III. 

Extenta  terrarum  que  fuerunt  R  quondam  Com  Glouc' . . .  Bureford 
cum  burgo  et  ceteris  pertinenciis  et  libertatibus  Ixiii  libr.  xis.  id. 
ob.  qS.  Et  inde  redduntur  annuatim  per  manus  prepositi  de  Bureford 
de  firma  molendini  ad  partem  de  Merlawe  325.  ob.  qa.  Et  sic  remanet 
ad  partem  de  Tokesbur'  Ixi  libr.  xixs.  id. 

(Later  in  roll  of  knights'  fees)  .  .  .  G  de  Fanencourte  dimidium 
feodum  in  Bureford. 


582  .     CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

1295.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Edward  I,  File  77,  No.  3.  24. 
Edward  I. 

Inquisicio  capta  trecesimo  die  Decembris  Anno  regni  regis  Edwardi 
vicesimo  quarto  super  articulos  subscriptos  videlicet  quantum  terre 
Gilbertus  de  Clare  Com  Gloucestr'  et  Hertford'  tenuit  de  domino 
Rege  in  capite  in  Com  Oxon.  ...  etc. 

{_Note. — The  jurors'  names  are  very  indistinct ;  the  name  Robertum 
le  Maiorem  can  be  discerned  and  the  name  Robertum  Dolbe.] 

.  .  .  Item  dicunt  quod  tenuit  hamelettum  de  Opton  pertinentem 
ad  manerium  de  Bureford  de  domino  rege  in  capite  pro  servicio  sexte 
partis  feodi  militis  in  quo  sunt  c  acre  terre  arabilis  pretium  acre 
md.  sdmma  xxv  sol.  Item  sunt  ibidem  x  acre  prati  pretium  acre 
\\d.  summa  vs.  Item  sunt  ibidem  viii  custumarii  quorum  quilibet  tenet 
unam  virgatam  terre  operaturi  a  festo  Sti  Michaelis  usque  festum 
Sti  lohannis  Baptiste  qualibet  septimaha  per  tres  dies  cum  uno  shore 
et  valet  opus  diei  obolum  summa  operum  dccccxii  summa  in  denariis 
xxxviii^.  si  dies  operum  eorum  in  aliquo  festo  evenerit  allocatur  eis 
per  annum  Item  a  festo  Sti  lohannis  Baptiste  usque  gulam  augusti 
qualibet  septimana  per  tres  dies  operatur  pro  operibus  Summa 
operum  cxx  summa  in  denariis  x  sol.  Item  a  gula  augusti  usque  ad 
festum  Sti  Michaelis  qualibet  septimana  per  tres  dies  ac  valet  opus 
diei  .  ,  .  summa  operum  ciiii^^  xii  opera  summa  in  denariis  xxiii^. 
Item  debent  talliagium  ad  xiii  sol.  iuid.  placita  et  perquisita  valent 
vi  sol.  v'md.  summa  hambleti  de  Opton  vi  It.  ii  sol. 

1299.  Inquisition  Post  Mortem,  Edward  I,  File  91,  No.  2. 
■  Oxon."  Bureford.  Inqui.  .  .  .  facta  ibidem  die  veneris  proxima  post 
festum  Translacionis  Sti  Thome  martyris  anno  Regni  Regis  Edwardi 
vicesimo  septimo  per  .  .  .  cramentum  Thome  de  Lincoln  Willelmi 
Whyteman  Ricardi  de  Whytinton  Willelmi  de  Hayles  Willelmi  le 
Mareschal  de  Bureford  Henrici  de  Gerdun  lohannis  Stodham  de 
Bureford  Thome  Osebeme  lohannis  Martyn  Michaelis  le  ffeure  de 
Bureford  lohannis  le  ffeure  et  Thome  de  Shipton  Quantum  videlicet 
terre  lohannes  Gyffard  de  Brummefeld  nuper  defunctus  tenuit  de 
domino  Rege  in  capite  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  die  quo  obiit  in 
Com  Oxon  Et  quantum  de  aliis  Et  per  quod  servicium  et  quantum 
terre  ille  valeant  per  annum  in  omnibus  exitibus  et  quis  propinquior 
heres  eius  sit  et  cuius  etatis. 

lurati  dicunt  per  sacramentum  suum  quod  predictus  lohannes 
nuUas  terras  aut  tenementa  tenuit  de  domino  Rege  in  capite  in  dominico 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  INQUISITIONS    583* 

suo  ut  de  feodo  in  Com  predicto  die  quo  obiit  Set  dicunt  quod  tenuit 
villatam  de  Bureford  et  quoddam  hamelettum  cum  pertinenciis  quod 
vocatur  Seynat  iuxta  Bureford  de  Gilberto  de  Clare  quondam  Comite 
Glouc'  et  Hertford'  per  homagium  et  servicium  unius  feodi  militis 
faciendo  inde  scutagium  cum  accident  Quia  dicunt  quod  predictus 
comes  dedit  prefato  lohanni  per  cartam  suam  feoflamenti  quicquid 
habuit  in  predictis  villa  et .  hameletto  tenendum  de  eodem  Comite 
per  servicium  predictum  sub  hac  forma  videlicet  quod  si  predictus 
Johannes  heredem  habuerit  de  corpore  suo  legitime  procreatum  tunc 
ipse  Johannes  et  heredes  sui  de  eodem  legitime  procreati  haberent 
et  tenerent  viginti  Hbratas  annui  redditus  in  eisdem  villa  et  hameletto 
per  servicium  predictum  imperpetuum  Et  si  predictus  Johannes 
obierit  sine  herede  de  ipso  legitime  procreato  tunc  predicte  viginti 
librate  annui  redditus  simul  cum  toto  residuo  in  eisdem  villa  et  hame- 
letto post  decessum  predicti  Johannis  prefato  Comiti  et  heredibus 
.  suis  integre  reverterentur  et  remanerent  inperpetuum  Per  quod 
dicunt  prefatus  Johannes  tenuit  predictas  viginti  Hbratas  redditus 
in  eisdem  villa  et  hameletto  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  die  quo 
obiit  Et  totum  residuum  ultra  predictas  viginti  libratas  redditus 
tenuit  ad  terminum  vite  sue  tenendas  per  formam  doni  superius 
expressi  Et  dicunt  quod  nichil  tenuit  de  ahquo  alio  in  comitatu 
predicto. 

Dicunt  quod  sunt  ibidem  cv  libere  tenentes  qui  reddunt  per  annum 
XX  It.  jdiis.  vid.  ad  quatuor  anni  terminos  videhcet  ad  festum  Nativi- 
tatis  Sti  Johannis  Baptiste  cii^.  iiii<i.  ob.  qa.  Et  ad  festum  Sti  Michaelis 
cvi^.  Hid.  ob.  qa.  Et  ad  festum  Nativitatis  Domini  ciir.  iind^  ob.  qa. 
Et  ad  festum  Pasche  cils.  iiiii.  ob.  qa.  Est  ibidem  quoddam  mercatum 
quod  valet  per  annum  simul  cum  feria  stallagio  et  tolneto  cervisie 
ibidem  xii  It.  Sunt  ibidem  xxx  acre  prati  que  valent  per  annum 
iiii  It.  xs.  per  acram  iii^.  Est  et  apud  Upton  quoddam  molendinum 
aquaticum  quod  valet  per  annum  1x5.  Dicunt  quod  placita  et  perqui- 
sita  curie  ibidem  et  visus  ibidem  valent  per  annum  xx5. 

Summa  de  Bureford  xli  It.  His.  vid. 
Seynat.  Dicunt  etiam  quod  apud  Seynat  sunt  xii  villani  virgatarii 
quorum  quilibet  tenet  unam  virgatam  terre  in  villenagiuiti  que 
continet  xx  acras  Et  de  eisdem  villanis  quilibet  eorum  pro  se  reddit 
per  annum  pro  redditu  tallagio  et  pro  omnimodis  operibus  de  certo 
xii5.  vid.  ob.  qa.  ad  quatuor  anni  terminos  videlicet  ad  festum  Nativi- 
tatis Sti  Johannis  Baptiste  xvd.  Et  ad  festum  Sti  Michaelis  viiLs. 
ixi.  ob.  qa.    Et  ad  Natale  domini  xvd.    Et  ad  festum  Pasche  xvd. 


*584  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Sunt  et  ibidem  iii  dimidii  virgatarii  quorum  quilibet  tenet  x  acras 
terra  in  villenagium  Et  quilibet  eorum  pro  se  reddit  per  annum  de 
certo  pro  redditu  tallagio  et  omnimodis  operibus  suis  vis.  nid.  qa.  ad 
predictos  terminos  videlicet  ad  festum  Nativitatis  Sti  lohannis 
Baptiste  viid.  Et  ad  festum  sti  michaelis  iiiis.  iiiii.  ob.  qa.  Et  ad 
Natale  Domini  viid.  Et  ad  festum  pasche  viirf.  ob.  Et  predicti  villani 
tam  virgatarii  quam  dimidii  virgatarii  dant  de  certo  ad  terminum 
de  la  Hokeday  xxxid.  Dicunt  etiam  quod  lohannes  filius  predicti 
lohannis  Gyfiard  est  propinquior  heres  eius  et  est  etatis  xiii  annorum 
In  cuius  rei  testimonium  predicti  lurati  huic  inquisicioni  sigilla  sua 
apposuerunt    Datum  ut  supra 

Summa  de  Seynat  viii  It.  xii^.  id.  ob.  qa. 
Summa  totalis  de  Bureford  et  Seynat  xlix  It.  xiiii^.  qa.  {sic). 

Bureford.  Inquisicio  facta  ibidem  die  mercurii  proxima  ante 
festum  Sti  lacobi  apostoli  anno  Regni  Regis  Edwardi  vicesimo  septimo 
per  sacramentum  Henrici  de  Grey  lohannis  de  Haddon  Stephani  de 
Wyndsor  Ricardi  de  Fretewell  lohannis  Turfrey  Roberti  de  ffemhull 
lohannis  le  Brun  lohannis  le  Cur  lohannis  P6meray  Roberti  de 
Westwell  Thomae  le  Baroun  et  Willelmi  Purnele  Qualem  videlicet 
statum  lohannes  Gyffard  de  Brymmefeld  nuper  defunctus  habuit  in 
Maneriis  de  Bureford  in  Com.  Oxon  et  Baggeworth  in  Com.  Gloucestr' 
.  .  .  etc.  etc. 

[The  form  of  John  Giffaxd's  tenure  sworn  to  as  above.  The  only  differ- 
ences in  this  separate  Inquisition  are  that  it  is  expressly  mentioned  that 
from  the  lease  of  the  town  were  exempted  lands  and  tenements  which 
Geoffrey  de  Phanacurt  held  of  Gilbert  de  Clare  ;  and  that  the  jurors 
responded  to  a  certain  inquiry  that  John  Giffard  had  not  done  homage 
for  his  holding  to  Joanna  the  widow  of  Gilbert  nor  to  Ralph  de  Monthermer.] 

1307.    Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Edward  I,  File  128,  No.  4. 

Oxon.    Manerium  de  Bureford. 

Extenta  ibidem  facta  coram  Escaetori  domini  Regis  xiiii  die  luni 
Anno  regni  regis  Edwardi  xxx  quinto  De  terris  et  tenementis  de  quibus 
Gilbertus  de  Clare  quondam  Comes  Gloucestr'  et  Hertford'  et  lohanna 
uxor  eius  ex  feoffamento  domini  Regis  tenerunt  Habenda  ad  totam 
vitam  eorum  et  heredibus  de  corporibus  eorum  exeuntibus  et  que 
terre  et  tenementa  ultra  feoffamentum  predictum  heredibus  predictis 
iure  hereditario  descendent  et  que  per  escaetam  vel  aho  modo  et 
qualiter  et  quo  modo  acciderunt  et  quantum  terre  idem  Comes  tenuit 
de  domino  Rege  in  capite  die  quo  obiit  et  quantum  de  aliis  et  .  .  .  et 
quantum  terre  ille  valeant  per  annum  in  omnibus  exitibus  et  quis 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  INQUISITIONS     585 

propinquior  heres  eorum  sit  et  cuius  etatis  per  sacramentum  Willelmi 
Whiteman  Laurencii  le  Gierke  Willelmi  de  Faireford  Nicho  Richeman 
lohannis  le  Hay  lohannis  atte  Stone  Thome  le  Mestre  lohannis  le 
Taillur  Henrici  Gerdon  Ricardi  de  Bureford  Radylfi  de  Hilworks  et 
Clementis  le  Vatte. 

Qui  dicunt  per  sacramentum  suum  quod  est  iuxta  villam  de  Bureford 
manerium  de  Bureford  cum  hameletto  de  Upton  unde  predicta 
lohanna  non  fuit  coniuncta  quod  quidem  manerium  et  hamelettum 
de  Upton  Dominus  Rad  de  Monte  Hermeri  tenet  per  commissionem 
domini  Regis  usque  ad  plenam  etatem  heredis  predicti  Et  dicunt 
quod  predicta  tenementa  tenentur  de  dono  Regis  in  capite  ut  de 
Comitatu  Gloucestr'  set  per  quod  servicium  teneantur  pro  se  ignorant 
Et  dicunt  quod  est  ibi  quedam  grangia  que  nichil  valet  ultra  reprisas 
Et  dicunt  simt  ibi  ix^^  acre  terre  arrabilis  que  valent  per  annum 
xxxii^.  pretium  acre  lid.  Et  xx  acre  prati  que  valent  per  annum  xxxs. 
pretium  acre  xviiid.  Summa  dominicorum  lxii5. 

Et  sunt  in  eodem  hameletto  de  Upton  predicto  (blank)  de  redditu 
villanorum  de  quibus  Thomas  atte  Vorde  tenet  i  virgatam  terre  et 
reddit  per  annum  ixs.  ad  quatuor  terminos  principales  equaliter  vel 
operabitur  per  annum  et  opera  appunctantur  ad  predictos  ixs.  et  si 
operabitur  nichil  dabit  per  annum  extra  tallagium  Et  lohannes 
Simond  lohannes  Tretons  lohannes  atte  Hume  Robertus  Hikeman 
Rogerus  Hikeman  quilibet  istorum  faciet  in  operibus  sicut  predictus 
Thomas  atte  Vorde  Et  lohannes  le  Sutheme  tenet  dimidiam  virgatam 
terre  et  faciet  in  omnibus  medietatem  servicii  predicti  Thome  atte 
Vorde  pro  omni  servicio  Et  dicunt  quod  sunt  ibi  viii  custumarii .  .  . 
quorum  quihbet . . .  reddet  et  faciet  in  omnibus  sicut  predictus  Thomas 
atte  Vorde.  Summa  reddituum  et  operum  vi  /:.  xxs.  (sic)  vid. 

Et  omnes  predicti  custumarii  dabunt  ad  festum  Sti  Martini  de 
certo  tallagio  xxvi^.  viiid.  Et  dabunt  quolibet  anno  ad  la  Hokkedi^y  de 
dominico  visu  iiii5.  Et  placita  et  perquisita  curie  valent  per  annum 
iiii^.  Summa  tallagii  et  visus  perquisiti  xxxiiii^.  viiid. 

Summa  totalis  extente  predicte  xi  It.  xvis.  iid. 

Villa  de  Bureford,  Et  predicti  lurati  dicunt  quod  predictus  Comes 
diu  ante  mortem  suam  feoffavit  lohannem  Giffard  de  villa  de  Bureford 
cum  hameletto  de  Seynat  Habendum  sibi  ad  totam  suam  {sic)  et  post 
mortem  predicti  lohannis  predicta  ten.  .  .  .  den.  ...  in  manu  domini 
Regis  eo  quod  predicta  Comitissa  non  fuit  inde  coniuncta  Et  dicunt 
quod  predicta  villa  cum  hameletto  tenentur  de  Domino  Rege  in  capite 
et  de  Com  Glouc'  Set  per  quod  servicium  pro  se  ignorant    Et  dicunt 


586  ■  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

quod  omnia  supradicta  tenementa  heredi  predicto  iure  hereditario 

descendebunt    Et  dicunt  quod  sunt' in  eadem  villa  cum  hameletto 

predicto  xxx  libr.  \id.  de  quodam  redditu  per  annum     Et  dicunt 

quod  Tolloneum  dicte  ville  valet  per  annum  xi  libr.  xv'nis.    Et  est  ibi 

unum  molendinum  ad  predictam  villam  pertinens  quod  valet  per 

annum  \xs.     Et  est  ibi  quoddam  pratum  quod  valet  per  annum 

iiii  libr.  xvis.    Et  dicunt  quod  placita  et  perquisita  curie  valent  per 

annum  xx^.  (vs.  wid.  interlined  above)    Et  dicunt  quod  Gilbertus  de 

Clare  filius  et  heres  predicti  Gilberti  de  Clar  Com  est  propinquior 

heres  eius  et  est  etatis  xvii  annorum.    In  cuius  rei  testimonium  huic 

excaete  predicti  lurati  sigilla  sua  apposuerunt  .  Datum  ut  supra. 

[Note. — This  Inquisition  was  made  on  a  writ  of  Diem  Clausit  Extremum 
touching  the  death  of  Johanna,  wife  of  Gilbert  de  Clare,  daughter  of 
Edward  I,] 

1314.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Edward  11,  File  42.  {Document 
damaged  at  the  top.) 

Excaeta  .  .  .  reford  .  .  .  quarto  die  Septerabris  Anno  Regni  Regis 
Edwardi  Octavo  De  terris  et  tenementis  qu.  .  .  .  fuerunt  Gilberti 
de  Clare  Com  Gloucestr'  et  Hertfordis  nuper  defuncti  quantum 
videlicet  terre  Idem  Gilbertus  tenuit  in  dominico  suo  de  feodo  de 
domino  Rege  in  capite  die  quo  obiit  et  quantum  de  aliis  et  per  quod 
servicium  et  quantum  terre  de  aliis  et  per  quod  servicium  et  quantum. 
terre  ille  valeant  per  annum  cum  omnibus  exitibus  et  quis  propinquior 
heres  eius  sit  et  cuius  etatis  per  sacramentum  Thome  de  Lyncolne 
Willelmi  le  Mareschal  Egidii  de  Wytinton  Willelmi  de  Wegewolde 
Symonis  le  Spicer  Ricardi  Russel  Radulfi  Chastelton  Edmondi  de 
Dene  lohannis  de  Epewelle  Symon  de  Tardiu  Nich  de  Estcote  et 
Roberti  le  Mason  Qui  dicunt  per  sacramentum  suum  quod  predictus 
Gilbertus  fuit  seisitus  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  die  quo  obiit  de 
dominio  ville  de  Boreford  quod  quidem  dominium  tenetur  de  domino 
Rege  in  capite  tanquam  parcella  honoris  Gloucestr'  per  quod  servicium 
pro  se  tenetur  ignorant  Et  sunt  ibi  xiii  burgenses  qui  reddvmt  per 
annum  xiiii^.  w'\d.  ad  iii  terminos  videlicet  ad  festum  Nativitatis  beati 
lohannis  Baptiste  Beati  Michaelis  Beati  Thome  Apostoli  et  festum 
palmarum  equis  porcionibus  Et  quoddam  mercatiim  per  annum 
per  diem  sabbatis  cuius  proficuum  valet  una  cum  toUonio  Nundinarum 
ibidem  die  Nativitatis  beati  lohannis  Baptiste  existentium  valent 
per  annum  x  U.  Et  placita  et  perquisita  curie  eiusdem  ville  valent 
per  annum  Ixs.  Et  dicunt  quod  si  Matillda  que  fuit  uxor  predicti 
Gilberti  pregnans  non  existet  quod  Alianora  uxor  Hugonis  le  Despenser 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  INQUISITIONS     587 

et  Margareta  que  fuit  uxor  Petri  de  Gav^rston  et  Isabella  que  fuit 
uxor  lohannis  de  Burg  sorores  predict!  Gilberti  de  Clare  sunt  pro- 
pinquiores  heredes  eius  et  predicta  Isabella  tertia  nata  est  etatis 
sexdecim  annorum  Item  dicunt  quod  dictus  Comes  habuit  die  quo 
obiit  xs.  redditus  per  amium  de  Ricardo  parson  de  "Netherverton  in 
Com.  Oxon.  Item  habuit  dictus  Comes  die  quo  obiit  iis.  per  annum 
de  certo  annuali  visu  apud  Heyford  ad  Pontem  in  com.  predicto 

Summa  extente  de  Boreford  ad.  redditus  et  forins'  xiiii//.  vi^.  vid. 

[Note. — A  number  of  writs  and  other  documents  are  affixed  to  this 
Inquisition,  the  husbands  of  the  three  co-heiresses  named  having  seized 
upon  the  estates  on  the  ground  that  the  time  had  passed  within  which 
the  Countess  might  be  pregnant.  The  matter  went  to  the  Chancery,  who 
would  not  advise  '  because  of  the  strangeness  of  the  case  '.] 

1320/  Inquisitions  Ad  Quod  Damnum,  File  145,  No.  15. 

Inquisicio  capta  coram  Escaetori  domini  Regis  citra  Trentam  apud 
Asthallyngeley  die  Lune  in  festo  Translacionis  Sci  Thome  Martyris 
anno  regni  regis  Edwardi  filii  regis  Edwardi  quartodecimo  incipiente 
secundum  tenorem  brevis  huic  inquisicioni  consuti  per  sacramentum 
Roberti  de  Esthalle  lohannis  Turfrey  lohannis  de  Ca:mswelle  Rogeri 
de  Heuxheye  lohannis  Bruyn  Henrici  de  Fyfihede  lohannis  de  Lewe 
Roberti  de  FemhuUe  Willelmi  le  Maryschal  Galfridi  Turfray  Salamonis 
le  Crete  et  Nich  Whitemay  iuratorum  Qui  dicunt  per  sacramentum 
suum  quod  non  est  ad  dampnum  nee  preiudicium  domini  Regis  nee 
aliorum  si  dominus  Rex  concedat  lohanne  que  fuit  uxor  Ricardi  de 
Comwaille  quod  ipsa  quinque  messuagia  quatuor  crofta  duas  virgatas 
terre  et  decem  solidatos  redditus  cum  pertinenciis  in  Asthalle  et 
Asthallyngeley  dare  possit  et  assignare  dilecto  sibi  in  Christo  Priori 
hospitalis  sti  lohannis  de  Boreford  Habenda  et  tenenda  eidem  priori 
et  successoribus  suis  ad  inveniendum  quendam  capellanum  in  ecclesia 
Sti  Nicholai  de '  Asthalle  divina  singulis  diebus  pro  anima  ipsius 
lohanne  et  predicti  Ricardi  viri  sui  celebraturum  inperpetuum  Et 
dicunt  quod  predicta  lohanna  tenet  predicta  messuagia  crofta  terras 
et  redditus  de  Edmundi  de  Comubia  in  capite  ut  de  manerio  de 
Astalle  per  fidelitatem  et  servicium  unius  denarii  per  annum  pro 
omni  servicio  Et  dicunt  quod  Abbatissa  de  Godestowe  a  tempore 
quo  memoria  non  extat  percepit  et  percipere  consuevit  annuatim 
de  una  virgata  terre  eiusdem  tenement!  quod  quondam  fuit  Willehni 
de  Feor  duodecim  solidos  Et  dicunt  quod  predicta  messuagia  crofta 
et  terre  valent  per  annum  cum  omnibus  exitibus  quinquaginta  et 
duos  solidos  et  unum  denarium  iuxta  venim  valorem  eorundem     Et 


588  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

dicunt  quod  non  sunt  plures  medii  inter  dominum  Regem  et  pre- 
dictam  lohannanj  ...  etc.  etc  . . . 

[Note. — The  licence  in  mortmain  to  alienate  this  property,  Aug.  6,  1320, 
is  entered  on  the  Patent  Roll  14  Edward  II,  ps.  i,  m.  22. 

In  connexion  with  this  grant  see  The  English  Register  of  Godstow  Nunnery, 
edited  by  A.  Clark  (E.^.T.S.,  1905),  p.  212  :  '  A  covenant  i-made  by  the 
abbas  of  Godestowetothepriorof  Burford.  The  sentence  of  thys  convencion 
is,  that  Margerye  Dyne,  abbesse  of  Godstowe  and  the  covent  of  the  same 
place  graunted  &  ydA.  licence  for  hyr  &  hyr  successours  to  the  prior  of  the 
hospital  of  Seynt  lohn  of  Borforde  and  to  the  covent  of  the  same  place 
and  to  her  successours  for  to  appropour  a  yerde  londe  with  the  pertinens 
in  Estallingleie  the  whyche  lohn  of  Comewayle  held^  of  the  seyd  abbas 
and  covent  so  that  the  for-seyd  prior  and  covent  of  the  same  place  and  her 
successours  pay  ther-of  yerly  to  the  fomamyd  Abbas  and  covent  xii 
shillings  at  iiii  tennys  of  the  yer  for  all  seculer  exaccion  and  demand .  I-yef 
at  Godstowe  the  xH  yere  of  Kynge  Edward.'    Cf.  infra,  p.  622.] 

1327.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Edward  III,  File  5.  {Document 
in  bad  condition) 

Inquisicio  facta  apud  Bampton  coram  Thomam  de  Harpden 
escaetorem  domini  Regis  in  com.  Wigom.  .  .  .  Oxon  Berks.  .  ...  die 
februarii  anno  regni  Regis  Edwardi  primo.  . .  . 

Qui  dicunt  super  sacramentum  suum  quod  lohannes  Gyffard  de 
Brym.  .  .  .  tenuit  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  die  quo  bbiit  viginti 
libratas  in  villa  de  Burford  in  predicto  Com  Oxon  .  .  .  Et  dicunt  quod 
predictus  redditus  tenetur  de  heredibus  comitis  Gloucestrie  pro  ser- 
vicio  quarte  partis  feodi  unius  militis  pro  omni  servicio  Et  requisiti 
etiam  quis  sit  propinquior  heres  predicti  lohannis  Gyffard  dicunt 
quod  penitus  ignorant. 

1337.    Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Edward  III,  File  51. 

Inquisicio  facta  apud  Bureford  coram  escaetorem  domini  Regis 
in  Com  Oxon  xx°  die  lulii  anno  regni  Regis  Edwardi  tertii  post  con- 
questum  undecimo  luxta  tenorem  Brevis  domini  Regis  huic  Inquisi- 
cioni  consuti  per  sacramentum  Salamonis  le  Grete  Rogeri  Yathman 
Nicholai  Whytemay  Nicholai  Sely  Thome  Whytemay  Thome  Note 
Ricardi  Salaman  Willelmi  de  Fayrford  Ricardi  Turfray  Nicholai 
Cokerel  Willelmi  le  Mareschal  et  Willelmi. . . .  qui  dicunt  quod  EHonora 
la  Despenser  quum  diem  suum  clausit  extremum  fuit  seisita  in 
dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  die  quo  obiit  de  octodecim  solidis  uno  denario 
uno  obolo  et  uno  quadrante  Redditus  assisi  per  annum  de  quibusdam 
libere  tenentibus  in  Bureford  in  Comitatu  predicto  solvendis  ad  quatuor 
anni  dies  usuales  per  equales  porciones  Et  dicunt  est  ibidem  quoddam 
mercatum  cuius  tolnetum  valet  per  annum  i^.  Et  sunt  ibidem  quedam 
Nundine  ad  festum  Sti  lohannis  Baptiste  quarum  tolnetum  valet 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  INQUISITIONS     589 

xxvw.  viiii.  Et  est  ibidem  quidam  visus  franci  plegii  tenendus  ad 
le  Hockeday  qui  valet  iii^.  iuid.  Et  dicunt  quod  placita  et  perquisita 
curie  valent  per  annum  xiii^.  iiiii.  Que  tenentur  de  domino  Rege 
in  capite  ut  de  honore  GIouc'  Per  quod  servicium  ignorant  Et 
dicunt  quod  Hugo  le  Despenser  filius  primogenitus  ipsius  Elianore 
iun.  ...  est  propinquior  heres  eius  et  est  etatis  viginti  none  annorum 
et  amplius  In  cuius  rei  testimonium  predicti  iurati  huic  Inquisicioni 
sigilla  sua  apposuenmt    Datum  die  anno  et  loco  supradictis. 

1344.    Inquisitions  Ad  Quod  Damnum,  File  269. 

Inquisicio  facta  apud  Boreford  coram  lohanne  de  Alnetone  escaetore 
domini  Regis  in  Com  Oxon  "et  Berks  octavo  die  Aprilis  anno  Regni 
regis  Edwardi  tertii  post  conquestum  xviii  iuxta  tenorem  brevis 
domini  Regis  huic  inquisicioni  consuti  per  sacramentum  lohannis 
de  Hyntone  Thome  Blakeman  Nicholai  de  Ascote  Nicholai  de  Kyrtlen- 
tone  Reginaldi  de  Dene  Thome  firankelayn  lohannis  Whitefeld 
Willelmi  Isaac  Thome  le  Quareour  Nicholai  Whitemay  Willelmi  le 
Lepere  et.  .  .  .  Qui  dicunt  per  sacramentum  suum  quod  non  est  ad 
dampnum  seu  preiudicium  domini  Regis  nee  alionrm  si  dominus 
Rex  concedat  dilecto  et  fideli  suo  Hugoni  le  Despenser  quod  ipse  de 
manerio  de  Schipton  et  manerio  de  Burford  cum  pertinenciis  in  dicto 
Com  Oxon  feoffare  possit  Edmundum  de  Grymesby  lohannem  de 
Hamslape  et  Willelmum  de  Oseberston  clericos  Habenda  et  tenenda 
eisdem  Edmundo  lohanni  et  Willelmo  et  heredibus  suis  de  domino 
Rege  et  heredibus  suis  per  servicia  inde  debita  et  consueta  in  perpetuum 
ita  quod  ipsi  habita  inde  plena  et  pacifica  seisina  dare  possint  et 
concedere  predicta  maneria  cum  pertinenciis  prefato  Hugoni  et 
Elizabethe  uxori  eius  Habenda  et  tenenda  eisdem  Hugoni  et  Eliza- 
bethe  et  heredibus  ipsius  Hugonis  de  Domino  Rege  et  heredibus  suis 
per  servicia  in  perpetuum  Et  dicunt  quod  predictum  manerium  de 
Schipton  .  .  .  etc.  etc.  .  . . 

Item  dicunt  quod  predictum  manerium  de  Burford  tenetur  de 
honore  Gloucestr'  per  servicium  unius  feodi  militis  Et  dicunt  quod 
capitale  messuagium  dicti  manerii  valet  per  annum  ii^.  Et  dicunt 
quod  est  ibtdem  unum  molendinum  aquaticum  quod  valet  per 
annum  xius.  nnd.  Et  sunt  ibidem  due  carucate  terra  in  dominico 
continentes  cc  viii  acras  quarum  medietas  seminari  potest  per 
annum  Et  valet  acra  seminata  iiid.  cuius  summa  est  xxvi^. 
Et  sunt  ibidem  xlv  acre  prati  quarum  xx  acre  valent  per  annum 
XXX5.  pretium  acre  xviiii.  et  xxv  acre  prati  valent  per  annum  xxvs. 
pretium  acre  xiid.    Et  dicunt  quod  liberi  et  nativi  tenentes  ibidem 


590  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

reddunt  per  annum  xiiii  U.  xs.    Et  dicunt  quod  placita  et  perquisita . 
curie  ibidem  valent  per  annum  xs.    Et  sic  dicunt  quod  predictum 
manerium  de  Burford  valet  per  annum  in  toto  xix  U.  xv'is.  niid. 

The  following  entries  concern  the  half  knight's  fee  held  in  Burford 
by  the  family  of  de  Fanencourt. 

1386.  10  Richard  11.  Hugo  Comes  Stafford'.  Burford — Unum 
feodum  de  honore  de  Gloucestr'. 

1392.  16  Richard  II.  Thomas  Comes  Stafford'.  Boreford — Medie- 
tas unius  feodi. 

1398.  22  Richard  II.  Willelmus  frater  et  heres  Thome  Comitis 
Stafford'.    Boreford — Dimidium  feodi  per  heredes  W.  Fanacourt. 

1402-3.  4  Henry  IV.  Edmundus  Comes  Stafford'.  Burford 
— Medietas  unius  feodi.  * 

1460-1.  38  &  39  Henry *VI.  Humfridi  Dux  Buckinghamie.  Bore- 
ford— Dimidium  feodi  per  heredes  Willelmi  de  Fanacourt. 

Cat.  Inquis.  Post  Mort.  iii.  85,  152,  245,  288,  iv.  155. 

1460.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Henry  VI,  File  96,  No.  3.  18 
Henry  VI. 

Oxon.  Inquisicio  capta  apud  Oxon  xxiii  die  mensis  Mali  anno 
regni  Regis  Henrici  sexti  post  conquestum  decimo  octavo  coram  Petro 
ffetiplace  escaetori  domini  Regis  in  comitatu  predicto  virtute  brevis 
domini  Regis,  eidem  escaetori  directe  Et  huic  inquisicioni  consute 
per  sacramentum  Willelmi  Roseno  Ricardi  Purcell  Thome  Cheven- 
hurst  lohannis  Mery  Roberti  ffyffyde  Willelmi  Candy  Thomas  Chalk- 
eleyn  lohannis  Swyft  lohannis  Radby  Thome  Cozener  et  lohannis 
Tyllynger  Qui  dicunt  super  sacramentum  suum  quod  Isabella  nuper 
comitissa  Warrwick  in  dicto  brevi  nominata  nulla  tenuit  terras  seu 
tenementa  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  nee  in  servicio  de  domino 
Rege  in  capite  nee  de  ahquo  alio  in  comitatu  predicto  die  quo  obiit. 
Set  dicunt  quod  quidam  finis  levavit  in  curia  Domini  Regis  nunc  a 
die  sti  Michaelis  in  quindecim  dies  anno  regni  eiusdem  domini  Regis 
nunc  decimo  octavo  Inter  Radulphum  Boteler  militem  lohannem 
BeauchampmiHtemWillelmum  Mountfort  militem^  Willelmum  Thomas 
militem  lohannem  Throkmarton  lohannem  Norys  lohannem  Nanfan 
Willelmum  Menston  et  lohannem  Say  clericum  querentes  et  dictam 
Isabellam  in  dicto  brevi  nominatam  per  nomen  Isabelle  que  fuit 
uxor  Ricardi  nuper  comitis  Warrwick  comitisse  Warrwick  deforciantem 
de  manerio  de  Shipton  .  .  .  etc  .  .  .  Dicunt  etiam  predicti  luratores 
*  This  name  interlined. 


EXCHEQUEk  AND  CHANCERY  IN<5UISITI0NS     591 

quod  in  curia  domini  Regis  nunc  videlicet  a  die  sti  martini  in  xv  dies 
anno  regni  eiusdem  domini  Regis  nunc  decimo  octavo  quidam  ^lius 
finis  levavit  inter  Radulphum  Boteller  et  alios  in  eodem  fine  nominatos 
querentes  et  dictam  Isabellam  in  dicto  brevi  nominatam  per  nomen 
Isabelle  que  fuit  uxor  Ricardi  nuper.  comitis  Warr  comitisse  Warr 
deforciantem  de  manerios  de  Caversham  et  Burford  cum  pertinenciis 
inter  alia  in  eodem  comitatu  licencia  regis  inde  prius  habita  per  quern 
finem  eadem  Isabella  recognovit  eadem  maneria  cum  pertinenciis  in- 
ter alia  esse  ius  ipsius  Radulphi  et  aliorum  in  eodem  fine  nominatonim 
ut  ea  que  idem  Radulfus  et  alii  in  eodem  fine  nominati  habuerunt 
ex  dono  ipsius  Isabelle  prout  in  eodem  fine  dictis  luratoribus  ostenso 
plenius  potest  apt)arere  virtute  cuius  finis  ipsi  de  eisdem  maneriis 
cum  pertinenciis  inter  alia  fuerunt  seisiti  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo 
in  vita  ipsius  Isabelle  et  tempore  mortis  eiusdem  Isabelle  Et  de  tali 
statu  adhuc  inde  seisiti  existunt  Et  dicunt  quod  dicta  Isabella  obiit 
in  festo  Sti  Stephani  ultimo  preterito  Et  quod  Henricus  nunc  comes 
Warr  est  filius  et  heres  propinquior  ipsius  Isabelle  et  fuit  etatis 
quindecim  annorum  xxii  die  martis  ultimo  preterito  in  cuius  rei 
.  .  .  etc. 

1466.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Henry  VI,  File  123,  No.  43. 
25  Henry  VI. 

Inquisicio  capta  apud  Oxon  in  com  Oxon  xviii  die  Novembris 
anno  regni  Regis  Henrici  sexti  post  conquestum  vicesimo  quinto  coram 
Waltero  Wyghthyll  escaetori  dicti  domini  Regis  in  comitatu  predictp 
virtute  cuiusdam  brevis  .  .  .  etc.  .  .  . 

[Upon  the  death  of  Henry  de  Belle  Campo,  Duke  of  Warwick.  Gives 
the  same  account  of  the  fine  of  i8  Henry  VI  as  the  preceding  Inquisition, 
and  of  the  existing  tenure  of  the  manor  of  Burford.] 

Et  dicunt  quod  dicta  maneria  de  Caversham  et  Burford  non  tenentur 
de  domino  Rege  set  de  quo  vel  de  quibus  tenentur  luratores  predicti 
ignorant. 

i486.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Exch.  Series  II,  File  775,  No.  9. 
2  Henry  VII. 

Inquisition  dated  26  September,  2  Henry  VII,  concerning  the  lands 
of  Thomas  Farmer,  including  the  manor  6f  Chadlyngton  Estende, 
seven  houses  and  land  in  Witney,  a  house  and  land  in  Coggs  and  in 
Filkins,  and  one  cottage  with  the  appurtenances  in  Burford,  the  last 
held  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick  at  a  service  of  one  penny  a  year,  and 
valued  at  6s.  &d.  a  year. 


592  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

1486.    Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Ibidem,  No.  16.    2  Henry  VII. 

Inquisition  dated  penultimate  day  of  October,  2  Henry  VII,  con- 
cerning the  lands  of  Richard  Mosyer.  The  jurors  found  that  he  held 
no  lands  of  the  King  in  cdpite.  Set  dicunt  predicti  luratores  quod 
lohannes  Pynnok  lohannes  Graunger  et  Willelmus  Hill  alias  dictus 
Willelmus  Priour  fuerunt  seisiti  in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  de  et 
in  omnibus  illis  terns  et  tenemeritis  cum  suis  pertinenciis  iacentia 
in  Burford  et  Kenkham  in  comitatu  predicto  que  nuper  fuerunt 
lohannis  Mosyer  patris  Ricardi  Mosyer  in  dicto  brevi  nominati  ad 
usum  et  commodum  eiusdem  Ricardi  heredum  et  assignatorum 
suorum  Qui  quidem  Ricardus  Mosyer  pro  eo  quod  nullum  habuit 
heredem  ac  pro  eo  quod  Willelmus  Hill  alias  dictu^  Willelmus  Priour 
fuit  proximus  consanguineus  eius  diu  ante  obitum  suum  voluit  et 
ordinavit  quod  idem  Willelmus  Hille  post  mortem  suam  heret  omnia 
supradicta  terras  et  tenementa  cum  suis  pertinenciis  .  .  .  prout  Willel- 
mus Pole  Robertus  Coke  et  lohannes  Fysshier  super  captionem  huius 
Inquisicionis  examinati  testificaverunt  ... 

[The  lands  in  Burford  held  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick  and  valued  at  20s. 
a  year.] 

1495.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Chanc.  Series  II,  vol.  10,  No.  143. 
10  Henry  VII. 

Inquisition  held  at  Crowmarsh,  20  February,  10  Henry  VII,  con- 
cerning the  lands  ^6f  William  Eyston,  who  had  died  the  previous 
23  December,  leaving  a  son  and  heir  Thomas  Eyston.  His  lands 
included  three  messuages  in  Burford  of  the  annual  value  of  £3. 

Et  dicunt  quod  dicta  tria  messuagia  cum  pertinenciis  tenentur  de 
domino  Rege  ut  de  Ducatu  suo  de  Glous'  Set  pro  quo  servicio  iuratores 
predicti  penitus  ignorant. 

1578.  Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  Chanc.  Series  II,  vol.  182,  No.  43. 
20  Elizabeth. 

Inquisition  at  Chipping  Norton  16  January,  20  Elizabeth,  coram 
Herculi  Raynsford  et  Thoma  Penistone  et  Thoma  Richards  generous 
per  sacramentum  Willemi  Bflhd  lohannis  Wythinge  lohannis  Rawlinge 
Thome  Wodward  lohannis  Crippes  lohannis  Sessions  lohannis  fflecher 
Henrici  fflecher  Ricardi  Busbye  lacobi  foster  Henrici  Baker  Willelmi 
Brooke  Thome  Norden  Thome  Carike  Willelmi  Huchines  Simonis 
Turfrey  et  Roberti  Haris  .  .  . 

Qui  dicunt  super  sacramentum  suum  quod  .^dmundus  Silvester 


EXCHEQUER  AND  CHANCERY  INQUISITIONS     593 

pater  predicti  Edmundi  in  dicta  commissione  nominati  fuit  seisitus 
in  dominico  suo  ut  de  feodo  de  una  virgata  terre  cum  pertinenciis 
in  Risington  magna  in  com  Glouc  ac  de  et  in  uno  messuagio  uno 
curtilagio  uno  tofto  et  uno  crofto  et  diversis  aliis  terris  tenementis 
et  hereditamentis  in  Esthall  et  EsthuU  langlye  in  comitatu  Oxon 
nuper  hospitali  Sti  lohannis  Evangeliste  de  Burford  dudum  spectan- 
tibus  ac  etiam  de  et  in  uno  messuagio  cum  pertinenciis  in  Burford 
predicto  in  tenura  cuiusdam  Ricardi  Dalam  et  de  et  in  uno  gardino 
ibidem  in  tenura 'lohannis  Haynes  uno  alio  gardino  ibidem  in  tenura 
Ricardi  Wigpit  uno  clauso  ibidem  in  tenura  Roberti  Hayter  ac  de  et 
in  uno  messuagio  vocato  The  Comer  House  in  Burford  predicto  cum 
curtilagio  et  gardino  adiacentibus  nuper  cantarie  Beate  marie  virginis 
de  Burford  spectantibus  necnon  de  et  in  uno  tenemento  in  Burford 
predicto  in  alta  strata  ibidem  et  uno  clauso  in  Burford  predicto  vocato 
Picked  Close  in  Wittneye  Street  ... 

The  jurors  found  that  Edmund  Silvester  the  younger  succeeded  as 
son  and  heir  to  the  above  properties,  and  was  also  himself  seised  *  de 
et  in  duabus  virgatis  terre  arrabilis  iacentibus  in  villa  et  campis  de 
Burford  et  Signett  in  comitatu  predicto  et  de  et  in  duabus  acris 
prati  iacentibus  in  quodam  prato  de  Burford  predicto  vocato  High 
Meade  et  de  et  in  uno  clauso  vocato  Samon's  Close  '. 

The  jurors  found  that  Edmund  Silvester  died  29  July,  19  Elizabeth 
(1577),  having  left  to  Thomas  Silvester,  his  second  son,  the  messuage 
occupied  by  Dalam  and  the  close  called  Hayter's  Close ;  and  to 
William  Silvester,  another  son,  Salmon's  Close  in  St.  John's  Street. 
The  rest  of  his  property  descended  to  Edmund  Silvester,  his  son 
and  heir. 

The  lands  in  Risington,  Asthall,  and  Asthally  held  of  the  Queen 
in  capite,  by  service  of  a  twentieth  part  of  a  knight's  fee,  and  valued 
at  40^.  a  year. 

The  house  with  a  garden  and  close  (valued  at  135.  a  year),  the 
Comer  House  (valued  at  20s.  a  year),  the  High  Street  tenement 
(valued  at  135.  Sd.  a  year),  and  the  Picked  Close  (valued  at  2s. 
a  year),  all  in  Burford,  held  of  the  Queen  as  of  the  manor  of  East 
Greenwich. 

The  other  lands  and  tenements  in  Burford  valued  at  255.  a  year, 
*  et  tenentur  de  domina  Regina  ut  de  Burgo  suo  de  Burford  in  libero 
Burgagio  '. 


2304  Q  q 


594 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


(c)  LAY  AND  CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES 
1316.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :   161,  8.  * 


Boreford 

De  Isabella  de  Clar 

xvis.  virf. 

De  Thoma  Corbet 

xiii^.  iuid. 

De  magistro  Hospitalis 
De  lohanne  Mokes 

yis.  ud. 
iiii^.  iid. 

De  Ricardo  Sely 
De  Willelmo  Fynely 
De  lohanne  Fabro 

iiiiy. 
vis.  vi^. 
iiii5.  vid. 

De  Willelmo  Bond 

lis.  iiiii. 

De  lohanne  de  Sotham 

vi5.  vid. 

De  Salamone  le  Crete 

»viii5.  vid. 

De  Ricardo  Pakedam 

iis.  iid. 

De  Michaele  Fabro 

xixi. 

De  lohanne  le  Viker 

ii5.  vid. 

De  Ricardo  de  Wintarton 

xiiiii. 

De  Henrico  Laszine 

iiis.  vid. 

De  Ricardo  de  Churchill 

xxd. 

De  Nicholao  Richeman 

iis.  vid. 

De  Clemente  le  Vatter 

ixs. 

De  lohanne  le  Napper 

xs. 

De  Nicholao  Whitemay 
De  Willelmo  Faireford 

iiii^.  viid. 
iuis.  vid. 

De  Thoma  Note 

xvud. 

De  Willelmo  Whitemay 
De  lohanne  le  Baker 

x-sdiid. 
xxd. 

De  Rogero  Machmen 
De  Henrico  Blondam 

iiii5. 
ii5.  vid. 

De  Ricardo  Pistore 

ii5. 

De  Thoma  de  Lincoln 

iiii^. 

De  Egidio  de  Whitinton 

vs.  iid. 

De  Ricardo  Rossel 

iiiis.  viiid. 

De  Thoma  Eaward 

iuis.  viiid. 

De  Thoma  Martyn 
De  Willelmo  de  .  .  . 

iiii5-  viiid. 
His.  vid. 

De  Matthew  le  Canone 

vs.  iiiii. 

De  Cristina  .  .  . 

iiiis.  ixd. 

De  lohanne  le  Star 

vs.  Hid. 

De  Galfrido  Bitheweye 
De  Willelmo  le  Long 

iuis.  iiii(i. 
vis. 

De  lohanne  ad  Aulam 

His.  vid. 

De  Roberto  Abraham 

vs.  vid. 

De  Thoma  Hykeman 

vis.  viiid. 

De  Thoma  lones 

iiii^.  viiid. 

De  Hugone  Crikel 

iiii^.  xd. 

LAY  AND  CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES 


595 


De  Thoma  Roberd  viiy.  iiiid, 

De  Willelmo  atte  Ford  iiiij.  viiii. 

De  Thoma  atte  Ford  ii^.  viiii. 

De  lohanne  Symond  ii5.  viiid. 

De  lohanne  Tritones  •  iis.  viiii. 

De  .  .  .  ,  Selewynes  i\s.  ■viiid. 

De  lohanne  Alis  iiii^.  iid. 

De  Ricardo  Herdman  \s. 

De  Ricardo  Chont  iiii^.  id. 

De  Symone  le  Spicer  iiiis. 

De  Waltero  de  Whitinton  vs. 

De  Willelmo  le  marschal  -  xiiJ. 

De  Willelmo  Wygewold  ii5.  vid. 

De  Thoma  Osebam  viiirf. 
Summa  xiii  It.  ius.  iiid. 

1336-7.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  ;  161,  9, 

Subsidy  of  a  Twentieth,  i  Edward  III. 


Villata  de  Boreford 

De  Isabella  de  Clare 

De  Thoma  Corbet 

De  Magistro  Hospicarii 

De  Reginaldo  Pyiichet 

De  Symone  Haym 

De  Nicolao  le  Towe 

De  Henrico  Blonham 

De  lohanne  Gilkes 

De  lohanne  Mokes 

De  Henrico  Nespis 

De  Nicholao  Scotham 

De  Willelmo  Ayneld 

De  Michaele  Fabro 

De  Galfrido  de  Schipton 

De  Ricardo  Torfrey 

De  Willelmo  de  Ergewold 

De  Ricardo  de  Beardon 

De  Ricardo  le  Couper 

De  Alicia  Silewyne 

De  lohanne  Giles 

De  Waltero  Aloto 

De  Ricardo  Pakedam 

De  lohanne  le  Vikery 

De  lohanne  Phelip 

De  Willelmo  le  Taillur 

De  Ricardo  dte  Cherchehull 

De  Clemente  le  Vatter 

De  lohanne  Pynchard 


vs.  viid. 

iii;. 

viii5. 

\is.  iid. 

xs.  iid. 

viii5. 

vi^.  viiid. 

His.  vid. 

iis.  vid. 

xixi. 

vis.  viiid. 

iir. 

vid. 

vid. 

vid. 

His.  vid. 

xviiid. 

iii^. 

vid. 

vid. 

xviii<i. 

vii. 

iis.  viid. 

vid. 

vid. 

xvd. 

iiii5.  vid. 

vid. 


Qq 


596 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


De  lohanne  le  Riche 

vii. 

De  Thoma  Whitemay 

yaii. 

De  Thoma  de  Lincoln 

vii. 

De  lohanne  le  Smyth                   • 

iis. 

De  Thoma  Note 

iii5. 

De  Alicia  Hodes 

vs.  id. 

De  Roberto  de  Hercote 

xiii. 

De  Willelmo  Magete 

xiii. 

De  Willelmo  d6  Wydforde 

ms.  iiiii. 

De  Ricardo  Pistore 

xiii. 

De  Nicholao  Kokerel 

\\d. 

De  Willelmo  de  Westwelle  . 

xd. 

De  lohanne  Stubian 

lis. 

De  Roberto  le  Taillur 

vid. 

De  Willelmo  le  Mareschal 

iii5. 

De  Magistro  Rogero 

iii^.  xii. 

De  Ada  le  Towe 

xviiid. 

De  Egidio  de  Whitynton 

mis.  vid. 

De  Ricardo  Rossel 

iis.  vid. 

De  lohanne  Saleman 

xviiid. 

Summa  vi  li.  X5.  iiiit^. 

Hamelettum  de  Seynatt 

De  Thoma  Eaward 

His.  iiiii. 

De  Simone  Rolf 

iiii^.  ixd. 

De  lohanne  Martyn 

xxiiiJ. 

De  Willelmo  Haddon 

iiii5.  xid. 

De  Matilda  Canones 

His.  Hid. 

De  Rogero  Saundres 

His.  Hid. 

De  lohanne  le  Ster 

ius.  iiiii. 

De  Galfrido  Eitheweye 

iiiis.  id. 

De  Isaac  le  Nemige 

His.  viid. 

De  lohanne  atte  Halle 

xviid. 

De  Roberto  Keite 

vs.  vid. 

De  lohanne  Abraham 

iis.  viid. 

De  Waltero  Killyng 

xid. 

De  Agneta  de  Eynesham 

xiiiii. 

Summa  xliiiis. 

Hamelettum  de  Uptone 

De  Roberto  Chont 

His.  vHid, 

De  Ricardo  Herdman 

His.  ixd. 

De  Thoma  Hobbes 

iHs.  xi<2. 

De  Alicia  Cholber 

.  vid. 

De  Roberto  Selewyne 

xixd. 

De  Roberto  in  le  Hume 

xvid. 

De  lohanne  le  Tretone 

vs. 

De  lohanne  Symondes 

xiid. 

De  Willelmo  Seynet 

xxid. 

LAY  AND  CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES  597 


De  Willelmo  atte  Forde 

XTdid. 

De  Thoma  Roberdes 

vs.  iud. 

De  lohanne  Cassebel 

lis.  iud. 

De  Willelmo  Jones 

xwid. 

De  Hugone  Crikel 

jdid. 

De  Thoma  Tones 

liis.  iid. 

De  Thoma  Hikeman 

\s.  id. 

De  Nicholao  ... 

His. 

De  Salamone  le  Crete 

iiis. 

De  Willelmo  deFairford 

iii5. 

De  lohanne  Bernard 

iiiy. 

Summa  liiii^.  vd. 

1316.    Lay  Subsidies^  Oxfordshire  :   161,  16. 

Nonarum  Inquisitiones.    (This  file  in  very  bad  condition.) 

Inquisicio  capta  apud  Wyttneye  die  lovis 
EcclesiadeBoreford  proximo  post  festum  Annunciacionis  beate 
eneye  et  hundred'  "*^"®  virginis  anno  regni  Regis  Edwardi  tertii 
de  Bampton  ^  conquestu  Anglie  quintodecimo  et  regni  sui 

francie  secundo  coram  Alano  Abbati  de  Eynesham 
et  sociis  suis  collectoribus  None  garbarum  vellerum  et  agnorum  per 
con;  Oxon  assignate  per  sacramentum  Salamonis  le  Crete  de  Boreford 
Ricardi  .  .  .  legh  de  eadem  Henrici  Blonham  Thome  Note  Ricardi 
Sely  et  lohannis  Wyggewold  Qui  dicunt  per  sacramentum  suum 
quod  ecclesia  de  Boreford  extendit  in  Hi  marc'  de  qua  taxacione  nona 
garbarum  .  .  .  anno  concessionis  valuit  ibidem  xx  marc'  xs.  Et  nona 
vellerum  valuit  illo  anno  vs.  uiid.  Et  nona  agnorum  valuit  illo  anno 
ii  mrcs  et  dimid'  Summa  garbarum  vellerum  et  agnorum  xxviii  mrcs 
His.  iiiii.  Et  .  .  .  Rectoris  ibidem  valuit  illo  anno  xxs.  vid.  Et  .  .  . 
valuit  illo  anno  Ixxiii^.  iiiii.  et  redditus  illo  anno  valuerunt  Ixixs. 
vid.  .  .  .  oblacionis  .  .  .  minutis  decimis  valuerunt  illo  anno  viiiZi. 
Summa  abrenacionis  extraordinarie  causis  supradictis  xxiiii  mrcs 
His.  iiii(2.  Et  sic  remanent  adhuc  ad  opus  Domini  Regis  de  nona 
garbarum  vellerum  et  agnorum  Domino  Regi  concessa  xxviiim. 
His.  Hiid.  et  nichil  de  catallariis. 

1347.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :   161,  20. 
A  Tenth  and  Fifteenth,  20  Edward  III. 
Hundredum  de  Bampton  .  .  . 
Boreford  ix  li.  wis.  iid. 

1383-4,    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :   161,  52. 
Half  of  a  Tenth  and  Fifteenth,  7  Richard  II.    The  name  of  John 
Wynrysh  of  Burford  among  the  Collectors  of  the  Subsidy. 


598  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Hundr'  de  Bampton.  .  .  . 

Villate  de  Opton  et  Seynet  xlii^.  viid. 

Villata  de  Boreford  iiii  li.  xviiis.  id. 

1385-6.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :   161,  53. 
A  Tenth  and  Fifteenth,  9  Richard  11. 
Hundr'  de  Bampton.  ... 
Villate  de  Upton  et  Seynatte  iiii  li.  vs.  iid. 
Villata  de  Bureford  (amount  illegible). 

1392.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :  161,  54. 
Half  of  a  Tenth  and  Fifteenth,  16  Richard  II.   The 'name  of  Thomas 
Spicer  of  Boreford  among  the  Collectors  of  the  Subsidy. 
Viir  de  Upton  et  Seynet  xlii5.  \ud. 
Vill'  de  Boreford  iiii  li.  xviiis.  id. 

1420.     Clerical  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :  36,  252.     7  Henry  V. 

Compotus  collectorum  de  vi^.  viiid.  de  quibuscunque  capellanis 
etc  in  archid'  Oxon  .  .  .  (holding  benefices  of  the  value  of  seven  marks 
and  over). 

Decanatus  de  Wyteney 

De  Domino  David  de  .  .  .  rford  vi^.  viiid. 

De  lohanne  Port  capellano  ibidem  vi^.  viiid. 

De  Roberto  Clere  alias  fflyng  capellano  ibidem  vis.  viiid. 

1435-6.    Clerical  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :  37,  411.     14  Henry  VI. 

Collection  of  a  subsidy  of  6s.  Sd.  from  certain  parish  priests, 
stipendiaries  and  other  priests  having  chantries  and  other  chaplains 
in  the  archdeaconry  of  Oxford,  receiving  less  than  10  marks  a 
year. 

De  Richardo  Monmouth  capellano  de  Boreford  r  ix  marcas 

De  Waltero  Mares  capellano  de  eadem  r  viii  marcas 

1448-9.    Clerical  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :  38,  557.    27  Henry  VI. 

Compotus  ffulconis  Bermyngeham  archidiaconi  Oxon  collectoris 
cuiusdam  subsidie  vi^.  viiiJ.de  singulis  capellanis  secularibus  fratribus 
et  aliis  religiosis  ecclesiis  parochialibus  deservientibus  seu  stipendia  et 
annualia  recipientibus  sive  ab  aliis  capellanis  quibuscunque  cantarias 
non  taxatas  habentibus  et  infra  archidiaconatum  Oxort  commoranti- 
bus 

Dec'  de  Wytteney.  De  Domino  Thoma  Mayhow  magistro  hospitalis 
Sti  lohannis  Baptiste  de  Borford  vi^.  viiid. 


LAY  AND  CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES  599 

(On  the  dorse  of  the  same'membrane.) 
De  Domino  Roberto  Bonde  stipendiario  in  ecclesia 
de  Borfford  vis.  yiiid. 

De  Domino  Waltero  Morys  stipendiario  in  eadem  ecclesia  vis.  vind. 
De  Domino  Roberto  Shepard  stipendiario  in  eadem  vi^.  wuid. 

De  Domino  lohanne  Breknok  stipendiario  in  eadem         vis.  viiii^. 

1450-1.    Clerical  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :   38,  603.    29  Henry  VI. 

Spiritualia  and  temporalia  of  the  Abbey  of  Keynsham. 

Spiritualia  in  the  Archdeaconry  of  Oxford :  videlicet  ecclesia  de 
Boref ord  in  Decan'  de  Wittney  que  ad  xlv  marcas  taxatur  per  aimum 
de  qualibet  librata  2s. 

et  de  iiiii.  de  bonis  temporalibus  que  quidem  bona  ad  \\\s.  taxatur 
in  Boref  ord. 

1524.    Lay  Subsidies, Oxfordshire:  161, 172.    15  Henry  VIIL 

Villat'  de  Burford  for  goods  and  londs  subsidium. 

De  Petro  Annesdale  in  goods 
lohanne  Sharppe  in  bonis 
lohanne  Bysshopf>e  p  bon 
Roberto  Payne  p  bon 
lohanne  Pryour  p  bonis 
Nicholao  Philippys  de  bonis 
Roberto  Hannys  de  bon 
lohanne  Osmonde  in  bon 
lohanne  Colyns  de  bon 
lohanne  Tryell  in  bonis 
lohanne  Wyllyngton  in  bon 
lohanne  Crampton  in  bon 
lohanne  Wodowys  in  bon 
Thoma  Jlyle  in  bon 
lohanne  Salthouse  in  bon 
Thoma  Tesedale  in  bonis 
lohanne  Lambert  in  bon 
Willelmo  Spycer  in  bon 
Willelmo  Est  in  bon 
Roberto  Ithell  in  bon 
lohanne  Smyth  in  bon 
Thoma  Lepar  sen  in  bon 
lacobo  Grene  in  bon 
Willelmo  Colyns  in  bon 
Roberto  Croiiner  in  bon 
Thoma  Thomson  in  bon 
Thome  Straunge  in  bon 
Willelmo  Harper  in  bonis 
lohanne  Agar  in  bon 


xl  li. 

xls. 

XX  li. 

7CKS. 

vi  li.- 

ilLy. 

XX  li. 

xxs. 

viifa'. 

ms.  vid. 

vii  li. 

iih.  vid. 

xxmks. 

\h.  viiid. 

x\s. 

jod. 

xly. 

xiii. 

xh. 

xiid. 

XX  li. 

xxs. 

xh. 

xiid. 

xh: 

jod. 

vi  li. 

iiir. 

Xl5. 

xiid. 

xl  li. 

xls. 

x\li. 

xh. 

vii/». 

iiis.  vid. 

viiiK. 

iiiis. 

Xl5. 

xiid. 

xxvis.  viiid. 

vid. 

xh. 

xiid. 

xli. 

vs. 

vii  fa'. 

iiir.  vid. 

xls. 

xud. 

vii  li. 

iiis.  vid. 

vii  li. 

iiis.  vii. 

\xs. 

xiiiirf. 

cs. 

iis.  vid. 

6oo 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Willelmo  Fyssher  in  bon 
Thoma  Frethome  in  bdn 
Roberto  Forde  in  bon 
Nicholao  Tame  in  bonis 
Thoma  Croucheman  in  bon 
Henrico  Baker  in  bon 
Roberto  Whytepytt  in  bon 
Thoma  Kyng  in  bon 
lohanne  Beller  in  bon 
lohanne  Hyter  in  bonis 
Willelmo  Nethall  in  bon 
Thoma  Grene  in  bon 
Thoma  Clere  in  bon 
Willelmo  Wincester  in  bon 
Thoma  Adams  in  bon 
Henrico  Bocher  in  bon 
Willelmo  Dyll  in  bon 
Thoma  Cok  in  .  . 
lohanne  .  .  . 

(Five  names  illegible) 
lohanne .... 
lohanne  lonys  in  bon 
Roberto  lohnson  in  bon 
Roberto  Smyth  in  bon 
Thoma  Lepar  in  bonis 
Thoma  Fawler  in  bon 
David  Tailor  in  bon 

Ricardo  Edmonds  in  bon 
Willelmo  Smyth  in  bon 
Georgio  Chadworth  in  bon 
Georgio  Lambert  in  bon 
lohanne  Stokdale  in  bon 
lohanne  Wellok  in  bon 
Willelmo  lenyver  in  bon 
Christofero  Stoddale  in  bon 
Edwardo  Smyth  in  bon 
lohanne  Colyns  in  bon 
Roberto  Eynesdale  in  bon 
Roberto  Towe  in  bon 
Thoma  Crowe  in  bon 
Roberto  B  ...  in  bon 

Roberto  P . 

Editha  Far  .  .  .  vid  in  bon 
Matilda  Stanton  vid  in  bon 
Agneta  Laurens  vid  in  bon 

Al 

Alicia 


xU. 

xiid. 

xh. 

xiid. 

vi  It. 

iii5. 

xh. 

xnd. 

xh. 

xiid. 

Xl5. 

xii(2. 

vii  It. 

iii5.  vid. 

xh. 

xiid. 

vii  It. 

His.  vid. 

wli. 

iis.  vid. 

xls. 

xii<i. 

xh. 

xiid. 

vi  It. 

iii5. 

xh. 

xiii. 

\xs. 

Tcviud. 

xh. 

Toid. 

iiii  It. 

ii5. 

xh. 

xiid. 

xh. 

xiirf. 

XV  U. 

viis.  vid. 

xh. 

xiid. 

vi  It. 

iii5. 

1X5. 

xviiiJ. 

\xs. 

xviii<i. 

iiii  It. 

ii5. 

XX  marc. 

vi5.'  viiii. 

1X5. 

xviiii. 

X  U.    . 

vs. 

x\s. 

xnd. 

xh. 

xiid. 

Xl5. 

xiid. 

wli. 

iis.  vid. 

vi  U. 

iii5. 

Ixs. 

xviiid. 

vii  li. 

ins.  vid. 

vili. 

iii5. 

vi  li. 

iii5. 

Ixs. 

xviiid. 

xli. 

vs. 

xls. 

xiid. 

1X5. 

xviiid. 

xli. 

vs. 

iiii  li. 

ii5. 

1X5. 

xviiii. 

viiifo*. 

iiiij. 

bC5. 

xviiid. 

LAY  AND  CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES 


6oi 


(Eight  names  illegible  ;  one,  perhaps  John  Busbye,  rated  at  £ioo  and 
taxed  £io  ;  the  rest  all  taxed  4^.) 


Hugone  lonys  pro  stipendio 

iiiii. 

Willelmo  .  .  .  servo  pro  stipend 

iiiii. 

Roberto  Andrewes  servo  pro  stipend 

niid. 

lohanne  .  .  .  p  stipend 

iiii(2. 

Thoma  .  .  .  .  p  stipend 

mid. 

Thoma  Alf .  .  .  .  p  stipend 

mid. 

lohanne  Gryffyn  S  lohannis  Apost  p  stipend          iiud. 

lohanne  Delk  p  stipend 

iiiii. 

lohanne  fifeld  servo  Rob  Smyth  p  stipend               iiii^i. 

De  Terris  pertinentibus  ecclesie  de  Burford 

xviiii. 

De  terris  pertinentjbus  capelle  beate  marie 

virginis 

de  Burford 

xviiii. 

Thoma  Inglond  in  bon 

xk.  xiid. 

lohanne  Grove  p  stipend 

imd. 

1525.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :  161, 173.    i 

5  Henry  VXII. 

The  township  of  Burford. 

De  lohanne  Sharp 

xxs. 

lohanne  Bysshop 

iii5. 

Roberto  Payn 

xxs. 

lohanne  Pryor 

His.  vid. 

Nicholao  Phyppys 

His.  vid. 

Roberto  Hannys 

vis.  vuid. 

lohanne  Osmonde 

xiid. 

lohanne  Colyns 

xiid. 

lohanne  Togill 

Jixid. 

lohanne  Myllyngton 

xxd. 

lohanne  Brampton 

xiii. 

lohanne  Wodowys 

xiid. 

Thoma  Ryley 

iiiy. 

lohanne  Salthouse 

xiiJ. 

Thoma  Teysdale 

xxxvis. 

lohanne  Lambert 

XXX5. 

Willelmo  Spycer 

liis.  vid. 

Willelmo  Est 

iiii</. 

Roberto  Ithell 

xiU.  • 

lohanne  Smyth 

vi<f. 

Thoma  Lepar  seniore 

xiii. 

lacobo  Grene 

xs. 

Willelmo  Colyns 

His.  vid. 

Roberto  Browne 

:did. 

Thoma  Tomson 

His.  vid. 

Thoma  Straunge 

His.  vid. 

Willelmo  Harper 

xviHd. 

lohanne  Agar 

Hs.  vid. 

Willelmo  Fyssher 

xiid. 

602 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Thoma  Frethorn 
Roberto  Forde 
Nicholao  Tame 
Thoma  Crowcheman 
Henrico  Baker 
Roberto  Whytpyt 
Thoma  Kyng 
lohanne  Bellar 
lohanne  Haytar 
Willelmo  Noveller 
Thoma  Grene 
Thoma  Clarke 
Willelmo  Banaster 
Thoma  Adame 
Lawrencio  Bocher 
Willelmo  Dylke 
Thoma  Beky 
lohanne  Clemson 
Ricardo  Ithell 
lohanne  Hannys 
Christofero  Perkins 
Thoma  Sadler 
Thoma  George 
lohanne  Yong 
lohanne  lonys 
Roberto  lohnson 
Roberto  Smyth 
Thoma  Lepar 
Thoma  Fowlar 
David  Tayllor 
Ricardo  Edmunds 
Willelmo  Smyth 
Georgio  Chadworth 
lohanne  Stokdale 
lohanne  Willok 
Willelmo  lenyver 
Christofero  Stokdale 
Edwardo  Smyth 
lohanne  Colyns 
Roberto  Eynysdale 
Roberto  Lowe 
Thoma  Crow 
Roberto  Grantham 
Roberto  Payn  jun. 
Editha  Brame  vidua 
Mawd  Staunton  vid 
Agneta  Laurens  vid 
Alicia  Hoggs  vid 


xii(2. 

iii^. 

xiid. 

xnd. 

xiirf. 

iiis.  vid. 

xii(2. 

iiis.  vid. 

lis.  vid. 

^id. 

xiid. 

iiiy. 

xiid. 

xviiid. 

xiiti. 

lis. 

xiid. 

xnd. 

xii(2. 

viy.  viiirf. 

^id. 

xiid. 

xiid. 

viis.  vid. 

xiid. 

vis. 

xviiid. 

xviiid. 

lis. 

vis.  viiid. 

xviiid. 

vs. 

xiid. 

xiid. 

lis.  vid. 

iiiy. 

xviii<?.' 

iiy.  vid. 

iiis. 

iiif. 

xviiid. 

vs. 

xiid. 

xviiii. 

vs. 

lis. 

xviiid. 

vii5. 


LAY  AND  CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES 


603 


Alicia  Cox  vidua  xviiid. 

Thoraa  Prat  famulo  Ricardo  Payn  iuid. 

Ricardo  (blank)  famulo  dicto  Ricardo  iiii<i. 

Christofero  Cabter  famulo  lohanni  Colyns  iiud. 

Rogero  Smyth  famulo  Willelmo  Hoggs  iiiirf. 

Thoma  Waltermer  famulo  predicto  Willelmo  iuid. 

Ricardo  (blank)  famulo  dicto  Willelmo  iiii^i. 

Hugone  lonys  famulo  Willelmo  Smyth  iiiii. 

Willelmo  Couper  famulo  Christofero  Stokdale  iiii<i. 

Roberto  Andrewes  famulo  lohanni  Colyns  iiii^i. 

lohanne  Roo  famulo  dicto  lohanni  iiiiJ. 

Thoma  Pynnok  famulq  dicto  lohanni  iuid. 

Thoma  Alflete  famulo  lacobo  Grene  iiiiJ. 

Philippo  Gryffyn  famulo  lohanni  Gwyllyam  vid. 

lohanne  Bell  famulo  Thome  Adame  xiirf. 

lohanne  (illegible)  famulo  Roberto  Smyth  iiiirf.  • 
Terris  pertinentibus  ad  capellam  beate  marie  de 

Burford  :.        xviiii. 

Thoma  Inglonde  xiid. 

lohanne  Grove  famulo  Willelmo  Colyns  iiiii. 

Terris  pertinentibus  ad  ecclesiam  de  Burford  xviiid. 
Summa  xv  It.  vis.  iiiiJ. 


'    1526.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire :   161,  179. 
in  many  places.)    i6  Henry  VIII. 

Hundred'  de'Bampton 

Fyrst  the  Borough  of  Burford 

De  lohanne  Bus^yne  pro  cc  It.  in  bonis 
Willelmo  Hoggs  p  Ixxx  /:.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Sharp  p  xx  It.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Bishope  p  vi  It.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Prior  p  vii  It.  in  bonis 
Roberto  Payne  sen  p  xx  It.  in  bonis 

pvili. 

.  .  .  Hannys  p  xiii  It.  vis.  viiid. 
lohaime  . .  .  .  p  x\s. 
lohanne  .  .  .  ett  p  x\s.  in  bon 
lohanne  Mylyngton  p  ...  in  bonis 
lohanne  Brampton  p  x\s.  in  bonis 

lohanne  Wedowes  p  xly.  in  bonis 
Thoma  Ryley  x  libr.  in  bonis 
Roberto  S.  .  It.  .  se  p  xls.  in  bonis 

Thoma  Teysdale  p 

lohanne  Lambard  p  xxx  It.  in  .  . 
Willelmo  Spycer  p  vii  It. 
Willelmo  Est  p  octo  libr.  in  bonis 


{Document  illegible 


lUS. 


xxs. 


vis.  viiid. 

xiid. 

xiid. 

xiid. 

xiid. 


xiid. 

ius.  vid. 
viis. 


6o4 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Roberto  Ythell  p  xb.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Smyth  p  terns  viginti  . .  . 
Thoma  Bepar  sen  p  xh. 
lacobo  Grene  p  x  li.  in  bonis 
Willelmo  Colens  p  vii  li.  in  bonis 
Roberto  Browne  p  x\s.  in  bonis 
Thoma  Tomson  p  vii  li.  in  bonis    . 

lohanne  Straunge  p  vii  li 

Willelmo  Harpare  p  iii  li.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Agar  p  v  li.  in  bonis 
Willelmo  Fysher  p  ...  in  bonis' 
Thoma  Frethome  ....  in  bonis 
Roberto  Foord  .  .  .  li.  in  bonis 
Nicholao  Ta  .  .  .  .  xh.  in  bonis 
Thoma  Crocheman  p  xl^.  in  bonis 
Henrico  Baker  p  x\s.  in  bonis 
Roberto  Wygpyte  p  vii  li.  in  bonis 
Thoma  Kyng  p  xl5.  in  bonis 
Petro  Ensdale  p  xl  li.  in  bonis 
lohanne  .  .  .  .  p  v  Zi.  in  bonis 
Willelmo  Newell  p  xh.  in  bonis 
Thoma  Grene  p  xh.  in  bonis 
Editha  Brame  vidua  p  x  li.  in  bonis 
Willelmo  Banasteir  p  xly.  in  bonis 
Thoma  Adams  p  iii  li.  in  bonis 
Laurenc  .  .  .  her  p  xh.  in  bonis 
Willelmo  D  .  .  .  .  p  iiii  li.  in  bonis 
.  . .  Hoggs  "vidua  .  .  .  viii  li.  .  .  . 

lohanne  

Ricardo  Ythell  p  xh.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Harres  p  xiii  li.  vis.  viiid. 
Chris  tofero  Parkyns  p  .  .  .  . 

Thoma  Saddler  p 

Thoma  George  p 

lohanne  Younge  

lohanne  

Roberto 

Roberto 

Thoma  Lepar  p  iii  li.  in  bonis 
Thoma  Faller  p  iiii  li.  in  bonis 
David  Taylor  p  xx  mrcs.  in  bonis 
Ricardo  Edmonds  p  iii  li.  in  .  .  . 
Willelmo  Smyth  .  .  It.  ... 
Georgio  Chadworth  p  xh.  in  boni? 
Georgio  Lambert  p  xh.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Wellooke  p  v  li.  in  bonis 
lohanne  Stocdale  p  xh.  in  bonis 


xiid. 

xiid.        \ 

. . .  vid. 

xiii. 

iii^.  yid. 

iiis.  vii. 

xviiii. 

ii^.  vii. 

xiii. 

xiii. 

iiis. 

xiii. 

xiii. 

xiii. 

ius.  vii. 

xiii. 

xIj. 

ii5.  vii. 

xiii. 

xiii. 

xiii. 

xviiii. 

xiii. 

iiii^. 
xviiii. 
xiii. 
xiii. 
vi^.  viiii. 


xviiii. 

xviiii. 

iii^. 

\is.  yiiii. 

xviiii. 

vs. 

xiii. 

xiii. 

ii^.  vii. 

xiii. 


LAY  AND  CLERICAL  SUBSIDIES  605 

. .  .  lenyver  p  vi  It.  in  bonis  iii^. 

.  .  .  ofero  Stocdale  p  iii  It.  in  bonis  xviiii. 

Edwardo  Smyth  p  vii  It.  in  bonis  iiiy.  vid. 

.  .  .  e  Colly  .  .  .  vi  It.  in  bonis  iii5. 

Roberto  Ensdale  p  vi  It.  in  bonis  iii^. 

Roberto  Lowe  p  iii  It.  in  bonis  xviiii. 

Thoma  Crowe  p  x  /:.  in  bonis  vs. 

Roberto  Grauntham  p  xlj.  bon  xiirf. 

....  Payne  iun  p  iii  li.  bon  xviiii. 

Th  .  .  .  Alflete  p  xxs.  stipend  inid. 

Philippo  Griffyn  p  xxs.  stipend  iiiii. 

Feofifatoribus    terrarum    spectantium  ecclesie 

ibidem  annue  valoris  iii  li.  ms. 
feoffatoribus  terrarum  spectantium  capelle  beate 

marie  virginis  ibidem  annue  valoris  iii  li.         ms* 
Summa  xxx  li.  xiiiy.  iid. 

Upton  et  Synet 

De  Willelmo  Dy  .  .  .  p  xx  li.  bon  xx5. 

lohanne  Lamberte  p  viii  li.  bonorum  iiii^. 

lohanne  Wynchester  p  xls.  bon  .  •  jdid. 

lohanne  Patens  p  viii  li.  bon  iiiii. 

Rogero  Worthey  p  xls.  bon  xud. 

Willelmo  Patens  p  v  li.  bon  •  ii5.  vii. 

lohanne  Mourhyne  p  iii  li.  bon  ,  xviiid. 
lohanne  Tame  p  xx^.  stipend  imd. 

lohanne  Hoggs  p  xx^.  stipend  iiiii. 

Thoma  Grene  p  xxi.  stipend  mid. 

Summa  xxxvs. 

[For  extracts  from  the  Cleriqil  Subsidy  of  this  year  see  p.  122,  note  2.] 

1527.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :  161,  197.    18  Henry  VIII.* 

To  the  Barons  of  the  King's  Eschequier. 

This  Indenture  made  the  fourthe  day  of  February  in  the  xviiith 
yere  of  the  reign  of  oure  sovereign  lord  King  Henry  the  eight  wit- 
nesseth  that  we  Symond  Harecourt  knyght  Thomas  Unpton  esquyar 
and  Rychard  Waynman  gentilman  thre  of  the  Commissioners  of  our 
said  sovereign  lord  the  King  assigned  to  the  hundred  of  Bamton 
in  the  countie  of  Oxenford  to  rate  tax  and  assesse  all  and  singular 
personne  and  persons  temporall  intrityng  abyding  and  most  resorting 
within  the  said  hundred  havyng  goods  and  catalls  to  value  of 
fyfty  pounds  and  above  chargeable  to  the  iiii'»  payment  of  the  last 
subsydie  granted  unto  our  said  sovereign  lord  the  King  in  the  xiii*** 
yere  of  his  reign  by  ^ertue  of  his  commission  under  his  gret  seall  unto 
us  and  other  in  that  behalf  directed  taxed  rated  and  assessed  all 


6o6  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

and  singular  such  personnes  within  the  said  hundred  being  of  the 
value  abovesaid  whoys  names  and  surnames  with  their  value  and 
the  summes  payhable  and  the  name  dnd  surname  of  the  high 
collectour  chargeable  with  the  gedering  leveyng  and  payng  of  the 
seid  summes  to  thuse  of  our  seid  sovereign  lord  the  king  at  the  receipte 
of  his  Eschequier  herafter  particularly  doth  ensue  In  witnesse 
wherof  we  the  seid  commissioners  to  this  Indenture  have  set  our 
sealls  the  day  and  yere  above^eyd 

John  Busby  merchaunt  in  goods  cc  li.  subsidie  x  It. 

William  Hoggs  in  goods  iiii''''  li.  subs.  iiii  li. 

Richard  Smyth  in  goods  l  li.  subs  h. 

summa  totalis  xvi  li.  xs. 
John  Secole  de  Southlee  high  collectour 
p  Symon  Harecourt  k 
Thoma  Unton 
Rychard  Waynman 

1535.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :   161,  209.    26  Henry  VIII. 
Half  of  a  Fifteenth  and  Tenth. 
Boreford.  ix  li.  xviii^.  v\d. 

1538.    Lay  Subsidies,  Oxfordshire  :   161,  210.    30  Henry  VIII. 

The  document  is  badly  decayed,  and  the  Burford  entry  has  perished. 
It  is  entered  here  because  Symon  Wysdome.  was  the  Collector  for  the 
Hundreds  of  Bampton  and  Chadlyngton. 

{d)  MINISTERS'  ACCOUNTS 

1232-3.    Min.  Accts.,  Bundle  1117,  no.  13.    16  to  18  Henry  III. 

Compotus  Radulfi  de  Wileton  per  P  de  Rivall  thesaurarium  de 
quibusdam  escaetis  a  die  s  Matthaei  anno  xvi  usque  ad  sextum  diem 
lunii  anno  xvii™*. 

m.  2.  Oxonia.  Et  de  vii  li.  viis.  xd.  et  ob.  de  firma  forinseca  de 
Bureford  de  hoc  anno  et  termino  s  Michaelis  anni  precedentis  Et  de 
liii^.  iiiii.  de  firma  burgi  molendini  et  fori  Et  de  c  &  vs.  de  opera- 
tionibus  parvis  ad  firmam  Et  de  vii  li.  vis.  et  iid.  de  placitis  et  per- 
quisitis  et  feno  et  herbagio  vendito  Et  de  x\s.  de  taillagio  Et  de  vii  li. 
vis.  et  Hid.  de  frumento  vendito  Et  de  iiii  li.  viiis.  de  de  (sic)  xlii 
quartariis  et  dimidio  ordei  et  ii  bussellis  et  uno  quartario  et'dimidio 
corallum  de  eodem  vendito  Et  de  xvi^.  et  vid.  de  xi  quartariiS  avene 
vendite  Et  de  xii  li.  xviis.  et  vid.  de  ii'^'^  bovum  et  de  feno  attract© 
et  de  c  et  xxxv  multonibus  de  instauro. 


MINISTERS'  ACCOUNTS  607 

1235-9.    Min.  Accts.,  Bundle  1109,  no.  6.    20  to  23  Henry  III. 

Expensa  eiusdem  a  crucifixione  domini  anno  xx  usque  ad  puri- 
ficacionem  Beate  marie  anno  xxi. 

m.  2.  Bureford.  In  ferro  et  acero  ad  carucas  cum  ferratura  averio- 
rum  inis.  viiii.  in  ii  novis  carucis  emptis  cum  vii  iugis  ii  hamesiis  cum 
i  curta  empta  ii  axibus  et  xii  clittis  ferri  et  in  uncto  ad  caretas  iii  sol. 
xid.  Et  ferratura  pro  averiis  viii^.  viid.  Et  in  i  sacco  i  besca  i  scala 
i  capistro  ii  cordis  ii  clittis  ad  carectas  iii  seruris  iii  criblis  emptis  ii^. 
iiid.  ob,  Etjin  plantis  porri  et  caulium  et  in  sale  ad  potagium  familiorum 
emptis  xiid.  ob.  Et  in  quadam  parte  unius  prati  perfalcanda  vid.  ob. 
Et  falcatoribus  pro  multone  suo  de  consuetudine  xiii.  Et  pro  bladis 
metendis  pro  iiii*''  et  iiii"'  messoribus  xs.  vid.  pro  cuilibet  in  die  iiid. 
ob.  Et  cuidam  homini  cum  equo  et  careta  sua  per  sex  dies  ad  bladum 
cg.riandum  His.  Et  in  xxxiiii  summis  et  xxxi  quartariis  de  draggio 
et  Ix  quartariis  avene  cariandis  xi5.  iid.  ob.  pro  carianda  i  summa 
frumenti  iid.  et  quartario  de  draggio  iii  quadrantes  eodem  quartario 
avene  Et  in  eisdem  xxxi  quartariis  draggii  et  Ix  quartariis  avene 
ventilandis  xiid.  et  in  vi  summis  de  predicto  frumento  vannandis 
viiid.  Et  in  precariis  xxxvi  carucarum  iii^.  Et  in  stipendio  ii  caruca- 
torum  per  annum  xs.  in  stipendio  i  caretarii  x\d.  Et  in  stipendio 
cuiusdam  messoris  per  annum  vii^.  Et  in  defectu  redditus  prepositi 
xvd. 

[Expenses  for  the  second  and  third  years  much  the  same.  In  the  second 
year  a  sum  of  5s.  is  entered  as  expenses  of  repairing  a  bam  and  ox-house.] 

[Note. — These  Accounts  are  entered  as  arising  from  escheats  of  the  lands 
of  Richard  de  Clare.] 

1292-6.    Min.  Accts.,  Bundle  1109,  no.  7.    20  to  24  Edward  I. 

Compotus  Horreorum  Honoris  Glouecestr  anno  regni  regis  Ed  xx  .  .  . 

Frumentum.  Et  de  viii  quartariis  *de  exitu  horrei  de  Bureford  et 
De  X  quartariis  de  emptis*. . .  Et  in  semine  apud  Bureford  xvii  quartaria 
. . .  Ordeum.  Et  de  xv  quartariis  et  dimidio  de  exitu  horrei  de  Bureford 
et  de  xxvi  quartariis  de  emptis.  .  .  .  Et  in  semine  apud  Bureford  xv 
quartaria  et  vi  busselli. 

Dragium.  Et  de  xiii  quartariis  et  dimidio  de  exitu  horrei  de  Bure- 
ford .  .  .  Et  in  semine  apud  Bureford  xiii  quartaria  et  dimidium. 

Avena.  Et  de  liii  quartariis  de  exitu  horrei  de  Bureford  Et  de  vi 
quartariis  de  empto  .  .  .  Et  in  semine  apud  Bureford  liii  quartaria  .  . . 

Et  apud  Bureford  in  Hberacione  ii  carucatorum  i  messoris  per  annum 
XV  quartaria  et  vi  bussellos  scilicet  ad  x  septimanas  i  quartarium. 

*  [Accounts  for  the  other  years  much  the  same.] 


6o8  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

1435-6.   Exchr.  K.  R.  Min.  Accts.,  957, 10. 

Compotus  lohannis  Williams  praepositi  ibidem  a  festo 

ore  or       Sancti  Michaelis  archangeli  anno  regni  regis  Henrici  sexti 

quartodecimo  usque  idem  festum  Sancti  Michaelis  anno 

predicti  regis  henrici  quintodecimo  videlicet  per  unum  annum  integrum. 

Arreragia.    Idem  computat  receptum  de  x  U.  xvs.  receptis  de  arrera- 

giis  ultimi  compoti  anni^roximi  precedentis. 

Sunima  x  It.  x\s. 

„   - ,.  Et  de  xvli.  xiiiis.  yd.  ob.  receptis  de  redditu  assisae  per 

Redditus  .c^        ..•  a        ^  •  i      - 

Assisae        a^nnum  cum  firtna  nativorum  ad  quatuor  anni  termmos 

et  patet  parcellatum  in  compoto  de  anno  regni  regis 

Ricardi  secundi  nuper  regis  Angliae  tertio. 

Summa  xv  It.  xuiis.  \d.  ob. 

T-,.  Et  de  xii  li.  \\s.  \\\\d.  receptis  de  firma  omnium  terrarum 

Firma.  ,     t  .,..,. ,  ^, 

pratorum  et  pasturae  dommicahum  ibidem  quae  Thomas 

ultimus  Dominus  le  Despenser  defunctus  tenuit  in  sua  manu  in  cultura 

die  quo  obiit  sicut  dimissa  Roberto  Atkyns  Isabelle  uxori  eius  et 

Willelmo  filio  eiusdem  Roberti  tenenda  eisdem  ad  terminum  vitae 

eorum  viventis  ad  quatuor  anni  terminos  per  annum  per  Indenturas 

inter  consilium  Domini  et  dictum  firmarium  inde  factas  quarum  datum 

apud  Burford  die  dominica  in  festo  apostolorum  Philippi  et  lacobi 

anno  regni  regis  Henrici  quinti  post  conquestum  septimo.    Et  de  vs. 

receptis  de  Willelmo  Pynnell  pro  firma  x  acrarum  terrae  dominicalis 

Domini  ibidem  sicut  eidem  dimissarum  per  rotulum  curiae  quarti-. 

decimi  anni  precedentis  ad  eosdem  terminos  per  annum    Et  de  ii^. 

receptis  de  firma  quinque  acrarum  eiusdem  terrae  dominicalis  nuper 

dimissarum  lohanni  Pounter  et  nunc  dimissarum  Thome  Dome  ad 

terminum  vitae  suae  per  rotulum  curiae  anni  precedentis  tamen  debet 

esse  iii^.    Et  de  iii^r.  receptis  de  lohanne  Mason  pro  firma  ix  acrarum 

terrae  dominicae  sicut  eidem  concessarum  per  annum  ad  terminum 

vite  sue  per  Rotulum  curiae  anni  precedentis    Et  de  ii^.  receptis  de 

Thoma  Dome  pro  firma  iiii  acramm  eiusdem  terrae  sicut  eidem 

dimissamm  per  annum  ad  vite  terminum    Et  de  x\\d.  receptis  de 

Thoma  Fifeld  pro  firma  iiii  acramm  terrae  eiusdem 'nuper  in  tenura 

Roberti  Cooke  tamen  .  .  .  esse  Ws.    Et  de  ii^.  receptis  de  Philippo 

lames  pro  firma  iiii  acramm  eiusdem  terrae  sicut  dimissarum  hoc 

anno  ad  eosdem  terminos   Et  de  vs.  receptis  de  firma  unius  quarreriae 

vocatae  le  Stertequarell  de  petris  tegulis  sicut  dimissae  lohanni  Eyre 

ad  terminum  xx  annorum  per  rotulum  curiae  hoc  anno    Et  de  \s. 


MINISTERS'  ACCOUNTS  609 

receptis  de  firma  unius  quarreriae  vocatae  Whiteladiesquarell  liberarum 
petrarum  sicut  dimissae  Henrico  Spyser  et  magistro  hospitalis  Sancti 
lohannis  de  Boreford  tenendae  eisdem  ad  terminum  xx  annorum 
proxime  sequentium  et  plenarie  completorum  per  Rotulum  curiae 
anni  precedentis  hoc  anno  Et  us.  de  firma  unius  quarreriae  petrarum 
tegularum  vocatae  le  Wortquarrie  sicut  nuper  dimissae  Willelmo 
Cutteler  nichil  hoc  anno  per  defectum  firmarii  Et  receptum  de  iiiirf. 
receptis  de  lohanne  Atkyns  pro  firma  unius  crofti  quondam  Edwardi 
Dyere  sicut  dimissi  eidem  lohanni  hoc  anno.  Et  de  viiiJ.  receptis 
de  firma  unius  crofti  nuper  lohannis  Fraunceys  sicut  dimissi  eidem 
lohanni  Fraunceys  iuniori  hoc  anno.  Summa  xiii  It.  xiiis. 

Et  de  iiii  It.  xiiis.  iiud.  receptis  de  firma  molendini  aquatici 

Jiirma         Domini  ibidem  vocati  Upton  mille  sicut  dimissi  Willelmo 

molendini.  ^       .  .  -,  .... , , 

Gough  hoc  anno.  Summa  uu  It.  xaisfimd. 

De  vii.  de  tak  porcorum  custum  ad  festum  Sancti  Martini 

^^  "^..       accidentem  infra  tempus  compoti  (nichil  hoc  anno  inserted 
maneni.       ,  ,     ,.      .    ,    ^      .      '^..  .  ...         .... 

between  the  Itnes)  de  porcis  salitis  neque  corticibus  nihil 

hie  quod  nullum  habendum  accidit  hoc  anno.  Summa  nulla. 

Nee  de  xlvii.  viii^i.  de  herbagio  quinque  acrarum  et 
Vendicio  xxxii  perticarum  prati  in  Overham  Nee  de  xiiis.  iiiiJ. 
"        .  de  pastura  yemali  in  Biriorchard    Nee  de  xiiis.  iiiii.  de 

pasturae.     ^^^  ^^'•^  ®^  ""*  pertica  prati  in  Wirmham    Nee  de  iiis. 

iiii  J.  de  herbagio  pasturae  friscae  in  Femehill  tempore 
estumali  Nee  de  xxi.  de  pastura  ibidem  tempore  yemali  Nee  de 
\\d.  de  herbagio  in  le  Serte  Nee  de  xs.  de  herbagio  de  herbagio  (sic) 
pasturae  in  Powkputte  Nee  de  xis.  de  agistamento  animalium 
agistato  cum  animalibus  Domini  Nee  de  xxiis.  de  iiii  aeras  dimidia  et 
XV  perticis  in  Wilmore  Nee  de  xxvis.  v\\\d.  de  herbagio  vi  acrarum 
ii  perticarum  prati  in  Bateling  nee  de  xiii.  de  secunda  vestura 
eiusdem  prati  nee  de  xj.  de  herbagio  pasturae  in  Ordingham  post 
fenum  abductum  Nee  de  iiiis.  de  herbagio  pasturae  in  prato  de 
Femehulle  vocato  Westmede  nichil  hoc  anno  quia  omnia  prata  et 
pasturae  predieta  conceduntur  prefato  Atkyns  Firmario  omnium 
terrarum  Domini  supremi.  Summa  null. 

.  .       Et  de  viis.  \d.    receptis  de  perquisitis  ii  curiarum  ibidem 

riae^  ^      tentarum  hoe  anno  prout  patet  per  Rotulum  eanindem 

Et  de  vis.  \\\\d.  receptos  de  certo  fine  de  ca  . . .  ad  terminum 

de  Hokday  accidentem  infra  tempus  compoti  prout  patet  per  dictum 

rotulum  curiae  huius  anni.  Summa  xiiiis.  \d. 

3304  R  r 


6io  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Recepio  •  Et  de  iiii  It.  xs.  vid.  ob.  receptis  de  seipso  lohanne  Wyllyams 
forinseca.  praeposito  terrarum  et  tenementorum  pratorum  et 
molendinorum  ac  redditum  terrarum  tenementorum  quondam 
lohannis  Salmons  in  Boreford  unde  Idem  praepositus  exoneratur  in 
pede  compoti  sui  accidentis  infra  tempus  compoti  de  Boreford  Salmons 
finale  tallia  seu    Indentura  per  recognicionem  ipsius  praepositi. 

Summa  iiii  It.  xs.  vid. 

Summa  Totalis  Recepti  cum  arreragiis  i  It.  vd. 

De  quibus  computat  in  allocatione  redditus  praepositi 
Allocationes  ^ausa  officii  sui  per  tempus  compoti  xs.  Et  computat 
redditus  ^^  allocatione  redditus  unius  tofti  et  dimidiae  virgatae 

nuper  Thomae  Fyfide  qui  valebant  per  annum  vis. 
viiid.  et  modo  dimissi  Willelmo'  Pinnell  pro  iiii^,  ii^.  viiiaf.  Et  in 
allocatione  redditus  unius  virgatae  terrae  quondam  Henrici  Williams 
et  unius  aliae  virgatae  terrae  vocatae  Caskales  quae  valebant  inter  se 
xxs.  ac  unius  parvi  crofti  vocati  Cornerscrofte  qui  valebat  per  annum 
iid.  et  modo  dimittuntur  eidem  Willelmo  Pinnell  pro  xiiii^.  per  annum 
et  sic  in  decasu  redditus  vis.  iid.  Et  in  allocatione  redditus  unius 
virgatae  terrae  quondam  Thomae  Robert  et  unius  aliae  virgatae 
terrae  quondam  eiusdem  Rbberti  et  unius  aliae  virgatae  terrae  quon- 
dam Leggere  qiiae  valebant  per  annum  inter  se  xxxs.  et  modo  dimit- 
tuntur lohanni  Crosson  pro  xxixs.  per  annum  et  sic  in  decasu  redditus 
xiid.  Et  in  allocatione  redditus  ii  virgatarum  terrae  quondam  Willelmi 
Colles  et  unius  aliae  virgatae  terrae  quondam  pooles  quae  valebant 
per  annum  inter  se  xxxs.  et  modo  dimissae  Willelmo  Ijeyneham  pro 
xxvis.  iiiirf.  per  annum  et  sic  in  decasu  redditus  iiis.  viiid.  Et  in  alloca- 
tione redditus  ii  virgatarum  terrae  quondam  Willelmi  Grene  quae 
valebant  per  annum  xxs.  et  modo  dimittuntur  lohanni  Williams 
pro  xiiis.  iiiirf.  per  annum  et  sic  in  decasu  redditus  per  annum  vis. 
viiid.  Et  in  allocatione  redditus  unius  virgatae  terrae  vocatae  par- 
triches  et  unius  aliae  virgatae  terrae  vocatae  Swaiers  quae  valebant 
per  annum  inter  se  xxs.  et  modo  dimissae  eidem  lohanni  Williams 
pro  xviiis.  pfr,  annum  et  sic  in  decasu  redditus  hoc  anno  iis.  Et 
in  allocatione  redditus  unius  messuagii  et  iii  virgatarum  terrae 
quondam  lohannis  rokke  quae  valebant  per  annum  xxxs.  modo 
dimittuntur  Thomae  Patyn  pro  xxiis.  per  annum  et  sic  in  decasu 
redditus  iiii  virgatarum  terrae  quae  valebant  per  annum  inter  se 
xls.  modo  dimittuntur  Thomae  Haukes  pro  xxxviiis.  et  sic  in  decasu 
redditus  hoc  anno  unius  virgatae  quondam  Willelmi  Symmes  et  unius 


MINISTERS'  ACCOUNTS  6ii 

aliae  virgatae  terrae  quondam  masons  quae  valebant  per  annum  inter 
se  xxs.  modo  dimittuntur  Thomae  Lovel  pro  xviii^.  per  annum  et 
sic  in  decasu  redditus  hoc  anno  ii^.  Et  in  allocatione  redditus  dimidige 
virgatae  terrae  vocatae  Saunders  et  unius  virgatae  terrae  vocatae 
hilleplace  et  unius  aliae  virgatae  terrae  quondam  Roberti  Bonde 
quae  valebant  per  annum  inter  se  xxvs.  modo  dimittuntur  Willelmo 
Rokke  pro  xxiis.  sic  in  decasu  redditus  iii5.  Et  in  allocatione  redditus 
dominicalis  terrae  et  tenementorum  in  manu  Domini  existentiimi 
ubi  ignorat  nee  ubi  pro  dicto  redditu  distringere  debet  nescit  xs. 
tamen  in  compoto  precedente  xlii^.  xld.  «    lvii5.  iid. 

Feodum  Et  computat  solutos  lohanni  Goloffre  armigero  in  plenum 
senescalli.  solucionem  vi  It.  jdiis.  iiiii.  cuiusdam  feodi  sui  concessi 
ad  terminum  vite  sue  pro  suo  bono  servicio  in  presente  et  in  postea 
impendendum  percipienda  singulis  annis  de  exitibus  huius  manerii 
et  manerii  de  Schipton.  Ivi^.  viiid. 

Expensa      Et  in  expensis  senescalli  curie  ad  eius  adventus  hie 

senescalli     existentes  pro  ii  curiis  tenendis  xis.  iuid. 

cune  cum    Et  in  expensis  ipsius  prepositi  computat  xviiid. 

solucione  r  r        ^    ^  r  ..        , 

£  ^j  Summa  xiis.  xd. 

Et  computat  solutos  lohanni  Nansen  et  Henrico  Slak 
Annuetates.  .      :     .         ,  ,     .  ....  .     , 

armigens    m     plenam    solucionem    xuu5.    cumsdam 

annuetatis  concessae  lohanni  Fulleford  magistro  Theologiae  ad  ter- 
minum vitap  suae  percipiendae  singulis  annis  de  exitu  huius  manerii 
per  manus  praepositi  ibidem  qui  pro  tempore  fuerit  terminis  Annuncia- 
cionis  beatae  mariae  et  Sancti  Michaelis  equaliter  per  annum  per 
literas  patentes  Dominae  comitissae  dum  sola  fuit  supra  compotum 
xii  annorum  precedentium  .  .  .  Summa  vi  It.  xliis.  iind. 

Et  computat  in  stipendio  i  tegularii  per  iii  dies  reparantis 

Custus         diversos  defectus  coopture  domus  dicti  manerii  ibidem 

°'"''^!.        hoc  anno  capientis  per  diem  vd.    xvd.    Et  in  claVis  vocatis 
maneni.      ,      ,       .„      ,  . ,       .... ,     _    .      ,     ,  .   ,      ,      .„ 

latchenaills  ad  idem  una.    Et  m  clavis  vocatis  bordenaiUs 

pro  reparacione  orrei  dicti  manerii.  iud. 

Summa  xxd. 

Et   computat   solutos   Thome    Berkeley   armigero    pro 
Annuetas.  ,      ^         .  .      j  *       •  •*  i- 

quadam  annuetate  ad  terminum  vite  sue  x  It.  per  annum 

per  literas  patentes  domine  comitisse.  Summa  x  It. 

Rr  2     •  '        , 


6i2  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Et  computat  liberatum  lohanni  Hygeford  Receptori 

Liberacio        denariorum   .   .   .  de  onere  Roberti  Atkyns  firmarii 
denanorum.  .....         ....  . 

terrarum    domimcalium    ibidem    de    parte    nonarum 

exituum  officii  sui  huius  anni  cxi5.  viiirf. 

Duo  tallia  remanent  quarum  prima  tallia  continet  Ixvi^.  v'nid.  et 
altera  continet  xWs. 

Et  eidem  Receptori  per  manus  lohannis  Williams  prepositi  ibidem 
nunc  computoris  de  parte  nonarum  exituum  officii  sui  huius  anni.    xs. 

Summa  omnium  allocacionum  et  liberacionum         xxix  It.  'liis.  iind. 

Et  debentur  xx  li.  xviis.  id. 

(Other  allowances — to  William  Gough,  farmer  of  the  lord's  mills 
xxs.  for  repairs  to  the  mill ;  to  John  Williams  for  help  in  building 
a  new  grange  on  his  tenement  xxvi^.  v'md. 

Et  debentur  xviii  li.  xs.  vd) 

1539.    Min.  Accts.,  Henry  VIII,  no.  3144. 
(Possessions  of  Keynsham  Abbey,  account  for  31  Henry  VIII.) 
An  account  of  Thomas  Bayllye,  tenant  at  farm  of  the  Rectory  of 
Burford  and  Chapelry  of  Fulbrook,  the  annual  rent  being  £10,  of  which 
£2  105.  was  paid  in  pension  to  the  late  Abbot  of  Keynsham. 

Min.  Accts.,  Henry  VIII,  no.  2928. 

An  account  of  John  Barker,  tenant  at  farm  and  Collector  of  the  rents 
of  the  possessions  of  the  late  Hospital  of  St#  John  in  Burford.  The 
property  and  tenants  are  entered  as  in  the  Rental  Survey,  infra,  p.  621. 
The  total  rental  is  entered  at  £12  1 75.  2d.  Of  this  sum  335. 4^.  was  paid 
in  pension  to  Thomas  Cade,  late  Master  of  the  Hospital,  half  a  year's 
payment  of  the  pension  granted  to  him  by  Letters  Patent  dated 
20  November,  33  Henry  VIII. 

(e)  EARLY  CHANCERY  PROCEEDINGS 

circa  1386-7.    E.C.P. :  Bundle  74,  no.  26. 

Petition  by  John  Dyer  of  Burford  for  a  writ  sub,  poena  against 
John  Sclatter,  John  Stowe,  and  others  of  their  company.  Setting  forth 
that  John  Sclatter  *  le  ioesdy  apres  la  feste  de  Seinte  Dionis  Ian  du 
regne  de  le  tresnoble  seigneur  Roy  E  que  dieux  assoille  ayel  a  notre 
seigneur  le  Roy  qui  ore  est  xlviii°>?  vient  ove  force  et  armes  et  encountre 
la  pes  al  meson  du  dit  suppliant  en  Boreford  et  diloques  prist  et 
amesna  un  cheval  du  dit  suppliant  pris  de  iiii  marcs.  Et  auxi  le  viii* 
joar  de  martz  Ian  du  dit  Roy  E  xlix""*  le  dit  John  Sclatter  ove  plusoeurs 


EARLY  CHANCERY  PROCEEDINGS  613 

autres  ovesque  lui  de  sa  comyne  vient  ove  force  et  armes  et  encountre 
la  pes  al  meson  du  dit  suppliant  et  diloques  prist  et  amesna  iii  ochides 
de  Reyne  pris  xs.  Et  auxi  le  dit  John  Sclatter  le  ioesdy  al  noet  en 
la  semaigne  du  pasque  Ian  viii"™  du  regne  notre  seigneur  le  Roy 
Richard  avauntdit  par  force  prist  et  amesna  une  Alice  fiUe  et  servaunte 
du  dit  suppliant  ove  ses  biens  et  chateux.et  encountre  sa  volunte  ele 
atort  detenoit  pour  un  an  et  demy  Et  ensement  les  avauntditz  John 
Sclatter  John  Stowe  et  autres  de  loeur  commune  par  diverses  foitz 
depuis  ount  venuz  ove  force  et  armes  al  dit  meson  et  pris  et  emportez 
certeins  biens  et  chateux  du  dit  suppliant  cestassavoir  chevals  draps 
hostelements  et  autres  biens  a  la  value  de  xx  li.  a  damages  du  dit 
suppliant  de  xl  li.  Et  en  outre  ills  luy  ount  amenassez  de  vie  et  de 
raembre  parount  il  nose«par  doute  de  mort  aprocher  son  dit  meson.' 

circa  1410.    E.C.P. :  Bundle  69,  no.  300. 

Petition  by  John  Hatter  of  Burford  and  Margery  his  wife  for  a  writ 

sub  poena  against  Thomas  Alys  of  Burford  and  John  Imemonger  of 

Burford.    Setting  forth  that  Alys  and  Irnemonger  *  le  loesday  Devant 

le  feste  de  Nowell  firent  assaut  a  Burford  en  la  dite  margerie  et  mesme 

la  margerie  illoques  baterount  naufrerount  et  malement  treterount 

par  ensy  que  ele  fuit  despaire  de  sa  vie  et  mesmes  les  John  Hatter 

et  margerie  ne  purront  avoir  remedie  en  cest  partie  al  commune  ley 

des  ditz  malefaisours  pourtant  que  le  viscount  et  subviscount  de  mesme 

le  comite  sount  favorables  as  ditz  Thomas  et  John  Imemonger.' 

[No  Chancellor  being  named,  this  document,  like  the  preceding  one, 
cannot  be  accurately  dated  i  but  the  names  mentioned  occur  in  Burford 
Records  of  1406,  1413,  1419,  &  1422.] 

1413-25  (probably).  E.C.P. :  Bundle  27,  no.  485.  (Chancellor, 
The  Bishop  of  Winchester.) 

Petition  by  WiUiam  Stodham  of  Burford  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against 
Thomas  Porthaleyn.  .  Setting  forth  that  '  your  seid  besecher  bounde 
hym  by  his  byll  and  dede  ensealled  with  his  seall  to  deliver  to  Thomas 
Porthaleyn'  xx  li.  sterling  the  which  he  dyd  accordyng  to  his  seid 
word  in  reasonable  and  sufficient  meane  and  forme  as  evidently  shall 
be  provyd  which  notwithstandyng  your  seid  besecher  the  seid  bill 
and  dede  enseal  1yd  left  of  gret  trust  in  the  kepyng  and  hands  of  one 
Philip  Sewale  now  dede  then  servant  of  the  seid  Thomas  to  which 
Philip  the  seid  bill  was  only  deliveryd  after  whos  deces  the  seid  bill 
came  to  the  possession  of  the  seid  Thomas  and  so  hit  resteth  he  ayenst 
all  right  and  conscience  sore  vexith  and  troublith  your  said  besecher 
for  the  repayment  of  the  same  xx  li.'     \ 


6i4      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

The  answer  of  Thomas  Porthaleyn  denied  that  the  petitioner  had 

ever  paid  any  part  of  the  £20. 

[Note. — It  appears  from  other  petitions  in  the  same  bundle  that  Portha- 
leyn was  Receiver  to  Cecile  Duchess  of  Warwick,] 

1452-3.    E.C.P. :  Bundle  22,  no.  116. 

Petition  for  a  writ  sub  poena  by  Henry  Philip  against  John  Pynnok 
of  Burford,  concerning  a  debt  of  £80,  Setting  forth  that  Pynnok 
'  sotelly  and  disseynably  contrarye  to  good  conscience  and  to  trouth 
to  thentent  to  delaye  your  seid  Suppliaunt  of  his  seide  dewete  hathe 
yefe  awey  all  his  londes  tenementes  and  godes  for  the  whiche  he  is  iwt 
suflSciaunt  ne  may  not  contente  your  seide  suppliant  of  the  seide 
somme  as  he  myght  before  tyme  '. 

The  answer  of  John  Pynnok  pleads  that  he  is  '  fallen  and  so  much 
impoverished  that  he  may  not  content  him  of  the  said  sum  '. 

1456-9.   E.C.P. :  Bundle  26,  no.  400. 

Petition  by  William  Kyng  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against  Robert 
Shepherd  alias  Robert  Natgrove  of  Burford,  priest.  Setting  forth 
that  Shepherd  was  one  of  the  feoffees  of  John  Colas,  who  had  enfeoffed 
John  Neweman,  John  Nelen  of  Northleach,  and  Shepherd  of  certain 
burgages  and  tenements  in  Northleach,  to  sell  them  for  the  good  of 
his  soul.  The  petitioner  had  bought  three  parts  of  the  burgages, 
and  complained  that  Shepherd  refused  to  carry  out  the  bargain. 

1459-66.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  27.  (Chancellor,  The  Bishop  of 
Exeter.) 

Petition  by  Roger  Snyperell  and  Margery  his  wife  for  a  writ  sub 
poena  against  James  Dodde  otherwise  called  James  Synde  of  Burford. 
Setting  forth  that  the  petitioners  had  enfeoffed  Dodde  of  a  messuage 
with  appurtenances  in  Burford  with  intent  that  he  should  re-infeoff 
them  when  required,  which  he  now  refused  to  do,  though  duly  re- 
quested. ^ 

1467-72.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  45,  no.  239.  (Chancellor,  The  Bishop' 
of  Bath.) 

Petition  by  Thomas  Brampton  and  Thomas  Barbour  for  a  writ 
sub  poena  against  Thomas  Send,  Vicar  of  Burford.  Setting  forth 
that  *  where  William  Brampton  late  of  Burford  in  his  life  prayd  and 
desired  Thomas  Send  clerk  vicar  of  the  church  of  Burford  aforesaide 
to  .write  and  make  his  testament  after  his  last  will  and  to  sette  and 
write  in  that  testament  the  wyfe  of  the  seid  William  Brampton  and 
youre  besechers  execu tours  of  the  same  in  the  presence  of  divers 


EARLY  CHANCERY  PROCEEDINGS  615 

persons  of  Burford  aforeseid  the  seid  Thomas  Send  having  the  seid 
testament  so  by  hym  written  in  his  owne  governance  by  a  certain 
tyme  in  the  Ufe  of  the  seid  William  wrote  in  the  same  testament 
Hymself  to  be  one  of  the  executours  of  the  seid  William  and  wold 
afore  the  ordynari  have  taken  the  charge  of  the  admynystracion  of 
his  godes  as  his  executour  and  openly  in  presence  of  people  affermed 
hymself  to  be  one  of  the  executours  of  his  testament  and  whan  that 
the  contrary  yereof  bi  grete  proves  and  witnesses  was  duely  provyd 
byfore  the  Ordynari  the  seid  Thomas  prayd  your  besechers  to  do  what 
yei  couthe  for  the  savacion  of  .  . ,  in  yis  matter  and  yat  sum  thyng 
myght  be  don  and  made  bytwene  thaym  that  hit  myght  appere  to 
the  people  yat  he  had  sum  interesse  in  the  rule  of  the  godis  of  the 
seid  testator  in  eschewyng  of  grete  .  .  .  and  desired  amonges  othre 
thynges  your  seid  besechers  to  be  bound  unto  hym  in  an  obligacion 
of  a  grete  notable  summe  yat  yey  sholde  duely  execut  all  the  last 
will  and  ordynacion  of  the  seid  William  promyssyng  to  thaym  that 
they  by  suche  an  obligacion  shold  never  be  vexed  nor  troubled  but 
whan  that  he  had  schewed  hit  openly  to  divers  persones  for  the  cause 
and  entente  aforeseid  hit  schold  ...  to  thaym  and  your  seid  besechers 
havyng  trust  and  feyth  in  the  wordes  of  the  same  Thomas  Send  were 
bound  to  hym  at  his  grete  prayer  and  Instance  in  obligacion  of  the 
summe  of  m  It.  .  .  .  condicion  aforeseid  and  notwithstandyng  yey  have 
don  .  .  .  true  devoir  and  diligence  to  the  fulfiUyng  of  the  last  will  of 
the  seid  William  .  .  .  the  seid  Thomas  Send  .  .  .  yat  yey  by  the  rygour 
of  the  lawe  schal  be  compelled  to  pay  the  seid  summe  of  m  It.' 

1475-80  or  1483-5.     E.C.P. :  Bundle  53,  no.  88. 

Petition  by  John  Derehurst  of  Hardewyk,  Com.  Glouc,  gentleman, 
for  a  writ  sub  poena  against  William  Byschopp  of  Burford,  merchant. 
Setting  forth  that  the  petitioner  and  Byschopp  were  severally  seised  of 
certain  lands  and  tenements  in  the  town  of  Gloucester,  to  all  which 
divers  charters  belonged,  which  charters  petitioner  had  sealed  in  a 
box.  He  had  *  bay  led  '  the  box  to  Byschopp,  the  latter  promising  to 
*  rebayle '  the  box  with  the  charters  to  petitioner  upon  due  request 
made.  Petitioner  was  now  unable  to  recover  the  charters,  and  being 
unable  therefore  to  prove  his  title  to  the  severalty  of  the  lands  and 
tenements  he  could  not  convey  them,  which  he  wished  to  do. 

1475-80  or  1483-5.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  57,  no.  276.  (Chancellor, 
The  Bishop  of  Lincoln.) 

Petition  by  William  Bisshop  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against  Thomas 


6i6  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Fermor,  Setting  forth  that  one  John  Tanner  in  his  Ufe  was  seised 
of  a  messuage  with  appurtenances  in  Burford,  '  which  is  a  Bourough 
where  londes  and  tenementes  of  tyme  that  no  mynde  is  have  and  yet 
be  dyvysible  by  testament '.  He  devised  the  messuage  to  his  wife 
Johanna,  and  after  her  death  to  his  son  Walter  and  his  heirs  ;  and  if 
Walter  died  without  heirs,  then  the  vicar  and  churchwardens  of 
Burford  were  to  sell  the  house  and  dispose  of  the  proceeds  at  their 
discretion  '  for  the  wele  of  his  soule  and  the  soule  of  his  wife  ',  Walter 
died  without  heirs,  and  the  vicar  and  churchwardens  sold  the  house 
to  William  Bisshop.  But  the  charters  and  deeds  and  all  other  evidences 
came  into  the  hands  of  Thomas  Fermor,  who  refused  to  give  them  up. 

The  reply  of  Thomas  Fermor  sets  forth  that  the  aforesaid  Walter, 
being  duly  seised  of  the  messuage  with  another  adjoining  to  it  in 
Burford,  sold  the  two  messuages  to  him  for  twenty  marks,  and  he 
denied  that  the  vicar  and  churchwardens  had  made  any  such  sale  as 
alleged. 

The  further  answer  of  William  Bishop  was  that  his  allegations  were 
true,  and  that  Fermor  knew  perfectly  well  of  the  ultimate  disposition 
of  the  property  by  John  Tanner's  will. 

The  further  reply  of  Thomas  Fermor  is  that  his  reply  is  good  and 
sufficient,  and  that  he  knew  nothing  of  any  such  disposition. 

1486-93.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  92,  no.  37.  (Chancellor,  The  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.) 

Petition  by  Thomas  Everard  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  Thomas 
Pynnock  and  John  Alane,  executors  of  one  John  Pynnok,  for  a  writ 
sub  poena  against  John  Longe.  Setting  forth  that  John  Pynnock 
with  one  John  Longe  by  the  assent  and  agreement  of  Thomas  Say 
of  Abyndon,  Thomas  Fermer  and  John  Buttrell  bargained  and  sold 
unto  Ralf  Astereche  of  London  and  others  '  an  c  and  iiii  sakkes  of 
Cotteswold  wolle  for  the  some  of  a  mlxxxiii  It.  ixs.  and  ixd.'  Of  this 
sum  it  was  agreed  between  the  parties  that  John  Pynnock  should 
have  to  his  own  use  £92,  and  Pynnock,  for  the  trust  he  had  in  John 
Longe  caused  the  buyers  to  be  bound  to  Longe  for  the  payment  of 
the  sum  of  £92  for  the  only  use  of  Pyimock,  payable  at  certain  dates. 
Petitioners  say  that  John  Longe  had  paid  none  of  it. 

The  reply  of  John  Longe  sets  forth  that  Fermor,  Say,  Pynnock  and 
Boterell,  being  severally  possessed  of  the  wools  mentioned,  thomas 
Fermor  by  their  consent  sold  it  to  Rauf  Astryche  and  the  others  for 
a  certain  sum  to  be  paid  severally  to  the  parties  after  certain  days, 
and  for  the  payment  were  bound  to  Fermor  and  Longe ;   that  John 


EARLY  CHANCERY  PROCEEDINGS  617 

Pynnock's  share  was  £80,  which  Longe  had  well  and  truly  paid  to 
Pynnock  during  the  latter's  lifetime.  Also  that  Longe  himself  never 
'  medelyd  with  the  sale  of  the  seid  woUys  '. 

In  the  same  Bundle,  no.  40. 

Petition  by  Everard  and  his  wife,  Thomas  Pynnock  and  John 
Aleyn  '  chapelyn  ',  for  a  writ  of  Certiorari  to  the  Sheriffs  of  London. 
Setting  forth  that  John  Long  of  London,  '  Bruer  ',  when  witnesses  in 
the  preceding  case  had  been  examined  and  the  matter  rested  upon 
judgement,  commenced  an  action  of  debt  against  the*  petitioners 
for  £120  before  the  Sheriffs  of  London  and  by  force  of  this  suit  had 
attached  three  horses  belonging  to  the  petitioners.  The  action  was 
feigned  ;  and  if  the  claim  were  true,  it  depended  upon  the  judgement 
now  pending.  The  action  was  vexatious,  and  ,was  intended  to  make 
the  petitioners  drop  their  previous  action. 

1486-93  or  1504-15.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  128,  no.  20.  (Chancellor, 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.) 

Petition  by  William  Colton  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against  Agnes 
Colton.  Setting  forth  that  petitioner  had  lent  to  Richard  Colton  of 
Burford,  his  brother,  405.  of  ready  money.  Richard  made  Agnes  his 
wife  his  executor,  and  since  his  decease  petitioner  had  made  repeated 
application  for  payment  but  had  been  unable  to  obtain  it.  He  is 
without  remedy  at  the  Common  Law  '  for  that  an  accion  of  dett  uppon 
a  prest  or  a  nude  contract  is  not  mayntenable  ayenst  executours  '. 

1486-93  or  1504-15.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  144,  no.  25.  (Chancellor, 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.) 

Petition  by  John  Kene  of  Kenkham,  com.  Oxon,  for  a  writ  against 
John  Pryour  of  Burford.  Setting  forth  that  one  John  Moisier  of 
Burford  *  was  seasid  of  viii  messuages  with  their  appurtenances  in 
Burford  foresaid  In  his  demenys  as  of  fee  and  soo  seasid  thereof 
Infeoffed  one  John  Pynnoke  Rychard  Granger  and  Will™  Pryour  to 
have  to  them  and  to  ther  heires  to  the  use  and  behofe  of  the  said 
John  Moysier  and  of  his  heires  by  force  whereof  they  were  seasid  of 
the  said  messuages  with  their  appurtenances  in  their  demenys  as  of 
fee '.  John  Moisier  died  and  the  property  descended  to  his  son  and  heir, 
John  Moisier.  John  the  younger-  died,  and  the  property  descended 
to  Richard  Moisier,  his  son  and  heir.  Richard  Moisier  died  without 
issue,  and  the  right  in  the  property  descended  to  the  petitioner  as 
cousin  and  heir  to  John  Moisier  the  elder,  being  son  and  heir  to  Agnes 
sister  and -heir  to  the  said  John  Moisier.     Then  John  Pynnoke  and 


6i8       CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

William  (sic)  Granger  died,  and  William  Pryour,  outliving  them, 
became  sole  seised  of  the  property.  He  died,  and  the  property  descended 
to  John  Pryour,  his  son  and  heir,  who  entered  into  possession.  John 
Pryour,  though  frequently  requested  to  do  so,  refused  to  make  an 
estate  in  the  property  to  the  petitioner. 

1493-1500.  *E.C.P. :  Bundle  197,  no.  84.  (Chancellor,  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.) 

Petition  by  Thomas  Dorman  of  Burford, '  bocher  ',  for  a  writ  sub 
poena  against  Thomas  Janyver  of  Burford.  Setting  forth  that  certain 
'  evidences  charters  and  munyments  '  concerning  a  messuage,  eight 
acres  of  arable  land  and  two  acres  of  meadow  lying  in  Burford,  whereof 
petitioner  was  seised  in  right  of  his  inheritance,  had  come  into  the 
hands  of  Thomas  Janyver,  who  refused  to  give  them  up.  Petitioner 
had  no  remedy  at  Common  Law,  *  forasmoche  as  he  knoweth  not  the 
nowmbre  of  the  saide  evidences  charters  and  munyments  nor  wherein 
they  be  conteigned  '. 

1501-2.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  251,  no.  14.  (Chancellor,  The  Bishop  of 
London,  Archbishop  elect  of  Canterbury.) 

Petition  by  Margaret  Stodham,  widow,  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against 
Agnes  Stodham.  Setting  forth  a  complaint  of  detention  of  deeds  of 
a  messuage  in  Burford. 

1502-3.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  273,  no.  50.  (Chancellor,  The  Bishop  of 
London,  Archbishop  elect  of  Canterbury.) 

Petition  by  Hugh  Warham  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against  John  Hasteri 
Setting  forth  that  '  one  Robert  Martyn  of  Depford  in  the  countie  of 
Kent  Yeoman  was  seised  of  a  tenement  with  a  bame  stable  and  a  crofte 
to  the  seid  tenement  belonging  conteyning  one  acre  and  iii  Rodes  of 
assise  set  and  lying  in  the  parisshe  of  Westgrenewich  in  the  seid 
countie.  And  he  being  so  seised  therof  bargayned  and  solde  the  seid 
tenement  and  other  the  premisses  to  one  John  Pynnoke  of  Burford 
in  the  Olde  in  the  countie  of  Oxenford  for  a  certeyn  summe  of  money 
betwene  them  aggreed  Whiche  money  and  every  parte  therof  the  seid 
Pynnoke  truly  contented  and  payed  to  the  seid  Robert  Martyn 
Wheruppon  the  same  Robert  Enfeoffed  one  John  Haster  of  Depford 
aforeseid,  the  seid  John  Pynnoke  and  Sir  John  Alane,  priest,  to  thuse 
of  the  seid  Pynnoke  and  his  heirs  for  evir  And  the  seid  John  Pynnoke 
had  issue  Thomas  and  dyed  And  after  that  died  the  seid  Sir  John 
Alane  and  the  seid  John  Haster  then  survyved  by  Reason  wherof 
the  same  John  Haster  was  sole  seised  of  the  premisses.'     He  died, 


EARLY  CHANCERY  PROCEEDINGS     619 

and  the  premises  descended  to  his  son  John.  Thomas  Pynnoke  had 
sold  the  premises  to  petitioner,  but  John  Haster  the  younger  refused 
to  make  an  estate  of  the  premises  to  petitioner. 

1504-15.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  278,  no.  17.  (Chancellor,  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.) 

Petition  by  Richard  Adams  of  Sodbury,  com.  Glouc,  for  a  writ 
sub  poena  against  Richard  Somerby  of  Tetbury  and  his  wife.  Setting 
forth  that  petitioner  and  one  Harry  Adams  had  bought  certain  wools 
of  one  Thomas  Stanton  of  Burford  for  the  sum  of  £68,  for  which 
sum  they  were  jointly  bound.  The  wools  had  been  equally  divided. 
Petitioner  had  paid  £30  and  Harry  Adams  became  debtor  for  *  the 
resydew  that  is  to  say  xxx  It.'  Harry  Adams  died,  having  made  a  will 
declaring  himself  thus  indebted,  and  making  Margery  his  wife  his 
executor.  She  married  Richard  Somerby,  and  the  two  had  paid  £5 
in  part  payment  of  the  debt.  Now  Thomas  Stantoil  had  commenced 
an  action  of  debt  against  Richard  Adams,  petitioner,  for  the  residue 
of  the  debt,  which  he  contended  Somerby  and  his  wife  ought  to  pay. 

1504-15.    E.C.P. :   Bundle  291,  no.  88.    {Document  very  imperfect.) 

Petition  by  William  a  Chambre  and  Margaret  his  wife  for  a  writ 
sub  poena  against  William  Crane.  Setting  forth  a  complaint  of  deten- 
tion of  deeds  concerning  a  half  burgage  in  Burford. 

The  reply  of  William  Crane  sets  forth  that  petitioners  had  no  right 
to  the  premises,  which  were  claimed  by  one  Thomas  Stodham,  and  he 
requests  that  Stodham  may  be  joined  in  the  suit. 

Another  document  apparently  sets  forth  Stodham's  case,  claiming 
the  half  burgage  by  inheritance  from  Agnes  Pynnok,  who  had  held 
it  as  heir  of  William  Symonds. 

1504-15.    E.C.P. :   Bundle  361,  no.  15. 

Petition  by  Thomas  Stodham  for  a  writ  sub  poena  .against  William 
Crane.  Setting  forth  a  complaint  of  detention  of  deeds  concerning 
certain  lands  and  tenements  in  Burford  belonging  to  petitioner  as 
heir  of  his  father  Henry  Stodham. 

1504-15.    E.C.P. :  Bundle  300,  no.  8. 

Petition  by  Thomas  Cokks  of  Burford,  yeoman,  for  an  injunction 
against  Robert  Eggerley,  attorney  of  Edmund  Bury  and  John  Sal- 
brigge,  and  for  a  writ  sub  poena.  Setting  forth  that  petitioner  had 
taken  '  a  place  and  certen  londys  'in  Windrush  in  March,  24  Henry  VII, 
from  one  John  Salbrigge,  late  servant  to  Richard  Guison,  deceased, 
for  six  years  at  £4  for  the  first  year  and  £5  a  year  afterwards.    During 


620  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

the  first  year  Guison  was  taken  and  *  emprisoned  ',  and  one  Edmund 
Bury  of  Hampton  Poyle  became  owner  of  the  premises  and  put  one 
John  Fisher  into  them.  Fisher  bought  such  corn  and  chattels  as  the 
.petitioner  had  there  at  the  time.  Petitioner  paid  £4  for  the  first 
year's  rent, '  and  so  departed  '.  Fisher  had  since  paid  the  rent.  But 
now  Bury  had  taken  action  against  petitioner  in  the  county  of  Glou- 
cester and  '  caused  by  hys  grete  labour  a  Jury  to  pass  ayenste  your  seid 
oratour  by  their  verdit  in  the  sum  of  xiiii  It.  and  over  that  by  his  like 
speciall  labour  hath  caused  an  other  Jury  to  passe  with  the  seid 
John  Salbrigge  uppon  an  accion  of  dette  for  the  seid  ferme  by  their 
verdit  in  the  sum  of  iiii  It.  xiiis.  iiiiJ.  and  xl*.  costs  in  the  county  of 
Oxon  '.  As  yet  no  judgement  had  been  given,  '  bufnevertheles  the 
seid  Edmund  will  make  quyk  and  hasti  labour  for  jugement.' 

1504-15.    E.C.P. :  Bundle  327,  no.  36. 

Petition  by  Agnes  Jenyver  widow,  of  '  Burforth ',  for  a  writ  sub 
poena  against  John  Priour  and  Robert  Reley.  Setting  forth  a  com- 
plaint of  detention  of  deeds  concerning  two  messuages  and  other 
premises  in  Burford. 

1504-15.    E.C.P.  :   Bundle  360,  no.  27. 

Petition  by  Agnes  Smythier,  widow,  cousin  and  heir  of  Agnes  Cace 
of  Burforde,  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against  John  Ingram  otherwise 
called  John  Tanner.  Setting  forth  a  complaint  of  detention  of  deeds 
concerning  two  messuages  with  appurtenances  in  the  town  of  Burford, 
Tanner  by  detaining  the  deeds  having  entered  on  the  premises. 

15x5-18.  E.C.P. :  Bundle  415,  no.  66.  (Chancellor,  Thomas  lord 
cardinal,  legate  a  latere.)     • 

Petition  by  William  Hele  and  Elen  his  wife  for  a  writ  sub  poena 
against  Marion  Wastell,  widow.  Setting  forth  a  complaint  of  detention 
of  deeds  concerning  a  messuage  and  a  garden  with  appurtenances  in 
Burford. 

1515-18.    E.C.P. :  Bundle  512,  no.  i. 

Petition  by  Thomas  Grene,  priest,  and  William*  Smyth,  executors 
of  the  will  of  Agnes  Sylvester,  widow,  of  Burford,  against  John  Sharpe 
and  Thomas  Tyesdale,  or  Teysdale.  Setting  forth  that  Agnes  Sylvester 
left  goods  appraised  at  the  sum  of  £50,  and  Thomas  Teysdale  and 
John  Sharpe  offered  to  buy  them  for  £$0.  The  goods  were  handed 
over,  the  money  to  be  paid  '  at  the  festes  of  Ester  St.  John  the  Baptist 
Michell  messe  and  Christe  masse '.  Sharpe  and  Teysdale  now  refused 
to  be  bound  by  a  bond  to  pay. 


EARLY  CHANCERY  PROCEEDINGS  621 

1515-18.   E.C.P. :  Bundle  546,  no.  72. 

Petition  by  John  Mille  of  Southampton  for  a  writ  sub  poena  against 
Johanne,  widow  of  Thomas  Staunton  of  Burford,  merchant.  Setting 
forth  that  Staunton  had  ordered  of  petitioner  on  n,  December, 
7  Henry  VIII,  by  William  Pokley,  carrier,  one  thousand  pounds 
weight  of  iron  and  one  butt  of  roney  (?),  the  total  value  being  £6. 
Staunton  received  the  goods  and  promised  to  pay.  He  made  his  will, 
being  '  yn  extreme  siknes  ',  and  died,  and  his  widow,  his  executor, 
refused  to  pay. 

if)   RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS    . 

1539.    Rentals  and  Surveys  :  Portfolio  18,  no.  66.    30  Henry  VIII. 

Firma  scitus  dicti  nuper  hospitalis  cum  columbariis 

Burford  stabulis  curtilagiis  Gardinis  cum  uno  clauso  ibidem 

m  Com.  Oxon.         ^    ,  ,  r^ 

valet  in  vocato  le  pryory  close  accum  uno  Tenemento  vocato 

Iveyhouse  continentibus  inter  se  per  estimacionem 

uni  {sic)  acram  terre  et  valentes  per  annum  xxxiii^.  iiud. 

Firma  unius  horrei  scituati  infra  clausum  dicti  nuper  hospitalis 
in  tenura  lohannis  lones  per  Indenturam  datam  xviii'o  die  Septembris 
anno  regni  Regis  Hjpnr'  viii^'  xxix"°  Habendum  ad  terminum  xxx 
annorum  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xiii^.  iiiii, 

Firma  trium  virgatarum  terre  arabilis  iacentium  et  existentium  in 
campis  ibidem  cum  duabus  acris  prati  iacentibus  in  quodam  prato 
vocato  highmed  cum  communi  pasture  pro  omnibus  catallis  suis 
pascendis  in  campis  de  Burford  predicto  In  tenura  lohannis  Sharpe 
sic  sibi  dimissa  per  Indenturam  datam  xxv'°  die  Septembris  anno 
regni  Re^s  Henr'  viii^  xxx"  habendum  ad  terminum  xxi  annorum 
Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xx5. 

Firma  sive  redditus  unius  tenementi  ibidem  dimissi  lohanni 
Hardgrave  ad  voluntatem  reddendum  inde  per  annum 

vis.  viiirf. 

Ftrma  i  clausi  cum  duabus  parvis  pecie  {sic)  terre  nuper  Gardinis 
modo  dimissa  Thome  Richards  per  Indenturam  datam  xxviii°  die 
Septembris  anno  regni  xxx""*  Domini  Regis  nunc  Henrici  viii'^  haben- 
dum ad  terminum  xxi  annorum  Reddendum  inde  per  annum 

vis.  viiid. 

Firma  unius  pecie  terre  iacentis  projje  salmans  close  Dimisse 
Thome  Faller  Reddendum  indfe  per  annum  iiii(i. 

Summa  iiii  It.  iiiit^. 


622 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Upton  in 
eodem  Com 
Oxon. 
valet  in 


Firma  i  clausi  cum  pertinenciis  iacentis  ibidem  dimissi 
Roberto  Ensdale  Reddendum  inde  per  annum 

vi5.  viiid. 
Redditus  sive  firma  unius  clausi  ibidem  dimissi  Roberto 
Browne  ad  voluntatem  Reddendum  inde  per  annum 

iii^.  iiii<i. 
Firma  xxii  acrarum  terre  arabilis  et  duarum  acrarum  prati  iacentium 
in  campis  de  Upton  predicto  predicto  (sic)  in  tenura  lohannis  Wyn- 
chester  sicut  sibi  dimissa  per  Indenturam  Datam  xxviii°  die  Septembris 
anno  regni  Regis  Henrici  viii^'  xxx"  Habendum  ad  terminum  xl 
annorum  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  X5. 

*  Summa  xx5. 
Firma  messuagii  curtilagii  toftorum  croftorum 
pratorum  terrarum  arabilium  pascuae  et  pasture 
cum  pertinenciis  ibidem  dimissorum  Henr'  Cockerell 
per  Indenturam  Datam  xiii"""  die  Septembris  anno 
regni  Regis  Henr'  viii^  xxvii°  Habendum  ad  ter- 
minum quinque  annorum  Reddendum  inde  per  annum    xxxiii5.  iind. 

Sunmfia  prout  patet. 
Firma  scitus  et  capitalis  man- 
sionis  dicti  manerii  cum  terris 
dominicalibus  pratis  pascuis  et 
pasturis  Dicto  capitali  ma'nsioni 
pertinentibus  necnon  unius  crofti 
seu  clausi  separaliter  iacentis  ad 
finem  orientem  ville  de  ffyfhede 
prope  campum  ibidem  vocatum 
henmed  Ac  eciam  unius  hide 
terre  cum  omnibus  et  singulis 
pertinenciis  in  ffyfhyde  predicto  Necnon  serviciorum  custumariorum 
tenencium  Dicti  manerii  viz  in  plowyng  carteyng  repyng  and  mowyng 
ac  unius  quartarii  terre  ibidem  quod  Thomas  Gierke  tenet  Exceptis 
omnibus  aliis  terris  custumariis  et  tenencium  Redditibus  serviciis 
Dicto  manerio  pertinentibus  Que  omnis  et  singula  (exceptis  prout 
excepta)  Dimissa  sunt  Thome  Clarke  per  Indenturam  Datam  primo 
die  Decembris  anno  regni  Regis  Henrici  viii^  xxxi"""*  Habendum  ad 
terminum  xxi  annorum  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xlviis.  xd. 

Redditu  unius  cotagii  cum  una  virgata  terre  Dimissi  lohanni 
Humfrey  per  copiam  curie  Habendum  sibi  et  lohanne  uxori  eius  ac 
Elizabethe  filie  eorundem  Reddendum  inde  per  annum       •      viiis. 


Astall  seu 
Astale  in 
dicto  Com.  Oxon 
valet  in' 


Terre  et 
possessiones 
nuper  hospitalis 
sti  lohannis 
Evangeliste  de 
Burford  in  Com. 
Oxon.  pertinentia 
iacentia  in 
diversis  comita- 
tibus  ut  infra 


manerium  de 
ffyfhede  alias 
dicta  ffyf yld 
in  predicto 
comitatu  Oxon 
valet  in 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  623 

Redditu  unius  Tenementi  cum  cotagio  et  una  virgata  ibidem 
vocati  Kymers  Dimissi  Roberto  Secoll  per  copiam  curie  habendum  ad 
terminum  vite  sue  et  Roberti-  filii  sui  Reddendum  inde  per  annum 

KS. 

Redditu  unius  messuagii  et  unius  virgate  terre  cum  suis  pertinenciis 
continentis  xxx*»  acras  terre  arabilis  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis  Torf rey 
necnon  unius  alii  messuagii  et  unius  quartarii  terre  cum  suis  perti- 
nenciis nuper  in  tenura  Ricardi  More  modo  Dimissi  Thome  Riche 
per  copiam  curie  Habendum  sibi  et  Edithe  uxori  eius  ac  Agneti  (sic) 
filie  dicte  Edithe  pro  termino  vite  eorum  ac  eorum  diutius  successive 
viventis  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xii^. 

Redditu  assise  unius  messuagii  et  unius  virgate  terre  que  Willelmus 
Hale  libere  tenet  reddendum  inde  per  annum  xvid. 

Redditu  unius  parcelle  terre  iacentis  ibidem  quam  Willelmus 
percy  tenet  libere  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  \id. 

Redditu  unius  domus  sive  tenementi  ibidem  quam  Gardianus 
dicte  ville  tenet  libere  reddendum  inde  per  annum  iiiii. 

Summa  iiii  It. 
Wydford     Finna  unius  tofti  viginti  et  octo  acrarum  terre  arabilis 
in  Com.       necnon  unius  pecie  prati  cum  tribus  acris  et  dimidia  prati 
Glouc'         iacentium  in  Westmed  de  Wydford  predicto  in  tenura 
valet  m       Georgii  Cotton  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  *        xii^. 

Summa  prout  patet 
Rysyngton    Finna  unius  prati  iacentis  in  parochia  de  Sherebome 
magna  in      infra  decennaria  de  Rysyngton  magna  in  dicto  comitatu 
X3om.  Glouc'  Glouc'  Dimissi  Thome  Bygge  ad  voluntatem  Reddendum 
vaiet  m         -^^^^  p^^.  ^nnum  vs. 

Firma  omnium  illorum  terrarum  pratorum  et  pasturarum  iacentium 
et  existentium  in  villa  et  campis  de  Resington  magna  in  dicto  comitatu 
ciim  omnibus  pertinenciis  dimissorum  Simoni  Wysdome  per  Inden- 
turam  Datam  in  festo  sti  michaelis  archangeli  anno  regni  Regis 
Henrici  viii^'  xxviii"  Habendum  ad  terminum  vite  dicti  Simonis 
Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xxiis. 

Summa  xxvii^. 
Barington     Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  certis  terris  ibidem  dimissi 
parva  in        lohanni  Willeshire  ad  voluntatem  reddendum  inde  per 
Com.  Glouc'.  annum  iiii^.  vid. 

valet  m  Summa  prout  patet 

Summa  totalis  omnium  et  singularum 
Revencionum  predictarum  xii  It.  xvus.  iid. 


.624  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Memor*"  their  ys  a  lease  made  to  John  Barker  of  all  and  singular  the  premisses 
apperteyning  to  the  said  late  hospitall  under  the  seale  of  Thomas 
Cade  late  m''  of  the  sayd  late  hospitall  for  the  terme  of  iiii'"'  yeres 
yeldyng  therfor  yerely  x  It.  and  to  here  and  supporte  all  maner  of 
Reparacions  as  in  the  said  lease  beryng  date  the  iiii*  day  of  may  in 
the  xxx'^  yere  of  our  Sovereigne  lorde  King  Henry  the  eight  many- 
festely  shall  appere 

Ex"*  per  me  Gregorium  Richardsone  deput' 
Willelmi  Cavendissh  audit'  ibidem. 
1552.   Misc.  Books,  Land  Revenue  :  vol.  189.  4  June,  6  Edward  VI. 

fol.  85a  Supervisus  ibidem  factus  per  predictum 

Manerium  de  Berybarre       Michaelem  Camsewell  Generalem  super- 
et  manenum  de  .  ,.._,.._.  J^ 

Burforde  in  comitatu  ^^^^""^"^  ^°"^^"^  ^^^'^  ^"  Comitatu  Oxon 

Oxon  parcella  terrarum        quarto   die   lunii   Anno   Regni   Edwardi 
et  possessionum  pre-  Sexti  dei  gratia  Anglie  ffrancie  et  Hibemie 

dicti  lohannis  nuper  Regis  fidei  defensoris  Ac  in  terra  Ecclesie 

ducis  Northumbr'  Anglicane    et   Hibemie   supremi   capitis 

modo  m  manu  Dommi  °      .  "^    ..         '^ 

Regis  Racione  excambii.      sexto  Ac  per  sacramentum  diversorum 

tenenciilni  manerii  predicti. 
Redditus  hberorum   ^^^^^"^^  ^^^^  ^^  Abendon  in  com  Berk  generosus 
tenencium  io  Upton  tenet    libere    unum    messuagium    et    quatuor 
et  More  ac  in  virgatas  terre  cum  suis  pertinenciis  iacentia  et 

Netherworton  existentia  in  Upton  Reddendum  inde  pef  annum 

parcellis  maneru        jj^    jjjjj    g^  pj.Q  secta  curie  annuatim  xii(i.  et 

predicti.  ,.  .  .  J 

'^  aha  servicia  1115.  una. 

Thomas  More  armiger  tenet  manerium  suum  vocatum  Le  More 
cum  pertinenciis  infra  parochiam  de  More  in  dicto  comitatu  Oxon 
libere  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  vii^.  et  sectam  curie  cum  aliis 
serviciis  *  vii^. 

Thomas  parsons  tenet  libere  unum  messuagium  cum  suis  perti- 
nenciis iacentem  et  existentem  in  Netherworton  Reddendum  inde 
per  annum  xi^.  et  sectam  curie  cum  aliis  serviciis  xi5. 

»  Redditus  iiis.  iiiirf.  pro  libero  redditu  exeunte  extra  manerium  de 

fulbroke  in  Com  Oxon  domino  Cobham  nuper  pertinens  to  quod 
dominus  Rex  habet  dictum  manerium  in  excambio  de  dicto  domino 
Cobham  pro  aliis  terris  sibi  in  compensacione  datis  Responsus  est 
inde  eidem  Domino  Regi  simulcum  proficuis  eiusdem  manerii  in  Curia 
Augmentacionum  et  Revencionum  Corone  Domini  Regis  null. 
Summa  liberorum  tenencium  in  Upton  More  et 
Netherworton  per  annum  xxi^.  iiiii. 


•RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  625 

Adhuc  Manerium  de  Berybarre  alias  Burforde  '      ^>* 


rev. 


Redditus  Custumariorum  ^^°'^'''  Chedworth  tenet  per  copiam 

tenendum  per  copiam  curie  cune   datam  vi'«>  die  Octobns   Anno 

in  Upton  Seynatt  et  in  regni  nuper    Regis   Henrici  viii^'  xvi'o 

villa  et  campis  de  unum  messuagium  et  tria  virgatas  terre 

Burforde  parcella  ma-  ^^^  pertinenciis  iacentia  et  existentia 

neni  predict!  •        -n       ^  •     j     tt  4. 

'^  in   villa  et   campis   de   Upton   unum 

clausum  vocatum  Notts  Clause  continentem  i  acram  unum  clausum 

adiacentem  separate  continens  i  acram  ii  acras  prati  in  Veron  Hill 

meade  in  Wyldermoremeade  i  acram  In  Southefeld  Ixxii  acras  terre 

arrabilis  in  Northefeld  Ixxi  acras  terre  arrabilis  cum  pertinenciis 

Habendum  et  tenendum  sibi  et  Elizabethe  uxori  eius  Ac  lohanni 

filio   eorundem   pro  termino  vite  eorum  et  alterius  eorum  diutius 

viventis  successive  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xxvi^.  servicia  et 

herietum  cum  acciderint  xxvi^.  viiid. 

Willelmus  CoUens  filius  lohannis  CoUens  defuncti  tenet  per  copiam 
curie  datam  secundo  die  Maii  Anno  regni  nuper  Regis  Henrici  viii^ 
xviii°  factam  predicto  lohanni  CoUens  et  Willelmo  filio  eius  secundum 
consuetudineln  manerii  predicti  Unum  messuagium  edificatum  et 
iiii  virgatas  terre  cum  pertinenciis  in  Upton  predicto  Necnon  scitum 
alii  messuagii  cum  uno  clauso  adiacente  continente  ii  acras  et  tribus 
virgatis  terre  ac  cum  uno  clauso  adiacente  dicto  messuagio  continente 
ii  acras  In  Vemell  medowe  vii  acras  prati  In  Wyldmore  medowe 
iiii  acras  prati  et  iii  acras  prati  ibidem  Ac  in  Southefeld  Clxviii  acras 
terre  arrabilis  et  in  Northefeld  Clxviii  acras  terre  cum  pertinenciis 
Habendum  et  tenendum  predicto  lohanni  et  Willelmo  filio  suo  pro 
termino  vite  eorum  et  alterius  eorum  diutius  viventis  secundum  ii  herieta 
consuetudinem  manerii  predicti  Reddendum  inde  per  annum 
Ixvii^.  viiii.  et  alia  servicia  Finem  et  herietum  cum  acciderint 

Ixvii^.  viiiJ. 

Thomas  Symmes  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  die  lovis  Septimane 
Pasche  Anno  Regni  nuper  Regis  Henrici  viii^  xxxvi'°  unum  messua- 
gium edificatum  unum  clausum  adiacens  continens  unam  acram  unam 
virgatam  terre  in  Upton  predicto  viz  in  Southefeld  xxiiii  acras  arra-  • 

biles  in  Estefeld  xxiiii  acras  arrabiles  in  Veronhill  meade  Dimidiam 
acram  prati  cum  pertinenciis  Habendum  et  tenendum  sibi  et  Agnete 
uxori  eius  pro  termino  vite  eorum  et  alterius  eorum  diutius  viventis 
secundum  consuetudinem  manerii  predicti  Reddendum  inde  per 
annum  vii^.  et  sectam  curie  proficua  et  herietum  cum  acciderint 

viis. 

3304  s  s 


626  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

£ol.  86  Adhuc  Manerium  de  Berybarre  alias  Burforde 

Ricardus  Dawbye  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  xiiii'°  die  Mail 
anno  regni  nuper  (sic)  Regis  Edwardi  Sexti  quarto  unum  messuagium 
et  unum  clausum  adiacens  ac  iiii  virgatas  terre  cum  pertinenciis  in 
Upton  iiii  acras  prati  inde  iacentes  in  Vyrynshills  meade  iii  acras  in 
Wyldmore  i  prati  et  in  Southefeld  iiii'^^  xvi  acras  terre  arrabilis  ac 
in  Northefeld  iiii''''  xvi  acras  terre  arrabilis  Habendum  sibi  et  Margerie 
uxori  sue  et  Ricardo  filio  eorundem  pro  termino  vite  eorum  et  alterium 
eorum  diutius  viventis  secundum  consuetudinem  manerii  predicti 

finis  viis.  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xxxi^.  et  sectam  curie  proficua  et  herietum 
cum  acciderint  Reparaciones  ad  onus  predicti  Ricardi  et  assignatorum 
eius  durante  vita  sua  xxxi^. 

Ricardus  Hobbes  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  xi°  die  Octobris 
anno  regni  nuper  Regis  Henrici  viii^>  xxx°  unum  tenementum  edifica- 
tum  trees  (sic)  virgatas  terre  iii  clausa  adiacentia  continentia  iii  acras 
unum  clausum  iuxta  terram  lohannis  Hannes  continens  i  acram  iii 
acras  prati  in  Highmed  iacente  in  Synett  ac  in  Westefeld  Ixxii  acras 
in  Estefeld  Ixxii  acras  terre  arrabilis  cum  pertinenciis  Habendum 
sibi  et  Elizabethe  uxori  eius  pro  termino  vite  eorum  et  alterius  eorum 
successive  secundum  consuetudinem  manerii  predicti  Reddendum 
inde  per  annum  xxii^.  servicia  et  herietum  cum  acciderint        xxii^. 

Henricus  Patent  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  ultimo  die  mensis 
marcii  anno  regni  nuper  Regis  Henrici  viii^  xxxiiii°  unum  messuagium 
edificatum  unum  clausum  adiacens  continens  i  acram  cum  alio  clause 
separali  super  venellam  que  ducit  ad  le  Holwell  continente  ii  acras 
cum  pertinenciis  in  Sygnett  unde  iacent  in  Westfelde  xlviii  acre  in 
Estfelde  xlviii  acre  et  ii  acre  prati  in  Hyghmeade  cum  pertinenciis 
Habendum  et  tenendum  sibi  et  Agnete  uxori  eius  ad  terminum  vite 
eorum  et  successive  secundum  consuetudinem  manerii  predicti 
Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xviii^.  et  sectam  curie  ac  finem  et 
herietum  cum  acciderint  xviii^. 

Ricardus  Hannes  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  xxi  die  Octobris 
anno  regni  nuper  Regis  Henrici  viii^'  xix°  unum  clausum  in  villa  de 
Burford  vocatum  Cellynges  continens  i  acram  et  dimidiam  virgatam 
terre  in  Sygnettfeld  et  dimidiam  acram  prati  in  Hyghmede  Habendum 
sibi  Alicie  uxori  eius  et  lohanni  filio  eorundem  secundum  consue- 
tudinem manerii  predicti  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  vs.  vid.  et 
sectam  curie  et  finem  et  herietum  cum  acciderint  V5.  vid. 

fol.  86  Adhuc  Manerium  de  Berrybarre  alias  Burforde 

lohannes  Hannes  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  xxvii°  die  Septem- 


rev. 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  627 

bris  anno  Regni  nuper  Regis  Edwardi  Sexti  tertio  unum  messuagium 
edificatum  et  iiii°'  virgatas  terre  in  Signett  unum  clausum  adiacens 
continens  ii  acras  unum  clausum  iuxta  tenementum  Ricardi  Hobbes 
continens  unam  acram  unum  clausum  iuxta  terram  Ricardi  Patents 
continens  dimidiam  acram  iiii"""  acras  prati  iacentes  in  prato  vocato 
Burford  meade  in  Westfeld  iiii"*  xvii  acras  arrabiles  in  Estfeld  iiii^" 
xvii  acras  Habendum  et  tenendum  sibi  Alicie  uxori  sue  et  lohanni 
filio  eorundem  et  alterius  diutius  viventis  {sic)  secundum  consue- 
tudinem  manerii  predicti  Et  predicti  lohannes  Alicia  et  lohannes 
filius  eorundem  sustinent  et  manutenent  reparaciones  predicti  messua- 
gii  durante  termino  predicto  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xxxviiii. 
et  sectam  curie  finem  et  herietum  cum  acciderint  xxxviii^. 

Idem  lohannes  Hannes  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  ix°  die 
Octobris  anno  regni  nunc  Regis  Edwardi  sexti  secundo  unum  horreum 
cum  clauso  adiacente  continente  unam  acram  sicituatum  et  existens 
ex  parte  australi  ville  de  Burford  et  dimidiam  virgatam  in  campis 
vocatis  Sygnett  feld  xii  acras  terre  arrabilis  et  xii  acras  terre  arrabilis 
in  campis  orientalibus  de  Burford  super  viam  secundum  (blank)  et 
xii  acras  terre  excedentes  nuper  in  tenura  lacobi  Grene  et  Petri 
Grynfeld  Habendum  sibi  Alicie  uxori  sue  et  lohanni  filio  eorundem 
pro  termino  vite  eorum  et  alterius  eorum  diutius  viventis  secundum 
consuetudinem  manerii  predicti  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xiii^. 
vid.  et  sectam  curie  ac  herietum  acciderit  {sic)  xiii^.  wid. 

lohannes  Turner  tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  ix"  die  Aprilis  anno 
regni  nunc  Regis  Edwardi  vi"  secundo  unum  messuagium  unum 
clausum  adiacens  continens  iii  acras  unum  clausum  iuxta  terram 
Ricardi  Hobbes  continens  i  acram  et  trium  {sic)  virgatas  terre  et 
dimidiam  in  Signet  viz  in  Westfeld  iiii''^  iiii  acras  terre  in  Estfeld 
iiii""  iiii  acras  arrabiles  in  Hyghmede  iii  acras  et  dimidiam  prati  cum 
pertinenciis  Habendum  et  tenendum  sibi  et  Margarete  uxori  sue  pro 
termino  vite  eorum  et  alterius  eorum  diutius  viventis  secundum 
consuetudinem  manerii  predicti  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xxixs.  fin  viiij. 
et  sectam  curie  finem  et  herietum  cum  acciderint  xxixs. 

Adhuc  Manerium  de  Berrybarre  alias  Burforde  Edmundus  Sylvester  fol.  87 
tenet  per  copiam  curie  datam  penultimo  die  Aprilis  anno  Regni 
nuper  Regis  Henrici  viii^'  xxxviii°  unum  messuagium  edificatum 
iacens  in  vico  vocato  Wytneystret  infra  Burgum  de  Burford  unum 
clausum  vocatum  oxehouse  close  continens  ii  acras  unum  clausum 
iuxta  tenementum  continens  dimidiam  acram  Ac  unam  vir- 
gatam terre  in  Signet  feld  viz  in  Westfeld  xxx  acras  terre  arrabilis 

s  S2 


628  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

in  Estfeld  xxx  acras  arrabiles  cum  pertinenciis  nuper  in  tenura  (blank) 
Hogges  Habendum  sibi  ac  Willelmo  filio  suo  pro  termino  vite  eorum 
et  alterius  eorum  diutius  viventis  secundum  consuetudinem  manerii 
predict!  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xx5.  et  sectam  curie  fines  et 
herietum  cum  acciderint  xxs. 

Summa  custumariorum  tenendum  in  Upton  Signet 
&  Burford  per  Annum  xiii/j.  xviii^.  mid. 
*  Oliverus  Hyde  de  Abendon  generosus  tenet 

Diverse  terre  et  unum  acram  terre  arrabilis  iacentem  occi- 

quarrene  demisse  j     ^  v       _^  ••         j-  ^-   r^^•      -   ■ 

diversis  tenencibus  ^^"^^^^  P^^^  messuagn   predicti  Oliveri  m 

domini  Regis  ad  Upton  felde  ad   voluntatem   Domini   Regis 

voluntatem  iacentes  ibidem  de  Anno  in  Annum  Reddendum  inde 
in  Upton  Fulbroke  et     per  annum  viii^^. 

Holwellacincampis  Tenentes    de    Holwell    qui    habent    viam 

ibidem  parcella  ma- ..      ,  ,       ^  ,,>.,, 

nerii  oredicti  ducentem  oves  suos  ad  aquam  apud  Gelden- 

forde  ex  gratia  et  licencia  Domini  Regis  ad 
voluntatem  de  Anno  in  Annum  Reddendum  inde  per  annum      iiis. 

Edmundus  Harman  tenet  unam  parcellam  prati  iacentem  in  Milne- 
ham  in  Taynton  continentem  i  acram  et  unam  parcellam  prati  in 
Wyldmore  continentem  per  estimacionem  iiii  acras  Reddendum 
per  annum 

[Note. — No  sum  of  money  is  entered  here.  Instead  is  written  in  different 
ink — '  id  quod  pertinet  predict©  Edmundo  Harman  heredibus  et  assignatis 
suis  parcella  iirme  de  terris  dominicalibus  manerii  predicti  dimissis  prefato 
Edmundo  per  Indenturam  sub  Redditu  xili.  iiis.  iiiii?.  ut  postea  '.] 

fol.  87  Adhuc  Manerium  de  Berybarre  alias  Burford  pd. 

^^^'  Ricardus  Hannes  tenet  unam  acram  terre  arrabilis  in  campo  vocato 

Fulbrokefeld  inter  pontem  Vocatum  Burford  Brige  et  Westellhill 
ad  voluntatem  domini  Regis  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  vii^.  quod 
dictus  prepositus  occupavit  ad  voluntatem  Domini  Regis  Racione 
officii  sui  vii5. 

Georgius  Lambert  tenet  unam  Quarreriam  vocatam  Whichelate- 
quarrye  iacentem  et  existentem  in  campo  de  Burford  nuper  ad 
xxs.  per  annum  et  modo  arrentatam  per  Supervisorem  Domini 
Regis  in  dicto  comitatu  ad  vi5.  viiid.  per  annum  solvendum 
ad  festum  Annunciacionis  beate  Marie  virginis  et  Sti  Michaelis 
Archangeli  per  equales  porciones  prout  per  copiam  curie  ut  dicitur 

vi5.  iiiii. 
(blank)  tenet  unam  Quarreriam  vocatam  Strete  quarry  petrarura 
et  tegularum  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis  Evynger  nuper  ad  yus.  per 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  629 

annum  Aliam  quarreriam  vocatam  le  Slatte,  iacentem  in  Signett 
sicut  nuper  dimissam  Willelmo  Slater  \iis.  modo  in  decasu 

Summa  reddituum  ad  voluntatem  per  annum 

xvii^.  mid. 
Redditus  vocatus  Tenentes  de  Upton  solventur  annuatim  ad 

Hedsylver  in  Upton      festum  pasche  domino  Regi  pro  certo  Redditu 
&  Signet  vocato  hedsylver  per  annum  iiii^. 

Tenentes  de  Signet  solventur  annuatim  ad 
festum  pasche  dicto  domino  Regi  pro  certo  redditu  vocato  hedsylver 
per  annum  iis.  viiid. 

Summa   certi    Redditus    vocati    hedsylver   per 

annum  vis.  viiii. 
Adhuc  Manerium  de  Berrybarre  alias  Burforde  pd.  fol.  88 

Edmundus  Harman  armiger  tenet  per  Inden- 
Firma  scitus  Maneni  ^^^^^^  ^^^  gj  -jj^  q^^^  Augmentacionum  Re- 
vocati  Berreybarre  .  „  ^      .  .    °    .     ,  „ ,     . 

cum  terris  Domini-      vencionum  Corone  Dommi  Regis  datam  (blank) 

calibus  ibidem  die  (blank)  anno  Regni  Regis  nunc  Edwardi 

Sexti  (blank)  totum  scitum  manerii  predicti 
vocati  Berreybarres  cum  omnibus  Domibus  eidem  maneriCsufficienter 
spectantibus  viz  unum  clausum  vocatum  the  Conynggree  continens 
iii  acras  unum  pratum  vocatum  Bprrye  orcharde  continens  viii  acras 
unum  pratum  vocatum  Womam  separale  continens  iiii  acras  Unam 
pasturam  vocatam  Batelenche  separalem  a  festo  purificacionis  Beate 
Marie  virginis  usque  ad  festum  Sti  Martini  continentem  quinque 
acras  Unum  pratum  vocatum  Hyghemeade  vii  acras  super  unum 
clausum  separale  vocatum  Hammes  continens  Duas  acras  separale 
a  festo  purificacionis  Beate  Marie  usque  ad  festum  Sti  Petri 
Sex  virgatas  terre  arrabilis  unam  pasturam  vocatam  Sturke  con- 
tinentem xl  acras  separalem  per  annum  a  festo  annunciacionis  Beate 
Marie  virginis  usque  ad  festum  Sti  Martini  Unam  pasturam  et  pratum 
iacentia  apud  Upton  vocata  Veronhill  continentia  xxiiii  acras  separa- 
liter  et  unam  parcellam  prati  iacentes  in  Millham  in  Taynton  continen- 
tem i  acram  et  dimidiam  acram  unam  parcellam  prati  in  Wyldmore 
continentem  iii  acras  xi/i.  iii^.  iiii<2. 

Summa   Totalis    Manerii    de    Berrybarre    alias  ^°J-  88 

rev 
Burfforde  pdict.  xxvii/i.  viiy. 

Limita  et  Banna    ^"^ipit  a  Cepe  vocata  Woodfordehedge  et  sic  inde 

dicti  Manerii  P^r  viam  usque  ade  le  Sturke  et  sic  inde  per  rivulum 

vocatum  Shiltonbroke  usque  ad  sepem  vocatam 

Westwellhedge  et  sic  inde  per  quandam  sepem  vocatam  Westwellhedge 


630  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

usque  campos  vocatos  Barryngtonfelds  et  sic  inde  per  le  hade  usque 
ad  le  Veronhill  et  sic  inde  per  Ripariam  vocatam  Wenderushe  usque 
ad  sepem  vocatam  Woodfordehedge  ubi  incipit  continens  vi  millia 

Ricardus  Hannes  tenens  domini  Regis  electus  est  in  officio  prepositi 
manerii  predicti  hoc  anno  ad  colligendum  Redditus  dicti  Domini 
Regis  et  facere  compotum  inde  ad  usum  Domini  Regis  predicti 

Dictus  Dominus  Rex  habet  Communem  ibidem  vocatum  Seynet 

Down  continens  per  estimacionem  C  acras. 

„  ,    -r.    r    J  Supervisus  ibidem  factus  per  Michaelem 

fol.  89       Burgus  de  Burford  „  '^         ,,  ^  ,       _,  .  r^      •  • 

cum  membris  in  com  Camsewell  Generalem  Supervisorem  Dommi 

Oxon  Parcella  terrarum  R^gi?  m  dicto  comitatu  Oxon  sexto  die 
predicti  lohannis  nuper  lunii  Anno  regni  regis  Edwardi  Sexti 
Ducis  Northumbr'  modo  Sexto  per  sacramentum  Ricardi  Hannes 
m  manu  Domini  Regis  ^^^erti  lohnson  Symonis  Wysedome  Willel- 
Racione  perquisiti  .  ^^         _.  ,        /  ^      ,       r^,         „     ^ 

mi  Hewes  lohannis  Lembert  Thome  itawler 

Roberti  Enisdall  lohannis  lloyde  lohannis  Hayter  Thome  Prykevance 
Thome  Alflett  Ricardi  Rogers  Roberti  Bruton  Ballivorum  Domini 
Regis  ibidem  Willelmi  Collens  Alexaunderi  Hegges  Roberti  Browne 
et  Hugonis  Colbome  Tenencium  Burgi  predicti  cum  aliis  viz 

Redditus  Hberorum  ^^^^^"^    ^^^^^^    ^^"^^    ^^^'^    ^"""^ 

tenencium  in  vico  vocato  messuagium  et  Burgagium  et  dimidium 
Wyttneystret  in  villa  et  cum  gardino  vocatum  le  signe  of  the 
Burgo  de  Burford  Ac  George  ibidem  Habet  primam  vesturara 

diversaruni  terrarum  j^de   et  non  ultra  quinque  acrarum   et 

lacentium  in  campis  de         •,•    •  j.  ,  .,.        •        ^-         • 

Burford  Upton  &  Signett     ^'""'^'^  arrabihum  lacentium  in  campis 

de  Upton  Unum  clausum  vocatum  le 
Georgeclose  continens  unam  acran^  Unum  Burgagium  et  dimidium 
iuxta  pontem  cum  gardino  adiacente  et  dimidium  Burgagium  adiacens 
Dicto  Burgagio  et  dimidio  aliud  Burgagium  iuxta  Burgagium  Walteri 
Rose  cum  gardino  Et  aliud  dimidium  Burgagium  iuxta  Burgagium 
Willelmi  Hewes  cum  gardino  adiacente  et  aliud  dimidium  Burgagium 
cum  gardino  iuxta  Burgagium  ecclesie  lohannis  Baptiste  Aliud 
Burgagium  cum  gardino  et  unum  clausum  adiacens  continens  unam 
acram  et  dimidiam  iacens  in  Wytneystreate  et  aliud  dimidium  Bur- 
gagium cum  gardino  iacens  in  Wytnestret  iuxta  Burgagium  Alexaun- 
deri Hogges  Aliud  Burgagium  cum  gardino  accum  duobus  clausis 
vocatis  Wyldemes  continentibus  iiii  acras  et  Reddit  per  annum  cum 
secta  curie  bis  in  anno  xv^.  viiid. 

Willelmus  Hewes  de  Burforde  tenet  libere  sex  Burgagia  cum 
gardino  adiacente  scituata  in  vico  vocato  Wytney  Stret  ibidem  et 


rev. 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  631 

trees  (sic)  clauses  continentes  quinque  acras  et  dimidiam  unum 
vocatum  Hawllecrofte  iacentfim  prope  Burybarres  et  alium  iuxta 
altum  vicum  et  tercium  iacentem  in  Wytneystret  ibidem  iuxta  le 
Walkemylle  cum  centum  et  decem  acris  terre  arrabilis  in  separalibus 
campis  de  Burforde  Upton  et  Signett  cum  una  acra  et  dimidia  prati 
iacentibus  in  Upton  meade  de  quibus  terns  arrabilibus  habet  primam 
vesturam  et  non  ultra  Secta  curie  et  Reddit  per  annum         xixs.  iiid. 

Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burforde  pd.  fol.  89 

Robertus  Smythe  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente 
scituatum  in  Wyttneystrete  cum  iiii°"^  acris  terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de 
Burforde  de  quibus  terris  arrabilibus  habet  primam  vesturam  inde  et 
non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xviiiJ.  et  sectam  curie     xviiid. 

Alexandreus  Hedges  tenet  libere  unum  et  dimidium  Burgagium 
scituatum  in  Alto  Vico  et  Duo  Burgagia  et  dimidium  cum  gardino 
adiacente  scituata  in  Whytneystrete  cum  sexaginta  acris  terre  arra- 
bilis in  campis  de  Burford  Upton  et  Signett  de  quibus  acris  terre 
habet  primam  vesturam  et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  vi^.  xi.  et  sectam 
curie  vis.  xd. 

Thomas  Allflett  tenet  libere  Dimidium  Burgagium  cum  gardino 
adiacente  scituatum  in  vico  vocato  Wytney  strett  predicto  cum 
pertinenciis  Et  Reddit  per  annum  vid.  et  sectam  curie  vid. 

Willelmus  Pynnock  de  Ensham  in  Com  Oxon  generosus  tenet 
libere  tria  Burgagia  cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  scituata  in  alto  vico  et 
Duo  Burgagia  et  dimidium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituata  in  Wytney 
stret  cum  uno  clauso  adiacente  iuxta  Batts  lane  continente  ii  acras 
Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  \is. 

Summa  redditus  liberorum  tenendum  in  Wytney 
stret  pdict  per  annum  xlix5.  ixd. 

_,    ...       ...  Ricardus  Hannes  tenet  libere  tria  Burgagia 

Redditus  hberorum  ,.  ,.  .  .        , 

tenendum  in  Wytney  ^""^   gardmo   adiacente   scituata   in   altero 

stret  et  Shepstret  i^ic)   vico   unum    Burgagium   cum   gardino 

ac  Churchelane  in  adiacente  in  vico  vocato  Wytneystret  et  duo 

villa  de  Burford  ac  Dimidia    Burgagia    cum    gardino    adiacente 

diversaruni  terranim  ^^ituata  vocato  {sic)  Shepstret  et  u  clauses 
in  campis  de  Burford  ....  '        '^ 

Uoton  &  Signet  continentes  iiu  acras  quorum  unus  lacet  apud 

Upton  et  alterus  (sic)  apud  Whyttehill  et 
dimidiam  acram  prati  in  prato  de  Upton  predicto  et  ii  acras  prati  et 
dimidiam  in  Hyghmeade  cum  sexaginta  ac  duabus  acris  terre  arrabilis 
in  campis  de  Burford  Upton  &  Signett  de  quibus  terris  habet  primam 
Vesturam  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xiiiiy.  et  sectam  curie 


632  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

fol.  90  Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burforde  pd. 

lohanna  lones  tenet  libere  iiii°''  Burgagia  cum  gardino  adiacente 
scituata  in  alto  vico  et  duo  Burgagia  cum  gardino  adiacente  in 
Wytnestrett  et  unum  gardinum  in  eodem  \dco  Dimidium  Burgagium 
cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  churche  Lane  et  duos  clausos 
continentes  ii  acras  iacentes  in  Wytneystret  unus  clausus  continens 
dimidiam  acram  iacentem  in  Hyghmeadeforde  cum  quadraginta 
duobus  et  dimidia  acris  terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de  Burford  Upton 
et  Signett  de  quibus  terris  arrabilibus  habet  communam  pro  duodecim 
acris  vocatis  Howselands  cum  ceteris  tenentibus  manerii  de  Bury- 
bames  et  dabit  sectam  curie  eiusdem  manerii  pro  eisdem  terris  vocatis 
Howselands  Et  de  ceteris  terris  arrabilibus  habet  primam  vesturam 
et  non  ultra  et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xix5.  yid. 

Ricardus  Hoges  tenet  libere  tria  Burgagia  et  iiii"""  dimidia  Burgagia 
cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  scituata  in  alto  vico  et  duo  Dimidia  Burgagia 
cum  gardino  adiacente  scituata  in  vico  vocato  Wytney  streete  et 
unum  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  Church  Lane  et 
tria  clausa  iacentia  mxta  predictum  vicum  de  Wytneystret  continentia 
per  estimacionem  quinque  acras  cum  quinque  dimidia  acris  terre 
arrabilis  iacentibus  in  campis  de  Upton  de  quibus  terris  arrabilibus 
habet  primam  vesturam  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum 
XV5.  y'nid.  et  sectam  curie  xvs.  viud. 

Summa     reddituum    Uberorum    tenencium    in 
^  Wytneystret  Shepestret  ac  Chirchelane  in  dicta 

villa  de  Burford  xliv5.  vid. 

id.  90  Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burford  pdict. 

^   ,,.^     ,.,  Simon    Wysdome    de    Burforde    tenet 

Redditus  hberorum  •  ,.,  „  .  ,.  . 

tenencium  in  vicibus  ^'^^"^^  °c^°  Burgagia  cum  gardmis  et 

vocatis  Shepestret  &  sanct  pomariis  adiacentibus  scituata  in  alto 

lohnes  strete  infra  Burgum  vico  et  unum  Burgagium  et  dimidium 

de  Burford  ac  in  campis  de  cmn  gardinis  et  pomariis  adiacentibus 

Upton  Burford  et  Signet         o„:4.„„4.„    ;„  cu«  „  *,^*- 

.     r  ,  *=  scituata   m  bhepestret    cum    centum 

pdict.  ,      .  ^        ,  .  ^ 

quadraginta  et   tree  (sic)  acns    terre 

arrabilis  in  separalibus  campis  de  Burford  Upton  &  Signett  et  unam 
acram  prati  iacentem  in  le  Hyghmeade  de  quibus  terris  arrabilibus 
habet  primam  vesturam  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xvii^. 
ixi.  et  sectam  curie  xviis.  ixd. 

Philippus  Maryner  de  Cicestr'  in  com  Glous'  tenet  libere  unum 
Burgagium  cum  gardino  et  clauso  adiacentibus  in  vico  vocato  Shepe- 
stret cum  quinque  acris  et  dimidia  terre  arrabilis  iacentibus  in  campis 


rev. 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  633 

de  Burford  de  quibus  terns  habet  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non 
ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xxiii.  et  sectam  curie  xxiid. 

Edwardus  Ryley  de  Burford  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  sine 
gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  vico  predicto  Et  Reddit  inde  per 
annum  viiii,  et  sectam  curie  cum  aliis  serxnciis  etc  viiid. 

Ricardus  Busby  de  Islyngton  in  com  Midd  tenet  libere  unum 
Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto  vico  cum  uno 
clauso  iacente  in  Batts  lane  continente  iiii""^  acras  cum  xxvi  acris 
terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de  Burford  et  Signett  accum  uno  prato 
iacente  et  existente  in  Upton  meade  de  quibus  terris  acris  {sic)  arra- 
bilibus  et  prato  habet  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit 
inde  per  annum  xiii^.  vid.  et  sectam  curie  cum  aliis  serviciis  Debet 
et  consuetudinem  pro  predicto  Burgagio  cum  pertinenciis 

xiiis.  vid. 

Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burforde  pdict.  iol.  91 

Petrus  Payne  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente 
scituatum  in  vico  vocato  Shepestrete  predicto  cum  pertinenciis 
Reddendum  inde  per  annum  xiid.  et  sectam  curie  xiid. 

Marcus  Payne  de  Burforde  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  et  dimidium 
cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  scituata  in  alto  vico  Accum  xliiii°'  acris 
terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de  Burforde  et  Signett  de  quibus  terris  arra- 
bilibus  habet  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per 
annum  iiii^.  iind.  et  sectam  curie  mis.  iiiiJ. 

Magister  et  Socii  Collegii  de  Brasenose  in  Civitate  Oxon  tenent 
libere  unum  Burgagium  et  dimidium  cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  scituata 
in  alto  vico  cum  sex  acris  terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de  Burford  de  quibus 
acris  terre  arrabilis  habent  primam  vesturam  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit 
inde  per  annum  His.  et  sectam  curie  iii^. 

lohannes  Hannes  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  et  dimidium  cum 
gardinis  et  uno  clauso  adiacentibus  continente  ii  acras  scituata  in 
alto  vico  Accum  sexaginta  et  una  acris  terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de 
Burford  et  Signett  de  quibus  terris  habet  primam  vesturam  et  non 
ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  ixs.  et  sectam  curie  ixy. 

lohannes  Smythear  de  Burforde  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  cum 
uno  clauso  adiacente  scituatum  in  Shepstret  predicto  cum  pertinenciis 
Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xxd.  et  sectam  curie  xxd. 

Willelmus  Bayley  de  Kevoller  in  Com  Wiltes'  tenet  libere  unum 
Burgagium  et  quarterium  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum 
in  alto  vico  de  Burford  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  x\d.  et  sectam 
curie  xvi. 


634  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

foL  91  Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burforde  pdict. 

rev.  Thomas  CoUyns  de  Southlye  in  Com  Oxon  tenet  libere  unum  Bur- 

gagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  Shepestrete  predicto 
et  uno  clauso  iacente  in  Wytneystret  iuxta  frontem  vocatum  fforest 
wall  continente  per  estimacionem  unam  acram  et  dimidiam  Accum 
uno  prato  iacente  in  le  Hyghemeade  et  xx  acris  terre  arrabilis  iacentibus 
in  campis  de  Burford  Upton  et  Signett  de  quibus  terns  arrabilibus 
habet  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum 
ixs.  et  sectam  curie  ixs. 

lohannes  Halle  de  Sherborne  in  Com  Glous'  tenet  libere  duo  Bur- 
gagia  et  dimidium  cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  scituata  in  vico  vocato 
le  Shepestrete  cum  pertinenciis  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xiii.  et 
sectam  curie  xiirf^ 

lohannes  Gay  de  Civitate  London  tenet  libere  dimidium  Burgagium 
cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto  vico  de  Burford  cum  per- 
tinenciis Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  \id.  et  sectam  curie  vid. 

Willelmus  Hulls  de  Risington  parva  in  com  Glous'  tenet  libere 
dimidium  Burgagium  sine  gardino  scituatum  in  alto  vico  predicto 
cum  pertinenciis  eidem  spectantibus  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  vii. 
et  sectam  curie  vid. 

Hugo  Colbrow  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  cum  gardino  eidem 
adiacente  in  alto  vico  predicto  cum  pertinenciis  eidem  spectantibus 
sine  pertinenciis  (sic)  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xiid.  et  sectam  curie 

xiii. 

Thomas  Chadwell  de  Baryngton  parva  in  Com  Glous'  tenet 
libere  dimidium  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in 
alto  vico  predicto  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  iiiii.  et  sectam  curie  , 

mid. 

Robertus  Edmunds  de  Tetbury  in  Com  Glous'  tenet  libere  unum 
Burgagium  et  dimidium  cum  suis  pertinenciis  scituata  iacentia  et 
existentia  in  alto  vico  predicto  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xviiii. 
et  sectam  curie  xviiid. 

fol.  92  Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burforde  pdict. 

Thomas  Pyme  de  Islyngton  in  Com  Middx  generosus  tenet  libere 
unum  Burgagium  cum  gardino  et  uno  clauso  adiacentibus  in  alto 
vico  predicto  cum  tribus  acris  terre  arrabilis  iacentibus  et  existentibus 
in  campis  de  Burforde  et  Upton  de  quibus  acris  terre  arrabilis  et 
(sic)  habet  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per 
annum  xviiirf.  et  sectam  curie  xviiii. 

lohannes  Pope  de  Astall  in  Com  Oxon  tenet  libere  dimidium  Bur- 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  635 

gagium  cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  scituatum  in  alto  vico  predicto 
cum  suis  pertinenciis  Et  Reddit  inde  per  amium  vii.  et  sectam  curie 

vid. 

Philippus  Barrett  de  Mylton  in  Com  Oxon  tenet  libere  unum 
Burgagium  cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  scituatum  in  vico  vocato 
Shepestret  et  dimidium  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum 
in  vico  vocato  Seynt  lohns  stret  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xviiii. 
et  sectam  curie  xviiiJ. 

Thomas  Fetiplace  de  Langford  in  Com  Oxon  tenet  libere  unum 
Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  Shepestrete  cum 
iiii°^  acris  terre  et  dimidia  arrabilis  iacentibus  et  existentibus  in 
campis  de  Burford  de  quibus  terris  arrabilibus  habet  primam  vesturam 
inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xixi.  et  sectam  curie 

xixi. 

lohannes  Legge  de  Burford  tenet  libere  ut  in  iure  Margarete  uxoris 
eius  Dimidium  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto 
vico  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  viid.  obolum  et  sectam  curie 

viid.  ob. 

Robertus  Ensdale  de  Burford  tenet  libere  Duo  Burgagia  et  dimidium 
cum  gardinis  et  uno  clauso  adiacentibus  scituata  in  alto  vico  Et  Reddit 
inde  per  annum  iiii^.  vid.  et  sectam  curie  ims.  vid. 

Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burford  pdict.  ^o\,  93 

Willelmus  Collyns  de  Upton  in  Com  Oxon  tenet  libere  unum  Bur- 
gagium et  dimidium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto  vico 
et  unam  acram  terre  arrabilis  iacentem  in  campis  de  Burforde  de 
quibus  terris  arrabilibus  habet  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra 
Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xviiii.  et  sectam  curie  xviiii. 

Rosa  Ryleye  de  Burford  vidua  tenet  libere  dimidium  Burgagium 
cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto  vico  cum  pertinenciis  Et 
Reddit  inde  per  annum  vid.  et  sectam  curie  viJ. 

Thomas  Dutton  de  Sherborne  in  Com  Glous'  tenet  Ubere  ut  in  iure 
Marie  uxoris  sue  Dimidium  Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scitua- 
tum in  vico  vocato  Shepestret  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  vii.  et 
sectam  curie  vii. 

lohaimes  Lamberte  de  Upton  in  Com  Oxon  tenet  libere  dimidium 
Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  Shepestret  cum  duabus 
acris  terre  et  dimidia  in  campis  de  Upton  De  quibus  terris  habet 
primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  vid. 
et  sectam  curie  vid. 

Georgius  Lambert  de  Burford  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  cum 


rev. 


636  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  Shepestret  predicto  Et  Reddit  inde 
per  annum  xiii.  et  sectam  curie  xiid. 

Idem  Georgius  tenet  libere  dimidium  Burgagium  sine  gardino  perti- 
nens  Ecclesie  de  Cicestr'  in  Com  Glous'  scituatum  in  alto  vico  cum  perti- 
nenciis  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  iind.  et  sectam  curie  iiiitZ. 

Walterus  Rose  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  cum  gardino  et  parvo 
clauso  adiacentibus  sciatuatum  in  alto  vico  cum  ix  acris  terre  arrabilis 
in  campis  de  Burford  et  Signet  de  quibus  terris  habet  primam  vesturam 
inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xiiii.  et  sectam  curie 

xiiid. 
fol  93  Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burford  pd. 

Summa    Reddituum    liberorum    tenencium    in 
Shepstret  &  Senct  lohns  Stret  in  villa  de  Burford 
per  annum  niili.  His.  vid. 

Redditus  liberorum  '^^°"^^'  ^^"^'.  ^^"^^.  ^'^^^^  """  ^"'^- 

tenencium  in  vico  S,^§\^  cum  gardinis  adiacentibus  et  unum 

vocato  Seint  lohns  Strete      pomarium  scituata  in  alto  vico  et  Duo 
et  Wytneystret  Necnon  Dimidia  Burgagia  cum  gardinis  adiacenti- 

certarum  terrarum  in  ^^^    scituata    in    vico    vocato    Savnte 

campis  de  Burford  ^  ,       _  ,  ^     ' 

Upton  &  Signett  pd.  ^^^^  .^^^^^  ^^  ""°  ^^^"so  vocato  Salmans 

close  iacente  in  eodem  vico  continente 
i  acram  et  alio  clauso  iacente  in  Wytney  stret  continente  i  acram  et 
duas  virgatas  terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de  Burford  Upton  et  Signett 
et  quilibet  (sic)  virgata  continet  xxiiii  acras  terre  arrabilis  et  duo 
acras  prati  iacentes  in  le  highemede  de  quibus  terris  et  prato  habet 
communam  cum  ceteris  tenentibus  Manerii  de  Burybames  et  Debet 
sectam  curie  eiusdem  Manerii  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xvi^.  et  alia 
servicia  xixs.  {sic) 

lohannes  Euston  de  Estehendred  in  Com  Berk  generosus  tenet 
libere  duo  Burgagia  et  duo  dimidia  Burgagia  cum  gardinis  adiacentibus 
scituata  in  alto  vico  cum  quatuor  virgatis  terre  arrabilis  in  campis 
de  Burford  Upton  et  Signet  ac  iiii""^  acris  prati  in  Hyghmeade  et 
quilibet  (sic)  virgata  continet  xxiiii^"^  acras  telrre  arrabilis  et  habet 
communam  pro  eisdem  terris  cum  tenentibus  Manerii  de  Burybames 
et  debet  sectam  curie  dicti  Manerii  de  Burybames  Et  Reddit  inde 
per  annum  xvi5.  cum  aliis  serviciis  xviy. 

foL  93  Willelmus  Sheperde  de  Chorlebury  in  Com  Oxon  tenet  libere  dimi- 

"^*  .dium    Burgagium   et   unum    quarterium    Burgagium   cum   gardino 

adiacente  scituata  insimul  in  vico  vocato  Seynt  lohns  stret  in  villa 
de  Burford  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  ixd.  et  sectam  curie        ixd. 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  637 

Thomas  (blank)  de  Chorleburye  in  dicto  com  tenet  libere  duo 
Burgagia  et  dimidium  iacentia  et  scituata  in  Seynt  lohns  stret  predicto 
in  villa  predicta  cum  pertinenciis  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xviii<i. 
et  sectam  curie  xviiirf. 

Idem  Thomas  tenet  Ubere  Duo  Burgagia  et  dimidium  cum  gardino 
adiacente  scituata  in  eodem  vico  pertinentia  (sic)  Et  Reddit  inde  per 
annum  xiii.  et  sectam  curie  xiiJ. 

Rector  de  Burford  tenet  libere  duo  Burgagia  et  dimidium  cum  gar- 
dinis  adiacentibus  pertinentia  eidem  Rectori  scituata  in  alto  vico 
Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xiii.  et  sectam  curie  xiid. 

lohannes  floyde  alias  Hewys  de  Burford  tenet  Ubere  Duo  Burgagia 
et  dimidium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituata  in  alto  vico  Et  Reddit 
inde  per  annum  xiid.  et  sectam  curie  xiiJ. 

Edmundus  Sylvester  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium  et  dimidium 
cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto  vico  Accum  uno  clauso 
iacente  in  batts  lane  vocato  Pykedclose  continente  dimidiam  acram 
Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum  xviiid.  et  sectam  curie  xviiid. 

Summa  Reddituum  Uberorum  tenencium  in  vico 
vocato  Seynt  lohns  stret  in  villa  de  Burford  per 
Annum  xxxviils.  ixd. 

Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burford  pdict,  fol.  94 

Ricardus  Wygpytte  tenet  libere  dimidium 
Redditus  liberorum  Burgagium  sine  gardino  adiacente  scituatum 

tenencium  in  Churche        -^^    Churche    Lane    cum    pertinenciis   Et 
Lane  m  Villa  Burford         t>   jj-     •   j  a  •■■•j 

Reddit  inde  per  Annum  una.  et  sectam 

curie  iiiii. 
Robertus   Browne  tenet  libere  unum   Burgagium  cum  gardinis 
adiacentibus  scituatum  in  Alto  vico  ibidem  Et  Reddit  inde  per  annum 
xiid.  et  sectam  curie  xii*^- 

lohannes  Yonge  tenet  libere  Dimidium  Burgagium  cum  gardino 
adiacente  in  alto  vico  de  Burford  Et  Reddit  inde  per  Annum  vid. 
et  sectam  curie  vi</. 

Elizabeth  Tomson  vidua  de  Burford  tenet  libere  unum  Burgagium 
cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto  vico  Et  Reddit  inde  per 
Annum  xiid.  et  sectam  curie  xiid. 

lohannes  Bredocke  de  Wantag  in  Com  Berk  tenet  Hbere  unum 

Burgagium  cum  gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  alto  vico  Et  Reddit 

inde  per  Annum  xiid.  et  sectam  curie  xiiJ. 

Summa  Reddituum  liberorum  tenencium  in  villa 

de  Burford  in  vico  vocato  Churche  Lane  per 

Annum  iii;.  xd. 


638 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


foL  94 
rev. 


Ouietus  Redditus  Quodam  annual!  Redditu  exeunte  de  terns  et 
exeuns  Canterie  tenementis  pertinentibus  predicte  Cantarie  in 
de  Burford  villa  de  Burford  per  Annum  xx5. 

Summa  prout  patet. 
Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burford  pdict. 

Tenentes  sive  gardiani  ecclesie  de  Burford 
tenent  quatuor  Burgagia  scituata  simul  in 
Churche  Lane  cum  gardino  et  uno  clauso 
adiacentibus  continente  i  acram  et  Reddunt 


Terre  et  tenementa 
concessa  ad  susten- 
tacionem  pauperum 
de  Burforde  per 
Henricum  Bysshope. 


per  annum  vnii-. 


Terre  et  tenementa 
concessa  ad  susten- 
tacionem  pauperum 
eiusdem  ville  per 
Thomam  Pope  (sic) 


VllLS. 

Summa  prout  patet. 
Predicti  gardiani  ecclesie  de  Burford  predicto 
tenent  unum  Burgagium  scituatum  in  alto 
vico  et  unum  Burgagium  et  dimidium  cum 
gardino  adiacente  scituatum  in  vico  vocato 
Wytneystret  Unum  Burgagium  cum  uno  clauso 
vocato  Cowerclose  continente  iii  acras  iacente  in  vico  vocato  Shep- 
stret  cum  xii  acris  terre  in  campis  de  Burford  et  Signett  de 
quibus  terris  habent  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  per  Annum 

\is.  vd. 
Summa  prout  patet. 
Predicti  gardiani  ecclesie  predicte  tenent 
iiiio"^  Burgagia  et  dimidium  cum  gardino 
adiacente  scituata  in  alto  vico  et  duo  Burgagia 
cum  gardino  adiacente  scituata  in  Churche 
Lane  et  Dimidium  Burgagium  cum  gardino 
adiacente  scituatum  in  Shepestret  cum  xviii  acris  terre  et  dimidia 
iacentibus  in  campis  de  Burford  et  Signett  cum  una  acra  et 
dimidia  prati  in  Bury  orchard  de  quibus  terris  habent  primam 
vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddunt  inde  per  annum 

xiLy.  \id. 
Summa  prout  patet. 
Supradicti  tenentes  tenent  unum  Burgagium 
et  dimidium  iacentia  in  vico  vocato  Seynt 
lohnes  stret  et  dimidium  Burgagium  scituatum 
in    Churche    Lane    cum    tribus    acris    terre 
iacentibus  in  campis  de  Burford  et  Upton 
cum  duabus  acris  de  fiarendell  prati  iacentibus  in  highmeade  de 
quibus  terris  habent  primam  vesturam  inde  et  non  ultra  Et  Reddunt 
inde  per  Annum  iii5.  xii. 

Summa  prout  patet. 


Terre  et  tenementa 
pertinentia  de 
Reparacionem  ecclesie 
de  Burford  pdict 


Terre  et  tenementa 
pertinentia  ad 
Reparacionem  pontem 
(sic)  iuxta  Burford 
predicto 


RENTALS  AND  SURVEYS  639 

Adhuc  Burgus  de  Burford  pd.  fol.  95 

rr  ^    t.  J.  Et  denarii  provenientes  diversis  tenentibus 

Tolnetum  mercatorum  ...  '^  .  ^  , 

de  Burford  ^^  ^^"^  personis  per  Tolnetum  Marcatorum 

in  villa  de  Burford  communibus  annis  xs. 

xs. 
SuMMA  Totalis   Burgi  de  Burford 
Predicto  xiiii/t.  v^.  vid. 

circa  1556.    Land  Rev.  Bundle  1392,  File  lo/i. 

(John  Carleton's  Accompt  of  lead  and  bells  for  Berks,  Bucks  and 
Oxon. — Chantries,  &c.) 

the  Leade  ther — ^none  as  apperyth  by  the  certificate 
1.0.  uxon— -the  ^j  Edmunde  Harman  erent  and  others  hereupon 
hospital  1  of  ,      u   ,  -r^ 

Burforde  ^^^^  ^  thaccomptaunte  Remaynyng. 

the  bells — ij  sold  by  Doctor  London  one  of  the 
Commyssioners  by  certificate  of  Edmond  Harman  esquier  w'  the 
accomptaunte  remaynyng. 

[Note. — In  another  account  (Land  Rev.  Bundle  1392,  File  9/1)  there 
is  a  reference  to  Thomas  Barten,  Surveyor  of  Hampton  Court,  with 
a  note  in  the  margin — '  The  wyff  of  Barten  dwellyth  beside  Burforde  '.] 

ig)   RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE 

1541,  Decrees  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations.  Exch.  K.  R.  Augm. 
Office  :  Misc.  Bks.,  vol,  93. 

fol.  167.    Michaelmas  Term,  22  October,  33  Henry  VIII.  ^ 

Richard  Hannes  produced  a  lease  from  Thomas  Cade,  Master  of 
the  Hospital  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist  at  Burford,  dated  22  September, 
28  Henry  VIII,  granting  him  the  Hospital's  property  at  Asthall  for 
a  term  of  21  years  at  a  rental  of  335.  4d.  a  year.  It  is  stipulated  that 
the  tenant  is  not  to  cut  down  '  oke  asshe  nor  crabbetre  but  in  sight  of 
and  by  the  assente  of  the  said  Thomas  Cade  clerke  or  his  successors  '. 

The  lease  was  recognized  by  the  Court,  and  allocated  to  Richard 
Hannes. 

fol.  i68  rev.    Same  date. 

Thomas  Clarke  similarly  produced  a  lease  of  the  manor  of  Fifield 
for  a  term  of  41  years  at  a  rental  of  £4  a  year. 

The  preamble  of  the  lease  is  as  follows  :  '  This  Indenture  made 
the  27'*"  daye  of  Marche  in  the  eight  and  twentie  yere  of  the  reign  of 
our  soveraigne  lord  king  Henry  the  eight  betweene  Master  Thomas 
Cade  master  and  prior  of  the  hospytall  of  saynt  John  the  Evangelist 


640      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

founded  within  the  town  of  Burford  in  the  countie  of  Oxford  and 
Peter  Annysdale  Alderman  and  Richard  Hannys  steward  of  the 
Burgesses  of  Burford  aforesaid  and  all  other  of  the  saide  Burgesses 
very  true  and  perpetuall  patrons  of  the  foresaide  hospytall  of  the 
one  partie  And  Thomas  Gierke  of  ffyfEhyde  otherwise  called  ffyfeld 
in  the  countie  foresaide  yoman  of  the  other  partye  wytnessyth  that 
the  foresaide  Thomas  Cade  prior  at  the  speciall  ynstance  and  requestd 
and  with  the  full  and  clere  assente  and  consente  of  all  the  foresaide 
Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses  hath  demysed  '  .  .  .  etc.  .  .  . 

The  seaUng  clause  is  as  follows  :  '  The  foresaide  master  and  prior 
of  the  hospytall  .  .  .  have  put  the  comen  and  auncyent  seale  of  his 
said  hospytall  and  for  the  full  assente  and  clere  consente  of  the  said 
Alderman  Steward  and  Burgesses  very  true  and  perpetuall  patrons 
of  the  same  hospytall  jEor  them  and  their  successors  they  have  caused 
the  comen  and  auncyent  seale  of  their  fEratemitye  to  the  same  to  be 
sett '. 

Lease  recognized  and  allocated. 

fol.  172.    Same  date. 

John  Sharpe  produced  a  lease  of  three  yards  of  arable  land  and 
two  acres  of  meadow,  dated  25  September,  30  Henry  VIII,  for  a  term 
of  21  years  at  a  rental  of  20s.  a  year. 

In  the  lease  Thomas  Cade  is  described  as  '  master  or  keper  of  the 
hospytall ' ;  and  the  lease  is  granted  '  with  the  assente  and  consente 
of  Rychard  Manyngton  Gentilman  and  Alderman  of  the  borough 
town  of  Burford  aforesaid  Richard  Hannys  Steward  and  their  brethren 
Burgesses  there  patrons  of  the  said  hospytall '. 

Lease  recognized  and  allocated. 

Proceedings  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations.  Exch.  K.  R.  Augm. 
Ct.  Proc. :  13,  10. 

John  Barker  against  John  Jones,  Thomas  Clark,  Richard  Hannes, 
and  John  Sharp. 

Barker  complained  that  defendants  were  in  possession  of  lands 
of  the  late  Hospital  relying  on  leases  from  Cade  which,  he  pleaded, 
were  void  in  law,  whereas  he  himself  held  a  lease  of  the  whole  property 
of  the  late  Hospital,  including  '  the  mancyon  howses  of  the  said 
hospitall  and  manor '.  He  pleaded  that  Cade  had  no  right  to  make 
leases  without  the  consent  of  his  brethren  for  a  longer  period  than 
that  of  his  own  life.  He  admitted  that  a  lease  which  he  himself  held 
from  Cade  of  the  whole  property  was  equally  void ;   but  he  stated 


RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE      641 

that  he  had  been  instrumental  in  persuading  Cade  to  hand  over  the 
Hospital  to  the  Crown,  and  had  therefore  obtained  a  new  lease  from 
the  Crown  for  a  term  of  21  years  at  a  rent  of  £11  22d.  by  indenture 
under  the  seal  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations  dated  23  March,  32 
Henry  VIII.  The  defendants,  however,  had  craftily  obtained  an 
injunction  against  him. 

An  answer  by  John  Jones  and  Richard  Hannes  sets  forth  that 
Barker  had  done  nothing  to  persuade  Cade  to  surrender  the  Hospital, 
and  that  their  leases  were  good  in  law. 

Augm.  Off.  Misc.  Bks. :  vol.  402. 

A  Survey  of  the  possessjpns  of  the  late  Hospital  of  St.  John  the 
Evangelist  in  Burford.  The  details  are  as  recorded  above  (Rentals 
and  Surveys,  p.  621,  supra)  with  the  following  exceptions  : 

Against  the  entries  of  the  holdings  of  John  Sharpe,  Hardgrave, 
Richards,  Faller,  Ensdale,  Browne,  Wynchester,  Cockerell,  Clarke, 
Cotton,  Bygge,  and  Willeshire  is  marked  '  vacat '. 

Several  of  the  rentals  are  altered  ;  the  Hospital  site  is  entered  at 
435.;  Hardgrave's  holding  at  135.  4^.,  Ensdale's  at  15^.,  Browne's 
at  45.,  and  Fifield  Manor  at  535.  ^d.  The  total  rental  thus  becomes 
£14  9^. 

1544.  Exch.  L.  T.  R.  Augm.  Off. :  Particulars  for  Grants. 
No.  541,  35  Henry  VIII.    Harman  Grantee. 

Firma  domus  et  scitus  dicti  nuper  hospitalis  Sti  lohannis  Evangeliste 
de  Burford  predicto  in  dicto  com  Oxon  cum  omnibus  edificiis  colum- 
bariis  stabulis  curtilagiis  et  pomariis  gardinis  terris  et  solo  infra 
scitum  septum  ambitum  circuitum  et  precinctum  eiusdem  nuper 
hospitalis  existentia  Ac  unius  clausi  vocati  le  priorie  close  Ac  unius 
tenementi  vocati  Ivey  house  iacentis  et  existentis  in  Burford  predicto 
Necnon  trium  virgatarum  terre  arrabilis  iacentium  in  campis  de 
Burford  predicto  et  duarum  acrarum  pratorum  iacentium  in  quodam 
prato  vocato  hygh  mede  in  Burford  predicto  et  communam  pasture 
pro  omnibus  animahbus  et  catallis  lohannis  Tucker  firmarii  ibidem 
nuper  in  tenura  lohannis  Sharpe  ac  unius  tenementi^bidem  nuper 
in  tenura  lohannis  Hardgrave  ac  unius  clausi  terre  cum  duabus  parvis 
peciis  terre  cum  pertinenciis  nuper  in  tenura  Thome  Rychards  in 
Burford  predicto  ac  unius  pecie  terre  cum  pertinenciis  iacentis 
prope  Salmons  close  nuper  in  tenura  Thome  Faller  in  Burford  predicto 
Necnon  unius  clausi  terre  et  pasture  cum  pertinenciis  in  tenura  Roberti 
Ensdell  iacentis  et  existentis  in  Upton  ac  unius  clausi  terre  cum 

3304  T  t 


642  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

pertinenciis  nuper  in  tenura  Roberti  Browne  iacentis  et  existentis 
in  Upton  predicto  accum  omnibus  illis  viginti  duabus  acris  prati 
iacentibus  et  existentibus  in  campis  de  Upton  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis 
Wynchester  Necnon  omnibus  illis  messuagiis  curtilagiis  toftis  croftis 
pratis  terris  arrabilibus  pasturis  pascuis  cum  suis  pertinenciis  nuper 
in  tenura  Henry  Cotler  iacentibus  et  existentibus  in  Asthall . . .  etc  . . . 
[And  the  manor  of  Fifield  and  the  lands  at  Risington.] 

Total  annual  value  £12  35.  lod. 

M^  that  ther  is  no  more  landes  belonging  to  the  hospitall  of  Burford 
then  is  before  conteyned  per  Willm  Cavendyssh  audit'. 

These  parcells  above  specifyed  with  there  appurtenances  as  I  have 
lemyd  ar  ffrom  eny  of  the  Kyngs  houses  whereunto  hys  maiestie 
hathe  eny  accesse  and  repayer  two  myles  and  ffrom  eny  the  Kynges 
parkes  forests  and  chases  two  myles  They  ar  no  parcell  of  eny  manor 
or  other  hereditament  excedynge  the  clere  yerely  value  of  x/z.  There 
be  no  patronage  advowsons  ne  chantries  belongyng  to  the  same 
I  have  not  made  eny  partycular  of  the  premysses  to  eny  person  but 
only  thys  and  what  fyne  or  Income  wylbe  gyven  for  the  same  I  know 
not  ne  can  not  leme  Item  the  hospytall  of  Burford  is  graunted  to 
Mr  Harman  thys  berer  for  terme  of  hys  lyfe  and  hys  wyfe  by  the 
Kynges  letteres  pattents  ex<*  per  Willm  Cavendyssh  audit'. 

The  clere  yearly  value  of  the  hospytall  of  Seynt  Johns  in  Burford 
with  the  londs  to  the  same  which  the  same  Edmund  and  Agnes  his 
wyff  hathe  for  terme  of  their  lyffes  without  fyne  payenge  for  the  same 
£12  35.  xod.  Inde  pro  decima  245.  5^.  Et  remanent  clare  £10  \gs.  ^d. 
whiche  to  be  purchased  at  x  yeres  is  £109  145.  2d. 

Item  certeyn  parcells  of  the  monastery  of  Brueme  .  .  .  etc  .  .  . 

And  so  the  hole  sume  the  same  Harman  must  paye  is  £180  185. 

1546.  Exch.L.T.R.:  Particulars  for  Grants.  No.  542. 37  Henry  VIII. 
Harman  Grantee. 

Parcella  terrarum  et  possessionum  nuper  monasterio  sive  prioratui 
de  Keynshame  in  com  Soms  pertinentium. 

Firma  Rectorie  de  Burfford  predicto  cum  una  capella  eidem  annexata 
vocata  Fullbroke  Necnon  cum  omnibus  terris  tenementis  pratis 
pascuis  et  pasturis  Redditibus  et  suis  decimis  oblacionibus  obvencioni- 
bus  fructubus  proficuis  et  commoditatibus  quibuscunque  eisdem 
Rectorie  et  capelle  quoquomodo  spectantibus  seu  pertinentibus  sicut 
dimissa  Thome  Baylie  executoribus  et  assignatis  suis  per  Indenturam 
sigillo  conventuali  dicti  nuper  monasterii  sigillatam  datam  sexto  die 


RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE    643 

maii  anno  regni  regis  Henrici  octavi  xxiii  Videlicet  a  festo  sti  michaelis 
archangeli  adtunc  proximo  futuro  post  diem  datam  Indenture  usque 
finem  termini  nonaginta  annorum  extunc  proxime  sequentium  et 
plenarie  complendorum  Reddendum  indead  festa  Annunciacionis  Beate 
Marie  Virginis  et  sti  Michaelis  archangeli  equaliter  per  annum     xli. 

The  said  parsonage  lyethe  nere  none  of  the  Kynges  maiesties 
houses  parks  forests  or  chases  reserved  for  thaccesse  or  Repaire  of 
his  highnes  Also  I  have  made  the  particulers  herof  to  no  other  person 
nor  I  know  any  other  desynes  to  by  the  same 

ex^  per  Ricardum  Lambe  deputat' 

Mathie  coltehirste  audit'  ibidem 

Note  the  trees  growyng  about  the  scytuacion  of  the  sayde  parsonage 

and  in  the  hedgs  inclosing  the  glybe  lands  perteyning  to  the  same  wyll 

barely  suffyce  for  staks  for  hedgeboote  to  repayre  and  meynteyne 

the  sayd  hedgs  and  fencs  therfore  not  valuyd  uli. 

ex^  per  me  David  Clayton 

Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Particulars  for  Grants.  No.  705.  {Not  dated.) 
Entry  of  a  lease  of  the  Rectory  of  Burford  and  the  Chapelry  of 
Fulbrook  granted  by  Edmund  Harman  and  Agnes  his  wife  to  Thomas 
Smyth,  generosus,  for  a  term  of  60  years  from  the  year  1546,  at 
a  rental  of  £15,  out  of  which  205.  is  reserved  as  rent  to  the 
Crown. 

[Note. — This  document  and  the  preceding  one  bear  the  signature  of 
Edmund  Harman.] 

1547.  Exch.L.T.R. :  Augm.Off.  Certificates  of  Chantries.  No.  38. 
I  Edward  VI. 

The  certificat  of  Sir  John  Williams  Knyght  John  Doyly  and  Edward 
Chamberleyn  Esquyers  commissioners  appoynted  by  the  Kyngs 
maiesties  commyssion  to  them  directed  and  berynge  date  the  vi**"  of 
Februarye  in  the  fyrst  yere  of  the  reigne  of  our  sovereigne  lorde  by 
the  grace  of  God  Edward  the  Syxt  .  .  .  etc  .  .  . 

The  parissh  and  town  of  Burford  The  guilde  of  our  Lady  in  the 
howselyng  people  dxliiii.  said  parishe  Churche. 

Certeyn  lands  and  tenements  gyven  by  divers  persones  to  the 
fyndyng  of  a  prest  and  to  gyve  to  pore  people  of  the  towne  yerely 
and  to  the  mendynge  of  hyghways  and  comyn  brydges  of  the  same 
towne  and  the  said  prest  to  pray  and  synge  for  the  founders  and  all 
Crysten  soules  for  ever. 

Tt  2 


644  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Thomas  Plomtre  Incombent  there  of  thage  of  xl**  yeres  a 
man  well  learned  able  to  kepe  a  cure  had  for  hys  salary  yerely 
viili.  and  hathe  non  other  lyvynge  nor  promocion  but  only  this 
stipend. 

The  value  of  all  the  lands  and  tenements  to  the  same  belonging  ys 
yerely  -  xviZt.  xs.  xd. 

Repryses  yerely  xxxii^.  ixd. 

And  so  remayn  clere  (left  blank). 

Plate  and  Jewels  weyng  by  estimation  x  ounces. 

Ornaments  valued  at  xxs.  xxs.  x  oz. 

Obits  there  Founded  by  divers  persons  whiche  gave  certeyn  Annuall 
rentes  going  oute  of  theyre  lands  to  have  certeyn  obitts  theyre  for 
ever. 

Incombent  none. 

The  said  Annuall  rents  goinge  oute  of  the  said  lands  be  of  the 
yerely  value  of  xxx5. 

Ornaments  plate  &  Jewells  to  the  same  none. 

Memor<^  that  the  saide  towne  of  Burford  ys  a  very  greate  markett 
towne  Replenyshd  with  muche  people  And  needfull  to  have  a  Scole 
there  And  the  said  lands  was  gyven  to  the  mayntenance  of  hyghwayes 
and  Brydges  and  to  pore  people  And  the  Bretheme  of  the  said 
Guylde  at  theyr  costs  and  charge  dyd  Builde  a  chapell  of  our  Lady 
annexed  to'  the  parishe  church  there  of  theyre  devosion  and  dyd 
fynde  a  prest  to  mynyster  ther  and  to  teache  chyldeme  frely 
and  after  that  at  divers  tymes  certeyn  men  of  theyr  devosione 
dyd  gyve  by  will  and  feofment  unto  the  said  Guilde  the  lands  and 
tenements  aforesaid  amountyng  to  the  some  of  xviZx.  xs.  xd.  to 
fynde  a  prest  and  to  helpe  pore  people  and  to  mend  hyghwayes 
and  the  Comyn  Brydges  of  the  towne  and  so  yt  hath  ben  all 
wayes  used  so. 

1547.  Exch.L.T.R. :  Augm.OflE.:  Particulars  for  Grants.  No.  1618. 
I  Edward  VL 

Exchange  of  lands  between  the  College  of  Fotheringhay  and  Edmund 
Harman. 

The  Rectory  of  Burford  and  Chapelry  of  Fulbrook,  as  above,  as 
leased  to  Thomas  Smyth.  The  rental  is  now  given  as  £20  less  the 
reserved  rent  to  the  Crown  of  20^.  a  year.  The  date  of  Harman's 
Letters  Patent  for  the  grant  to  him  is  given  as  6  May,  37  Henry  VIII. 
(See  infra,  Letters  and  Papers,  Henry  VIII,  p.  657.) 


RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE    645 

1548.  Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Particulars  for  Grants.  No.  1420.  2  Ed- 
ward VI.    John  Bellowe  Grantee. 

Parcella  terrarum  pertinentium  ecclesie  parochiali  de  Burforde  in 
dicto  com  Oxon  ex  donacione  Willelmi  Byshoppe. 
Duae  acre  prati  Redditus  duarum  acrarum  prati  in  uno  prato 

iacentes  in  Teynton     vocato  lott  meade  in  Teynton  predicto  modo 
ad  ecclesiam  de  in  occupacione  Ricardi  Taylour  ad  voluntatem 

Burford  ptm.  Reddendum  inde  per  annum  vi^.  viiid. 

Redditus  resolutus  predicto  Edmundo  Harman  armigero  exeuns 
de  terris  in  Teynton  predicto  per  annum  ii^.. 

Et  valet  clare  ultra  Reparaciones  iiii^.  viiirf. 

There  are  not  woods  growyng  upon  the  premysses  suflfycyent  to 
ffens  and  enclose  the  same. 

M**  that  the  forsaid  Willm  Bysshope  dyd  gyve  the  said  lond  in  Teyn- 
ton aforsaid  to  fynde  a  lampe  Lyghte  in  the  parishe  churche  of 
Burford. 

1549.  Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Particulars  for  Grants.  No.  2046.  3  Ed- 
ward VI.    Earl  of  Warwick  Grantee. 

An  Exchange  between  the  kings  maiestie  and  thfe  right  honorable 
the  Erie  of  Warr'. 

Parcella  terrarum  et  possessionum  domini  Regis  vocatorum  War- 

wikes  lands  in  comitatu  predicto. 

Firma  scitus  manerii  de  Burforde  dimissi  Willelmo 

Manenumde  Ertons  per  literas  domini  Regis  nuper  Henrici 

Burford  m  com  ••       ■■  :  ...       , .«.  ,         ••  •      • 

^  vn™*  datas  xvui""**  die  rtebruam  anno  regm  sui 

xviiino  ad   terminum   xxi   annorum   exceptis  et 

omnino  reservatis  domino  regi  et  successoribus  suis  omnibus  Boscis 

subboscis  minerriis  quarreriis  ac  aliis  regali  dignitati  pertinentibus 

sive  spectantibus  omnibus  reparacionibus  eiusdem  scitus  ad  onus 

domini  Regis  faciendis  durante  dicto  termino  et  valet  per  annum 

xili.  iiis.  iiiii. 

x  &  xii  Decemb  1549 

per  Anth.  Bochier  auditorem. 

Burford  officium    Redditus  assisi  diversorum  tenencium  domini  regis 

prepositi.  ibidem  solvendo  ad  terminos  principales  per  annum 

xiiiW.  vii^.  ixd.  ob. 

Redditus  sive  firma  xv  acrarum  terre  Dominicalis  in  tenura  Roberti 

lane  vs.  (blank)  acrarum  terre  in  tenura  Margarete  Dome  ad  terminum 

vite  Us.  iiii  acrarum  terre  Dominicalis  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis 

Barber  pro  termino  vite  iiii.  iiii  acrarum  terre  nuper  in  tenura  Mar- 


646  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

garete  Dome  ii^.  cuiusdam  campi  continentis  iiii  acras  terre  nuper 
in  tenura  philippi  lames  xiid.  cuiusdam  quarrerie  domini  regis  vocate 
Whiteslate  quarrey  dimisse  Willelmo  Graunte  ad  terminum  vite 
sue  xiii^.  iiiit/.  Unius  crofti  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis  Frauncis  per 
annum  iuid.  firma  unius  crofti  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis  Frauncis 
per  annum  wiiid.  Firma  cuiusdam  quarrerie  petrarum  et  tegularum 
vocate  Strett  quarry  nuper  in  tenura  lohannis  Evinger  per  annum 
viis.  Firma  cuiusdam  parcelle  terre  vocate  fEefeld  continentis  iiii  acras 
terre  per  annum  xvid.  in  toto  xxxv5.  viiid. 

Redditus  forinsecus  viz  de  exitibus  terre  et  centorum  pasture 
rtiolendini  ac  redditus  diversorum  tenencium  quondam  lohannis 
Cale  per  annum'  inili.  xs.  vid.  ob, 

Nona  reddituum  ibidem  per  annum  viiis.  imd. 

Inquisicio  reddituum  ibidem  per  annum  vi^.  viiii. 

Perquisita  Curie  ibidem  communibus  annis         will  valew  them 

if  I  be  commanded. 
xxli.  ixd. 

Allocationes  reddituum  terrarum  in  villa  de  Burford  et  Upton 
per  annum  xii^. 

Expensa  Computoris  venientis  ad  compotum  suum  reddendum 

xxd. 

Decasus  redditus  unius  quarrerie  vocate  Whitslate  quarry  superius 
onerate  ad  xiii^.  iuid.  per  annum  et  in  titulo  nostro  reddende  ad  vi^. 
v'md.  eo  quod  remanet  in  manu  domini  regis. 

Decasus  ii  quarreriarum  quarum  una  vocatur  Strete  quarry  et 
altera  de  novo  invenitur  per  annum  xi^.  viiid. 

AUocatio  reddituum  exeuntium  de  dicto  manerio  domino  Cobham 
per  annum  iii^-  iiii<^. 

Ricardi  Hannes  prepositi  ibidem  per  annum  xx^. 

cxviii5.  &  viid. 

Et  valet  clare  per  annum  li^.  ^d. 

ex<*  xvii  December  1549 

Anth  Bochier  audit' 

^     ,     ,  „  Redditus  assisi  tenencium  domini  regis  ibidem  per 

Burford  Burgus  ......  .    ,     , 

annum  xmi«.  ixa.  ob. 

Tolnetum  cum  stallagio  nundinarum  et  marcatorum  ibidem  per 

annum  viii^.  xd. 

Perquisita  curie  ibidem  communibus  annis    I  will  value  them  if 

I  be  commanded, 

xiiiUi.  ixs.  \iid.  ob. 


RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE    647 

Allocationes  reddituum  ibidem  per  annum  x\s. 

Et  valet  clare  per  annum  xiii/t.  ix5.  viid.  ob. 

1549.  Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Particulars  for  Grants.  No.  2025.  3  Ed- 
ward VI.    Venables  Grantee. 

Com.  Oxon.  Certe  Terre  et  tenementa  pertinentia  ad  Gildam  sive 
fratemitatem  Beate  Marie  in  Burford  in  comitatu  predicto  ut  sequitur 

parceUa  possessionum  nuper 
gilde  sive  fratemitatis  beate  marie 
in  Burforde  in  com  predto 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  existentis  in  Burforde  predicto  vocati 
le  brodeyates  cum  gardino  adiacente  modo  in  tenura  lohannis  lones 
ad  voluntatem  reddendum  inde  per  annum  xxvis.  viiid. 

Redditus  firme  duorum  messuagiorum  existentium  in  le  highe 
strete  et  in  vico  vocato  Seint  lohns  Strete  dimissorum  Roberto 
Allfiett  per  Indenturam  datanl  xiiii  die  lanuarii  anno  xxxi"  h  octavi 
pro  termino  triginta  unius  annorum  reddendum  inde  per  annum 

xxii5. 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  cum  gardino  ibidim  dimissi  Willelmo 
Roberts  alias  Fyssher  per  Indenturam  datam  xiiii  die  lanuarii  anno 
xxxvii  Regis  pro  termino  triginta  unius  annorum  reddendum  inde 
per  annum  xxs. 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  cum  gardino  et  uno  horreo  in  Wytney 
Strete  dimissi  lohanni  Wylkyns  per  Indenturam  datam  die  et  anno 
supradictis  reddendum  inde  per  annum  xxi^. 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  iacentis  in  vico  predicto  cum 
horreo  et  gardino  dimissi  Willelmo  Hedges  per  Indenturam  datam 
xiiii  die  lanuarii  anno  xxxi  h  viii^  pro  termino  triginta  unius  annorum 
reddendum  per  annum  xi^. 

Redditus  firme  unius  horrei  cum  gardino  adiacente  dimissi  Thome 
Tomson  per  Indenturam  datam  xii  die  lanuarii  anno  xxxiiii  h 
viii^'  pro  termino  triginta  annorum  reddendum  inde  per  annum 

viis. 

Redditus  firme  tertie  partis  hospitii  ibidem  vocati  le  Crowne  in 
tenura  Simonis  Wynchester  ad  voluntatem  reddendum  inde  per 
annum  xii^.  iiiiJ. 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  ibidem  dimissi  Ricardo  Hodges 
per  Indenturam  (ut  dicitur)  reddendum  inde  per  annum  \s. 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  ibidem  dimissi  lohanni  Browne 
per  indenturam  (ut  dicitur)  reddendum  inde  per  annum    xiii^.  iiiiJ. 


648       CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Redditus  firme  unius  clausi  iacentis  in  venella  vocata  batts  lane 
dimissi  lohanni  Browne  per  Indenturam  datam  xiiii  die  lanuarii 
anno  xxxiiii  h  viii^*  pro  termino  viginti  unius  annorum  reddendum 
inde  per  annum  -  xs. 

Redditus  firme  unius  gardini  iuxta  gildenfforde  dimissi  Ricardo 
Wynpytt  per  Indenturam  datam  in  festo  Sti  Thome  Apostoli  anno 
xxxiii°  h  viii^'  pro  termino  septuaginta  annorum  reddendum  inde 
per  annum  viiid. 

Redditus  firme  unius  gardini  dimissi  Ricardo  Chawley  per 
Indenturam  (ut  dicitur)  reddendum  inde  per  annum  xiid. 

Redditus  firme  unius  gardini  in  tenura  lohannis  Hans  ad  voluntatem 
reddendum  inde  per  annum  xd. 

Redditus  firme  unius  gardini  in  tenura  lohannis  lonys  predicti 
ad  voluntatem  reddendum  inde  per  annum  viiid. 

.Redditus  firme  cuiusdam  parcelle  prati  ibidem  vocate  le  ladys  hame 
dimisse  Ricardo  hans  per  Indenturam  (ut  dicitur)  reddendum  inde 
per  annum  X5. 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  iacentis  in  vico  ibidem  vocato 
Shepe  Strete  dimissi  Edmundo  Sylvester  per  Indenturam  (ut  dicitur) 
reddendum  inde  per  annum  xviii^. 

Redditus  firme  unius  tenementi  in  alto  vico  ibidem  cum  gardino 
dimissi  Marco  Payne  per  Indenturam  pro  termino  annorum  reddendum 
inde  per  annum  viis.  iiiiti. 

Redditus  firme  xi  acrarum  terre  arrabilis  in  campis  de  Upton 
in  tenura  lohannis  Lambert  ad  voluntatem  reddendum  inde  per 
annum  ii^.  viiid. 

Redditus  firme  trium  acrarum  prati  cum  per- 
obit  Willm  Flodyate  ^inenciis  iacentis  et  existentis  in  quodam  prato 
infra  ecclesiam  de        .,  . ,  ,    ,  •  i.  j 

Burford  ordto  in         ibidem  vocato  le  highe  mede  concessarum  per 

com  predto.  Willelmum   Flodyate   predictum   pro   le   obit 

eiusdem  Willelmi  per  annum  vi^.  viiid. 

M.^  that  there  ys  no  other  landes  perteyning  to  the  tenements  above 
mencyoned  other  then  suche  as  ys  heryn  declared  other  then  orchards 
and  gardenplots  Summa  totalis  xU.  xiiiiti. 

[Note. — As  entered  on  this  document  the  properties  are  placed  in  seven 
groups.  The  first  comprising  the  first  nine  entries,  the  second  comprising 
the  Batts  lane  close  alone,  the  third  comprising  the  next  four  items,  and 
the  fourth  comprising  the  Ladyham  item  alone,  are  marked  '  in  libero 
socagio  '.  The  two  next  items  make  a  fifth  group,  and  the  arable  land  at 
Upton  and  the  obit  each  stand  alone. 

A  calculation  of  the  value  at  23  years'  purchase  has  been  roughly  made 
on  the  membrane.] 


RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE     649 

1564.  Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Augm.  Off .:  Particulars  for  Leases.  Eliza- 
beth :  Oxon.  Roll  I,  no.  47. 

Com.  Oxon.  Parcella  Terrarum  et  possessionum  nuper  Gilde  sive 
fratemitatis  Beate  Marie  in  Burforde  in  dicto  comitatu  perti- 
nentium. 

Burford  Villa.  Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  uno  clause  et  gardino 
mode  vel  nuper  in  tenura  Simonis  Wysdome  pro  annuali  redditu 

vi^.  viiiJ. 

Firma  unius  messuagii  cum  gardino  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Roberti  Smythear  pro  annuali  redditu  xiii^.  iiii<i. 

Firma  unius  domus  vocati  a  wollehouse  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Roberti  bruton  pro  annuali  redditu  xiiLy.  iiii<i. 

Firma  unius  horrei  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura  sive  occupacione  Thome 
Plommer  pro  annuali  redditu  vi^.  viiid. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  gardino  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Ricardi  Hunte  pro  annuali  redditu  xvi5. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
sive  occupacione  Joanne  lones  vidue  per  annum  viii^. 

Firma  unius  cotagii  nuper  in  tenura  Elizabethe  Dodde  pro  annuali 
redditu  iii^. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
sive  occupacione  Ricardi  Crompe  per  annum  viii^. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
sive  occupacione  Roberti  lohnson  per  annum  xii^. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  Thome 
Waterman  per  annum  vi^.  viii<i. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Stephani  Grene  per  annum  vi5.  viiid. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Rogeri  Tuncks  per  annum  viii^. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Thome  percyvall  per  annum  vis.  viiid. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Thome  Hoke  pro  annuali  redditu  viii^. 

Firma  unius  tenementi  cum  pertinenciis  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura 
Rogeri  Baker  per  annum  ixy. 

vili.  xiis. 

Decasu  redditus  unius  tenementi  nuper  in  tenura  Joanne  Jones 
vidue  et  postea  Thome  pecock  superius  onerati  ad  viiLy.  per  annum  Reprise 
Eg  quod  modo  totaliter  in  decasu  existit  viii^.       "   *° 


650       '         CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 
Redditu  Resoluto  domino  Manerii  de  Langley  et  Burford  per  annum 

XX5. 

xxviiis. 

Remanet  ultra  per  annum  diiw. 

M''  the  premisses  be  so  farre  and  greatly  in  Decay  that  xxxli. 
will  not  Repayre  them  as  by  an  Inquysycyon  taken  the  thyrde  day 
of  September  in  the  fourth  yere  of  the  Reigne  of  the  Queue  that  nowe 
is  before  James  Longeworthe  esquyre  and  John  Smythe  gent  appereth 
Notwithstandinge  one  Thomas  Smythe  and  Thomas  Devyes  are 
contented  to  take  the  same  by  lease  for  Ix  yeres  without  fyne  byndinge 
them  selves  to  all  Reparacyons  and  payenge  the  Queue  cxii^.  by  yere 
So  that  they  may  have  great  tymber  yerely  allowed  duringe  theyr 
terme  for  the  Repayringe  thereof  And  also  have  a  lease  of  the  par- 
sonage of  Holywell  of  the  yerely  Rente  of  xls.  for  xxx  yeres  without 
fyne. 

[Follows  a  valuation  of  the  Rectory  of  Holwell,  and  a  memorandum  that 
'  there  be  but  two  or  three  farms  whereof  the  farmer  of  the  Rectory  hath 
tythe  Although  it  is  commonly  called  a  Rectory  yet  in  deed  it  is  but  the 
tythe  of  Holywell  within  the  parish  of  Bradwell '.] 

22  Aug.  1564  Make  out  ii  lesses  of  the  premysses  unto  Thos  Smythe 
and  Thos  Devyes  viz  of  the  houses  for  Ix  yeres  and  of  the  parsonage  for 
xxi  yeres  and  the  sum  to  be  without  fyne  for  consideracyon  they 
shall  retayne  the  sume  of  viii^.  now  divertyd  and  at  theyr  own  charges 
see  the  howses  well  repayred.  (Signed — Winchester.) 

1564.  Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Augm.  Off. :  Enrolments  of  Leases.  6  EHza- 
beth,  Roll  17. 

Oxon.    Regina  omnibus  ad  quos  . . .  etc  . . .  Salutem. 

Cum  Redditus  octo  solidorum  per  annum  de  et  pro  quodam  cotagio 
in  Burforde  in  comitatu  nostro  Oxon  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura  sive 
occupacione  lohanne  lones  vidue  parcella  possessionum  dicte  nuper 
guilde  sive  fraternitatis  beate  marie  in  Burforde  predicto  nobis  aut 
progenitoribus  nostris  per  multum  tempus  Responsi  non  fuerunt 
Cumque  diversa  messuagia  et  cotagia  in  Burford  predicto  in  dicto 
com  Oxon  parcella  possessionum  dicte  nuper  Guilde  sive  Fraternitatis 
beate  marie  in  Burford  predicto  in  eodem  comitatu  adeo  in  ruina  et 
decasu  existunt  ut  vix  pro  summa  triginta  librarum  valeant  reparari. . . . 

And  whereas  nevertheless  Thomas  Smyth  and  Thomas  Devyse 
wish  to  have  a  lease  of  the  premises,  a  lease  is  therefore  granted  to 
them  for  60  years  at  a  rental  of  £4.  iSs.  Sd.  a  year  of  the  following 
premises,  possessions  of  the  late  Gild  : 


RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE    651 
Cottage*  — occupier  Simon  Wisdome 


Messuage 
Barn        — 
Cottage   — 


Robert  Smyth 
Thomas  Plommer 
Richard  Hunt 
Johanna  Jones 
Elizabeth  Dodde 
Richard  Crompe 
Robert  Johnson 
Thomas  Waterman 
Stephen  Grene 
Roger  Tuncks 
Thomas  Percyvall 
Thomas  Hocke 
Roger  Baker. 
Dated  22  October,  6  Elizabeth. 

Same  Roll,  No.  13. 

Cum  una  domus  vocata  a  Wollehouse  in  Burforde  in  comitatu 
nostro  Oxon  nuper  in  tenura  sive  occupacione  Robert J  Bruton  parcella 
possessionum  nuper  Guilde  sive  Fratemitatis  beate  marie  in  Burforde 
predict©  annui  valoris  tresdecim  solidorum  et  quatuor  denariorum 
magnopere  in  ruina  et  decasu  existit  ut  sine  magno  sumptu  reparari 
non  possit. .  .  . 

(Similarly  leased  to  Smyth  and  Devyse  with  a  parcel  of  land,  and 
with  the  Rectory  of  Holwell,  now  or  late  in  the  tenure  of  Simon 
Wisdome,  part  of  the  preceptory  of  Quenington,  for  a  term  of  21  years 
at  a  rental  of  135.  4J.  for  the  Woolhouse  and  405.  for  the  Rectory.) 

Dated  as  the  preceding, 

1565.  Same  Roll,  No.  24. 

A  lease  of  the  Woolhouse  and  the  Rectory  of  Holwell  to  Simon 
Wisdome  for  a  term  of  20  years,  as  lately  leased  to  Thomas  Smyth 
and  Thomas  Devise,  the  total  rental  now  to  be  535.  4^.  a  year,  and 
the  lessee  to  pay  a  fine  of  two  years*  rent,  1065.  Sd. 

Lease  signed  W.  Burghley. 

1566.  Exch.  L.T.R.:  Augm.  Ofif. :  Particulars  for  Leases.  8  Eliza- 
beth :  Oxford,  Roll  I,  no.  3. 

Com  Oxon.  Terre  a  Regine  Maiestate  concelate  et  iniuste  detente 
in  com  predicto. 

Redditus  sexdecim  acrarum  terre  arrabilis  iacentium 
Paroc  la  ^^  existentium  in  Burford  predicto  modo  vel  nuper 

de  Burford.  •        JL         ^xn.  l 

m  tenura  sive  occupacione  Ihome  Uniytt  antenac  per 

quosdam  ignotos  ad  inveniendum  et  manutenendum  unius  anniver- 


652  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

sarii  in  ecclesia  de  Burford  predicto  date  et  appunctuate  existens 
per  annum  n"^- 

Redditus  unius  acre  terre  arrabilis  vocate  lesus  acre  et  unius  acre 
pasture  in  alto  prato  de  Burford  iacentis  et  existentis  in  Burford 
predicto  modo  vel  nuper  in  tenura  sive  occupacione  Gardianorum 
ecclesie  de  Burford  antehac  per  quosdam  ignotos  ad  inveniendum  et 
manutenendum  unius  anniversarii  in  ecclesia  predicta  data  et  appun- 
ctuata  existentia  per  annum  ii^. 

Redditus  unius  acre  prati  et  ashurve  vocate  a  swath  .  .  .  modo 
vel  nuper . . .  Thome  Calcote  ...  ad  inveniendum  . . .  cuiusdam  Luminis 
in  capella  Ste  Katherine  in  Burforde  .  .  .  xiiiitZ, 

Redditus  unius  dimidie  acre  prati  vocate  Cakebred  land  .  .  .  modo 
vel  nuper  .  .  .  Thome  Freer  .  .  .  unius  Anniversarii  ...  viii^. 

Redditus  unius  tenementi  .  .  .  modo  vel  nuper  .  .  .  Philippi  Glover 
antehac  per  Thomam  Hjoide  clericum  ad  inveniendum  . . .  unius  anni- 
versarii .  .  .  xiii^.  iiiitZ. 

Redditus  medietatis  unius  tenementi  viz  the  moiety  of  an 
house  . .  .  modo  vel  nuper . . .  lohannis  Impe . . .  unius  anniversarii . . . 

xiid. 

Redditus  unius  pecie  terre  vocate  a  plott  of  grownde  iacentis  atque 
existentis  in  platea  Sti  lohannis  anglice  St  lohns  Strete  ac  duarurti 
acrarum  terre  arrabilis  iacentium  et  existentium  in  campis  de  Upton 
. . .  nuper  . .  .  Willelmi  George  et  iam  in  tenura  Simonis  Wysdome  . . . 
ad  inveniendum  .  .  .  unius  luminis  vocati  a  torchelight  in  ecclesia  de 
Burforde  predicto  .  .  .  vi^.  v'md. 

Redditus  unius  pecie  prati  vocate  a  plott  of  medowe  iacentis  et 
existentis  in  Bury  Orchard  .  .  .  nuper  Thome  Freer  .  .  .  unius  anni- 
versarii ...  vs. 

Redditus  unius  tenementi .  .  .  modo  vel  nuper  .  .  .  Kellam  Chaunce 
...  ad  inveniendum  .  ,  .  presbiteri  ad  celebrandum  missam  in  capella 
Sti  Thome  in  Burford  predicto  .  .  .  xvis.  v'nid. 

Redditus  unius  shope  viz  a  shopp  .  .  .  modo  vel  nuper  .  .  .  Willelmi 
Partridge  ...  ad  inveniendum  .  .  .  presbiteri  ad  celebrandum  missam 
in  Capella  Sti  Thome  .  .  .  vi^.  v'nid. 

Redditus  quatuor  tenementorum  cum  pertinenciis  et  horreo  ,  .  . 
modo  vel  nuper  .  .  .  Gardianorum  ecclesie  de  Burford  .  .  .  unius 
anniversarii  .  .  .  inili.  vis.  v'md. 

[Against  this  last  item  is  noted  :  '  This  parcell  and  thother  parcell  of 
xiiis.  iiiirf.  aforsaid  passed  in  the  name  of  Henrie  Farre  and  all  the  residue 
except  iiiis.  in  Bampton  passed  in  the  name  of  Henrie  Hawthorne  ' .] 


RECORDS  OF  THE  AUGMENTATION  OFFICE     653 

19  June,  1566.  Make  a  lease  of  the  premisses  to  the  saide  Henrie 
Hawthorne  for  terme  of  twenti  one  yeres.         (Signed — Winchester.) 

1566.  Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Augm.  Off. :  Enrolments  of  Leases.  8  Eliza- 
beth, Oxfordshire,  Roll  IV,  no.  5. 

A  lease  to  Henry  Hawthorne  of  the  premises  specified. 

It  appears  in  the  preamble  to  the  lease  that  the  lessee  was  the 
informer  upon  whose  allegations  the  lands  had  been  confiscated. 
The  preamble  runs :  '  Cum  omnes  terre  tenementa  et  alia  heredita- 
♦menta  cum  pertinenciis  inferius  in  presentibus  specificata  diu  antehac 
a  nobis  et  progenitoribus  nostris  subtracta  et  concelata  fuerunt 
usque  in  tertium  diem  Septembris  ultimo  preterito  Quo  modo  ad 
sectam  et  ex  industria  sumptibus  et  oneribus  dilecti  nostri  Henrici 
Hawthorne  ad  manus  nostras  traducta  et  inventa  sunt  .  .  .',  etc. 

Lease  granted  for  21  years  at  the  rents  given  in  the  preceding. 
Dated  12  July,  8  Elizabeth. 

1566.   Same  Roll,  no.  7. 

A  lease  to  Henry  Farre  of  Barrington,  com.  Berks. '  at  the  instance 
and*  request  of  Henry  Hawthorne  ',  of  the  tenement  mentioned  above 
occupied  by  Philip  Glover  and  of  the  four  tenements  occupied  by  the 
Churchwardens  ;  for  21  years  at  the  rents  specified  above.  Dated 
12  July,  8  Elizabeth. 

1584.    Exch.  L.  T.  R. :  Augm.  Off. :  Particulars  of  Leases. 

Com.  Oxon.  Rectoria  de  Burforde  et  Parcella  possessionum  nuper 
Capella  de  Fulbroke.         collegii  de  Foderinghaie. 

Described  and  valued  as  above  (p.  642),  as  let  to  Thomas  Smyth 
under  the  seal  of  Edmund  Harman.     . 

Make  a  lease  of  the  premisses  to  the  said  Mary,  Harman,  and  William 
Johnston  for  terme  of  their  lives  successively  yeldinge  to  the  Q  Ma"* 
the  said  yerly  rent  etc.  (Signed — W.  Burghley.) 

8  Nov.  1584,  unto  Mary  Johnston  wief  of  Willm  Johnston,  Harman 
Johnston  their  sonne,  William  Johnston  of  Greys  Inne  gent,  for 
iii  lyves  successively. 


{h)   LETTERS  AND  PAPERS,  HENRY  VIII 

1510,  8  June.  For  WilHam  Gower,  groom  of  the  Chamber.  Grant 
during  pleasure  of  a  tenement  or  inn  called  the  George  in  the  town 
of  Burford  on  the  Wolde,  Oxon.,  with  the  lands  thereunto  belonging, 


654  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

forfeited  by  William  Brampton  to  Henry  VII,  and  by  that  King 
granted  in  tail  male  to  John  Basket,  his  servant,  who  has  died  without 
heirs  male  (Pat.  Roll,  2  Henry  VIII,  ps.  2,  m.  16).— i.  162. 

1521,  April.  To  Thomas  Wildyng,  Yeoman  of  the  Ewery.  Lease 
of  Burford  Mills  and  Upton  Mill  in  the  lordship  of  Burford,  and 
a  fulling  mill  in  Burford,  part  of  the  late  Earl  of  Warwick's  lands  ; 
for  21  years  at  a  rent  of  £12  135.  4d.  and  £4  of  increase  (Pat.  Roll, 
12  Henry  VIII,  ps.  i,  m.  23). — iii,  pt.  i,  480. 

1526,  April.  To  William  Gittyns.  Lease  of  the  site  of  the  manor 
of  Burford,  parcel  of  Warwick's  Lands,  for  21  years  at  the  annual 
rent  of  £11  and  3^.  4^.  of  newly  approved  rent. — iv,  pt.  i,  955. 

1526,  29  Dec.  Letter  from  Dr.  John  London  to  Mr.  Larke,  concern- 
ing the  progress  of  Cardinal  Wolsey's  College.  '  This  last  summer 
stone  come  in  from  Burford,  Toynton,  Barendon  and  Hedyngton, 
sufficient  to  find  many  mo  masons  than  yet  be  here  until  Midsummer 
. .  .' — iv,  pt.  2,  1219. 

[References  to  the  use  of  Burford  stone  in  the  building  of  Christ  Church 
are  also  to  be  found  in  vol.  iv,  pt.  3,  p.  2681 — '  batering  of  toles  at  Burford  ' 
entered  on  a  list  of  accounts.;  and  p.  3042 — a  payment  for  '  quarries  at 
Burford  '  and  '  Leper's  quarry  at  Taynton  '.] 

1529,  28  Sept,  Sir  Richard  Comewayl  to  Thomas  Cromwell.  Asks 
him  to  send  a  man  to  Richard  Monyngton  at  Haryngton  one  mile 
from  Burford  on  the  Wold,  to  purchase  out  the  writ  for  the  knight's 
expense  for  the  time  of  Parliament. — iv,  pt.  3,  p.  2659. 

i534j  4  Feb.  Petition  to  the  Commons  in  Parliament  by  Thomas 
Phillip,  citizen  of  London,  who  has  been  three  years  a  prisoner  in  the 
Tower.  The  Bishop  of  London  has  .  .  .  '  untruly  surmised  against 
him  that  he  has  been  a  preacher,  a  teacher,  a  schoolkeeper,  now  at 
Salisbury,  then  at  Burford  .  .  .  and  a  reader  of  damnable  lectures '. 
An  accusation  of  heresy  had  been  made  against  him,  alleging  that  he 
possessed  a  New  Testament  in  translation. — vii.  64. 

1536,  June.  List  of  persons  appointed  to  various  offices.  ' ...  Sir 
John  Brudges  and  Thomas  Brudges  .  .  .  the  keeping  of  the  manor 
and  park  of  Langley,  the  stewardship  of  Mynster  Lovel,  Burford, 
Shipton,  Spellesbury,  Langley  .  .  .  the  bailiwick  of  Chadlyngton  and 
the  keepership  of  Combury  Park. — x.  358. 

[Note. — Cf.  the  sepulchral  tablet  in  the  church  of  Charlbury,  Oxon., 
to  '  lohanna  nuper  uxor  Thome  Bridges  Armigeri,  Senneschalli  excellen- 
tissimi  ac  metuendissimi  viri  Henrici  octavi,  Dei  gracia . . .  etc .  .  .  Hundredi 
sui  de  Chadlington .  .  .  necnon  maneriorum  et  villarum  suarum  de  Burford 
et  Minster  Lovell . . .  etc  ,  .  .'] 


LETTERS  AND  PAPERS,  HENRY  VIII  655 

1536.  Accounts  of  Henry  Norres,  Esquire  to  the  Body.  '  Arrearages 
. . .  Stewardship  of  Burford  Town,  £8  125.  4^.' — x.  364. 

1537-  Nicholas  Austen,  late  Abbot  of  Rewley,  to  Thomas  Cromwell, 
Asks  him  to  write  in  his  favour  to  the  bailiffs  and  burgesses  of  Burford 
in  the  Wolde  for  a  grant  of  a  service  called  the  '  Priory  '  in  that  town 
of  £11  a  year,  the  holder  of  which,  one  Mr.  Cade,  is  very  old  and  sickly. 
The  town  favours  him  because  of  his  kindness  shown  to  them  in  the 
past.  His  pension  allows  him  to  take  any  ecclesiastical  dignity  so 
that  it  pass  not  his  pension. — xii,  pt.  2,  p.  476. 

1538,  Feb.  To  John  Johnes  of  Burford,  Oxon.  Lease  of  two 
com  mills  built  under  one  roof  called  '  Burford  mylles  *,  a  corn  mill 
called  Upton  mill  in  the  lordship  of  Burford,  and  a  fulling  mill  in 
Burford,  part  of  the  lands  of  the  late  Earl  of  Warwick,  for  21  years 
at  £16  135.  4i.  rent  and  4^.  increase,  on  surrender  by  the  said  John 
of  a  Patent,  dated  3  May,  13  Henry  VIII,  granting  a  similar  lease  to 
Thomas  Wildyng,  now  deceased,  his  daughter  and  administrator 
having  sold  her  remaining  interest  to  the  said  John. — ^xii,  pt.  i,  139. 

1538,  22  Feb.  Sir  Richard  Ryche  to  Thomas  Cromwell,  reporting 
a  survey  made  by  him  and  other  officers  of  the  lands  of  the  late 
monastery  of  Abingdon. 

' .  .  .  Besechyng  you  to  sygnyfye  to  the  Kyngs  magestie  that  the 
town  ys  sore  decayed  and  lyke  dayly  more  to  decaye  onles  provysyon 
there  be  made  to  sett  the  people  on  worke  to  drape  clothe  wherby 
undowghtydly  his  grace  shulde  moche  contente  the  people  and 
Inhabytaunts  thereabought  whiche  assurydly  ben  a  greatt  nomber. 
Sygnyfying  to  you  also  there  ys  acerten  Clothemaker  callyd  Tucker 
dwellyng  in  Burtheforde  whiche  hathe  requyryd  me  to  advertyse 
the  kyngs  magestie  yf  his  grace  wyll  leatt  to  hym  too  fullyng  mylles 
now  decayed,  the  flottgates  the  ffysshyng  and  farme  callyd  the  Rye  for 
suche  Rents  as  they  shalbe  surveyed  with  a  convenyent  howse  for  his 
occupacon  Affyrmyng  to  me  he  wyll  bestowe  wykely  duryng  his  lyff  in 
wages  to  clothe  makers  in  the  sayd  Towne  a  c  markes  sterlyng  whiche 
shulde  moche  inryche  the  Towne  And  kepe  the  people  from  Idelnes ' 

4  March.    Thomas  Cade  to  Thomas  Cromwell. 

'  Plecythe  ytt  your  good  lordshyp  to  be  advertysed  thatt  I  am  In- 
formyd  by  thys  Berar  thatt  he  hathe  entryd  communicacion  wythe 
Masf  Rytche  and  oder  Commyssionars  to  the  kynges  hyghnes  and 
hathe  made  sewt  to  them  to  take  to  ferm  certeyn  landes  mylles  pasturs 
medows  and  waters  wythe  oder  commodities  belonginge  to  the  same 
late  in  use  off  the  kynges  monastery  off  abyngdon  now  in  the  possession 


656  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

ofiE  the  kynges  sayd  hyghnes  and  for  hys  further  spede  in  the  premisses 

he  Intendythe  to  make  sewt  to  your  lordshyp  and  hathe  made  me 

Desyr  to  be  peticioner  and  sewter  to  your  s^  gode  lordchyp  for  hym 

and  hathe  gode  trust  thatt  the  rather  att  my  pore  contemplacioun 

you  wylbe  the  better  lord  to  hym  and  be  the  rather  content  to  here 

hys  resonabull  sewtes  and  soo  gode  my  lord  I  moste  hartylye  beseche 

yow  and  soo  beynge  ye  schalbe  assured  off  my  contynewell  prayer 

duringe  my  schort  lyfi  and  over  thatt  my  lord  ye  schall  have  hym . 

redy  att  all  tymes  aswell  in  hys  own  person  as  also  wythe  xx  tall  men 

att  hys  leadynge  to  serve  the  kynges  hyghnes  att  yowre  comaundement 

/  my  lord  ye  schall  nott  fayll  to  approve  hym  a  very  substanciall  and 

just  man  in  hys  dealings  bothe  in  word  and  dede  and  he  settythe  in 

occupacione  dayly  fyve  c  off  the  kynges  subjetts  of  all  sortys  and  yff 

he  myght  have  kardinge  and  spynnynge  he  wolde  sett  many  moo  in 

worke  than  he  dothe  for  thys  I  know  for  trewthe  my  lord  thatt  yff 

ye  be  gode  lord  to  hym  he  wyll  sett  the  Inhabitants  off  the  kyngs 

Town  oflE  Abyngton  yff  they  woll  wyrk  /  on  occupacion  soo  thatt  they 

schall  gayn  more  in  few  yeres  commynge  than  they  have  done  in 

xx''  yeres  past  for  thys  I  know  my  lord  thatt  wekely  ned  constreyneth 

hym  to  send  to  abyngdon  hys  kart  lodyn  wjrthe  woll  to  be  kardyd 

and  spann  or  els  many  tymes  hys  workmen  schuld  lak  work  and 

lykewyes  he  sendythe  to  Strodwater  my  lord  I  know  the  man  soo 

substanciall  and  just  off  hys  word  and  dede  thatt  ytt  gyvethe  me 

Boldnes  to  wryte  in  hys  favour  trustinge  my  lord  thatt  ye  wyll  be 

the  better  lord  to  hym  att  thys  my  pore  sewte  and  in  soo  beynge  he 

schall  gyff  yow  xx"/t.  to  by  yow  a  sadell  and  hys  servic  wythe  my 

dayly  prayer  as  knowys  best  the  holy  tr)niite  who  ever  have  yow  my 

lord  in  hys  blessyd  tuicion  wythe  longe  contynewans  in  Joyous  selyate 

/  from  Burford  on  the  wold  the  iiii  day  off  marche  wythe  rude  hande 

of  yower  daylye  orator  Thomas  Cade. 

[Note. — The  two  preceding  extracts  have  been  copied  in  full  from  the 
originals  as  bearing  upon  the  population  of  Burford  at  this  date.] 

1538,  II  April.  Certificate  of  Sir  Simon  Harecourt  knight  and 
Will.  Fermour  of  an  examination  taken  at  Burford,  co.  Oxon,  on  a  bill 
of  complaint  by  Will  Hedgys  the  younger  of  Burford  against  John 
Jones  one  of  the  Bailiffs. 

On  Thursday  before  Midsummer  Day  last  John  Jones  was  charged 
by  Thomas  Thomson,  then  also  Bailiff,  to  arrest  one  Bayman,  whom 
Thomson  undertook  to  prove  a  traitor.  Jones  attached  him  and  put 
him  to  ward,  but  next  day  let  him  go. 


LETTERS  AND  PAPERS,  HENRY  VIII  657 

Answer  of  Jones  that  Thomson  called  him  out  of  bed  to  arrest 
Bayman,  who  had  attempted  to  prevent  the  door  of  the  town  gaol 
being  shut ;  and  only  next  day  charged  him  with  treason  for  assaulting 
the  King's  officers.  Thomas  Weyman,  justice  of  the  peace,  to  whom 
they  referred  the  matter,  charged  them  to  take  Bayman  home  again 
and  punish  him  as  an  unthrift. 

Hedgys's  witnesses  were  Robert  Jacobb,  Humphrey  Pyper,  Wm. 
Nicholas,  Nicholas  Riley,  Edmund  Sylvester,  and  Richard  Darnell. 

Thomson  confirmed  Jones's  defence.  Witnesses  for  him  were 
Wm.  Hedges  the  elder,  John  Sharpe,  Robert  Jonson,  Thomas  Richards, 
Robert  Pajrn,  and  Wm.  Hewys. — xii,  pt.  i,  278. 

i539>  23  Aug.  In  Thomas  Cromwell's  accounts :  *  Roger  the 
falconer,  for  his  charges  at  Burford,  105.' — xiv,  pt.  2,  342. 

1542,  March.  To  Thomas  Edgare.  Lease  of  the  site  of  the  manor 
of  Burford  for  21  years  from  the  expiration  of  a  21  years'  lease  to 
Will  Gittons  by  Patent  i8  Feb.,  17  Henry  VIII,  at  £11  35.  ^d.  rent. — 
xvii.  loi. 

1542,  April.  To  Anthony  Berker,  clerk.  Presentation  to  the  per- 
petual vicarage  of  Burforde  super  Wolde,  Lincoln  diocese,  void  by 
death. — xvii.  161. 

1542,  Oct.  Entry  from  the  Books  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations 
of  the  grant  to  Edmund  Harman  and  Agnes  his  wife  of  the  possessions 
of  the  late  Hospital  of  St.  John  in  Burford. — xviii,  pt.  i,  547. 

1543,  Nov.  Grant  in  fee  of  the  above  for  £198  65.  o\d.,  bells,  lead 
and  advowsons  excepted. — xviii,  pt.  2. 

1545,  May.  Grant  in  fee  to  Edmund  Harman  and  Agnes  his  wife 
of  the  Rectory  of  Burford  and  Chapel  of  Fulbrooke,  with  the  advowson 
of  Burford  Vicarage,  formerly  of  Keynsham  Priory,  Somerset. — xx, 
pt.  I,  424. 

1545,  July.  Grant  in  fee  to  Edmund  Harman  of  two  grain  mills 
called  Burford  Mills,  another  grain  mill  called  Upton  Mill,  and  a  fulling 
mill  in  Burford,  with  a  meadow  called  Le  Holme  and  land  called 
Piggehill  in  Burford,  all  in  tenure  of  John  Jones.  For  £187  35.  M. — 
XX,  pt.  I,  662. 

1546,  Feb.  Licence  to  Edmund  Harman  and  Agnes  his  wife  to 
alienate  to  Edmund  Sylvester  certain  lands  of  the  late  Hospital  of 
St.  John,  viz.  the  lands  at  Asthall  in  tenure  of  Henry  Coteler  and  the 
lands  at  Rysyngton  Magna  in  tenure  of  Simon  Wysdome. — xxi, 
pt.  I,  150, 

3304  u  u 


658 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


(J)   MISCELLANEOUS  DOCUMENTS 

1487.    Ancient  Deeds  :   A  11056.    13  December,  3  Henry  VII. 

Grant  by  Anne  Countess  of  Warwick  to  Henry  VII,  of  a  great 
number  of  castles,  manors  and  lordships,  including  '  maneria  et 
dominica  de  Burford  Shipton  Spellisbury  Chadlyngton  hundredum 
Langley  cum  pertinenciis  in  Com  Oxon  '.  Endorsed  as  enrolled  on 
the  dorse  of  the  Close  Roll  3  Henry  VII. 

1542.    Exch.  K.R. :  Accounts,  Bundle  60,  no.  11. 

The  Musters  for  Bampton  Hundrede,  Anno  xxxiiii°  H.  8. 


Burforde  Burroughe  with  the  Parryshe 


Ablemen 


John  Sharpe 
Robert  Ennysdale 
Wyllyam  Roberts 
Henry  Stringfellowe 
Nycholas  Ryley 
Thomas  Taylor 
Nycholas  Hyatt 
John  A  Wod 
John  Rogers 
Richard  Hunte 
John  Roberts 
John  Jurden 
Alexsander  Hodgis 
John  Smythiar 
John  Nychollys 
Wyllyam  Watt 
Willyam  Barton 
Thomas  Dryng 
Edmund  Sylvester 
John  Lyones 
Thomas  Dyos 
John  Hans 
Thomas  Colles 
Willyam  Hyatt 

John  Jones 
Syroond  Wysdome 
Robert  Payne 
Willyam  Hewys 
Robert  Browne 
Robert  Johnson 
Thomas  Tomson 
Willyam  CoUens 


Nycholas  Stane 

John  Hardgrove 

Robert  Aulfiett 

PhilHp  Gryffith 

Willyam  Kenner 

Edmond  Cordjrwell 

Thomas  Walbridge 

Thomas  Haynes 

Henry  Bacon 

fflower  his  fellowe 

Bytan  Clawylde 

Henry  Teynton 

Thomas  Tucker 

Rawfe  Hyatt 

John  Myller 

Thomas  Dunsden 

John  Yate  alias  Huyet 

John  Dallam 

Willyam  Nenwey 

George  Stafforde 

Thomas  Butler  alias  Lawrence 

Gyles  Jones 

Thomas  Spenser 


John  Wylkens 
Thomas  Aulfiett 
John  Fars 
Thomas  West 
Jamys  Myller 
John  Huys 
Richard  Stanbome 
John  Adamson 


Archers 
xlvii'» 


MISCELLANEOUS  DOCUMENTS  659 


Kenelme  Chaunte 

Roger  Tuncke 

Crystofer  Baker 

Robt  Bruton 

Richarde  Dawby 

Thomas  Halyday 

John  Davys 

George  Bell 

BVLMEN 

Thomas  Smyth 

Morres  Lewis 

xli^i 

Robt  Moppas 

Thomas  George 

John  Ympe 

John  Browne 

John  Dodde 

Willyam  Grene 

Hugh  Colbome 

Willyam  Lawrence 

Edwarde  Ley 

Willyam  Kenner 

Willyam  Harding 

Roger  Togood 

Willyam  fflowre 

Alexsaunder  Thomas 

Richard  Elye 

Le  Armoure 
The  Borough  Towne  of  Burford  with  Upton  and  Sygnett  to  finde 
xxiiii''  men  fumysshed  vi  Archers  on  Horsback  xii  Archers  on  foote 
And  vi  Bylmen  on  ffoote. 

Upton  and  Signett 

Thomas  Lamberte 

Henry  Patten  Archers  iii 

Richard  Nellys 

[Note. — The  Burford  Muster  roll  is  the  largest  of  the  Hundred.  The 
total  is  88,  and  the  Witney  total  is  only  70  ;  also  Burford  provided  47 
archers  and  Witney  only  27.  The  '  armoure  '  of  Witney  is  10  men  against 
24  from  Burford.] 

1546.    Court  Rolls  :  Portfolio  197,  no.  15. 

Court  held  at  Burford  on  Tuesday  next  after  the  feast  of  St.  Michael 
the  Archangel,  38  Henry  VIII. 

Richard  Manyngton  J   g^jugg 
Simon  Wysdome      ) 

Presentations  :  For  being  common  bakers  of  bread  and  breaking 
the  assize :  William  Roberts  and  William  Hodges,  amerced  4d. 
Thomas  Tomson  amerced  2d.,  and  Robert  Starre  ^d. 

For  being  common  bakers  of  bread  and  selling  it  in  Burford  for 
excessive  gain  :  Richard  Ramsell  of  Stowe,  John  Fretherne  and  Thomas 
Grye  of  Stowe — ^d.  each. 

For  selling  fish  there  and  making  excessive  gain :  Simon 
Wysdome,  Richard  Hedges,  Edmund  Sylvester  and  Robert  Bruton — 
6d.  each. 

And  thereon  the  bailiffs  aforesaid  came  and  placed  their  offices  in 
the  hands  of  the  King,  on  which  the  Seneschal  of  the  King  elected 

u  u  2 


660  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

in  their  places  Robert  Payne  and  William  Hewys  to  perform  the 
duties  for  one  year  and  they  took  the  oath. 

Robert  Bruton  was  similarly  elected  Constable  and  took  the  oath. 

1547.  View  of  frank  pledge^  6  April,  i  Edward  VI. 
Presentations  :    As  common  bakers  :    William  Hodges,  William 

Roberts,  Robert  Starre,  6d.  each ;  Thomas  Tomson  and  Richard 
Dawby,  4^.  each. 

As  common  Brewers  :  Richard  Chyld,  Williarh  Coll)ms,  John 
Wyddowes,  and  Richard  Stayne,  15.  each. 

As  common  alehouse  keepers  :  Willm.  Roberts,  John  Hewys, 
Alice  Bocher,  William  Saunders,  Robert  Awfiett,  Thomas  Awfllett, 
Henry  Stringfellow,  Hugo  Collyns,  William  Foster,  Thomas  Plomer, 
Kenelm  Chaunce  and  Walter  Mollyner,  2d.  each. 

As  keepers  of  common  hostels :  Agnes  Grene,  widow,  Thomas 
Barton,  and  Symon  Wynchester,  4^.  each. 

As  sellers  of  fish  :  Simon  Wysdome,  Richard  Hodges,  Edmund 
Sylvester  and  Robert  Bruton,  Wysdome  i2d.,  Hodges  M.,  and  Sylvester 
and  Bruton  ^d.  each. 

As  common  Vintners :  Richard  Hannys  and  Agnes  Grene,  6d. 
each. 

1548.  Court  of  the  manor  of  Bury  Bams,  held  9  October,  2  Ed- 
ward VI. 

Upton  Presentations  :  Oliver  Hyde  owes  suit  to  the  court. 

Richard  Dawby  for  ploughing  contrary  to  ordination,  4^. 
Signett  Presentations  :  Thomas  Moore  gentleman  owes  suit  to  the 
court. 

Simon  Wysdome  for  ploughing  on  the  *  merys  '  to  the  damage 
of  his  neighbours,  4J. 

WiUiam  Hodges  and  William  Patten,  copyhold  tenants,  reported 
as  having  died. 

1549.  Burford  Burgus,  Extracts  of  the  lawday  there  holden  for 
our  sovereign  lord  King  Edward  the  sixth  the  third  year  of  his  reign. 

Presentations  :  As  keepers  of  common  hostelries  :  Richard  Teyne, 
Thomas  George,  4^.  each. 

As  common  bakers  :  William  Roberds  and  Robert  Starre,  8<f . 
each,  Thomas  Tomson,  2d.  William  Saunders,  4J.  Thomas  Gayes  6d. 
John  Hill,  Robert  Smyth  2d.  each. 

As  common  Brewers  :  Richard  Child,  2d.  Will  Collyns,  3^. 
Alys  Bocher,  widow,  2d.  William  Saunders,  ^d.  Richard  Dalby,  Thomas 


MISCELLANEOUS  DOCUMENTS  66i 

Alflete,  Walter  MoUyner,  2d.  each,  Thomas  George,  /^d.  Thomas 
Richards,  6d. 

As  common  butchers :  Richard  Dalby,  Symon  Wynchester, 
4d.  each,  John  Jordan,  6d.  Thomas  Plomer,  4J.  Edward  Grene,  6d. 

As  common  fishers  :  Symon  Wysdome,  Richard  Hodges,  Edmund 
Sylvester,  4J.  each,  Robert  Brewton,  2d. 

As  common  innholders  :  Richard  Charley,  ^d.  Edward  Maddok, 
amercement  not  entered. 

As  common  vintners  :  John  Haimys,  Richard  Charley,  6d.  each. 

1549.  Augm.  Off.  :  Deeds  of  Purchase  and  Exchange,  G.  12. 
3  Edward  VI. 

Grant  of  the  town  and  manor  of  Burford  by  Edward  VI  to  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  in  exchange  for  other  lands  granted  by  Warwick  to  the  King. 

1597.    Ancient  Deeds,  C.  7782.    i  August,  39  Elizabeth. 

Release  and  quit  claim  by  Lawrence  Tanfeilde  of  '  the  Pryorye 
neere  Burford  ',  to  Thomas  Hewes  alias  Calcott,  William  Hewes  alias 
Calcott,  and  Robert  Hewes  alias  Calcott,  of  Burford, — all  manner  of 
actions  as  well  real  as  personal  trespasses  escates  rights  titles  interests 
claims  debts  duties  suits  quarrels  judgements  and  demands  whatsoever 
up  to  the  last  day  of  July  last  past. 

(The  deed  bears  Tanfield's  signature.) 

Star  Chamber  Proceedings,  Henry  VIII,  vol.  vii,  ff.  51-71  : — 
Bill  of  Complaint  of  Rychard  Hannes  and  John  Lambart,  bayliffs 
of  the  Towne  of  Burford  in  the  countie  of  Oxon  : — John  Jones,  collector 
of  the  xths  and  xvths  within  the  Hundred  of  Bampton,  directed  his 
precept  vnto  the  said  bayliffs  for  the  leuying  and  getheryng  of  the 
tax  graunted  by  Parliament  in  the  32nd  yere  of  the  King's  (Henry  VIII) 
reign.  Thereupon  the  said  bayliffs  caused  all  the  Inhabytants  wythin 
the  towne  of  Burford  to  be  assembled  together  in  theyre  common 
hall,  and  then  and  there,  accordyng  to  theyre  olde  and  auncyent 
vsage,  caused  a  bill  to  be  made  and  wryten  of  the  names  of  all  such 
persons  inhabytynge  within  the  said  towne  as  were  and  shuld  be 
contrybutory  to  the  payment  of  the  tax,  with  the  somes  of  money 
that  eury  of  them  was  then  taxed  att.  In  this  bill  Edmond  Sylvester, 
oone  of  the  inhabytants  of  the  towne,  was  taxed  and  sessed  at  xxd., 
John  Barker  at  iij^.  ni']d.,  and  Thomas  Barton  at  n]s.  iiijti.,  after  the 
rate  of  oon  peny  of  the  shelyng  of  the  rent  of  eury  of  theyre  howses, 
like  as  all  othyr  were  sessed.  The  bill  was  deHvered  to  Symon  Wyn- 
chester and  Robert  Alflete,  constables  of  Burford,  for  the  due  collection 


662      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  the  money  ;  who  repayred  and  cam  vnto  the  seyd  Edmond  Sylves- 
ter, John  Barker,  and  Thomas  Barton  dyvers  and  sundry  tymes 
and  requyred  theym  to  make  payment  of  the  sayd  somes  of  money 
sessed  and  taxed  vpon  them  according  as  is  aforeseyd  ;  but  they, 
nothyng  consyderyng  theyre  dutyes  in  that  behalf,  nor  the  olde  and 
auncyent  vsage  and  custome  vsed  and  accustomyd  within  the  towne, 
in  most  obstynat  peruerse  maner  vtterly  refused  and  denyed  to  paye 
the  sayd  somes.  Moreover,  they  confederated  themselves  together 
with  diuers  others  of  the  same  towne,  intendyng  not  only  to  wyth- 
holde  and  withstande  the  payment,  but  also  to  sett  disordre  and  dyuy- 
sion  amongst  theyre  cobrethren  and  the  comyns  of  the  towne,  sayinge 
that  they  wolde  make  a  comon  wealth.  Where vppon  certeyn  of  the 
auncyent  men  of  the  towne  were  sent  vnto  Sir  John  Bruggs,  Knight, 
the  King's  Steward  of  the  towne,  desiring  him  to  come  vnto  the  towne 
for  Reformacon  and  Redres  of  these  abuses  ;  who  coming,  found  the 
towne  greatly  owte  of  order  and  good  Rule,  and  all  mysordered 
persons  suffered  to  go  vnpunysshed.  Certain  of  the  seditious  persons 
he  therevppon  comyted  to  warde  ;  notwithstanding  which,  there  is 
still  such  great  discorde  and  contencon  stirred  and  moued  amongst 
the  Inhabytants,  that  the  said  Bayliflfs  dare  not  at  this  tyme  ponysshe 
any  offenders,  or  doo  anythynge  concernjTige  the  good  orderyng  of 
the  towne. 

Defendant  John  Barker,  in  his  Answer,  says  the  complaint  is  made 
only  of  malyce  and  envy.  He  himself  is  none  of  the  inhabytants  of 
the  towne,  but  is  taxed  with  them  of  the  owtwarde,  that  is,  as  he 
alleges,  according  to  his  goods  and  not  according  vnto  the  rents  of 
theyre  howses.  Further,  his  howse,  as  a  spirituall  howse,  ought  not 
to  be  taxed.  For  the  rest,  he  declares  that  whereas  the  tax  was  sessed 
at  the  rate  of  one  penny  in  the  shilling,  the  Baihffs  have  levied  it  at 
the  rate  of  twopence.  Moreover,  he  denies  that  he  hath  at  any  tyme 
vsid  himself  in  the  sayd  towne  in  any  soche  vnlawfull  maner  or  f asshion 
as  by  the  sayd  bill  is  supposed.  On  the  other  hand,  whereas  there 
was  a  boke  made  and  streted  vnto  the  constables  of  the  towne  for  the 
spedy  collecon  on  the  tax,  when  defendants  desired  to  see  this  boke 
the  bayliffs  vtterly  denied  theyre  request,  saying  how  that  they, 
nother  none  suche  as  they,  shuld  be  made  privie  to  know 
what  the  boke  wold  or  dyd  com  vnto.  Wherefore  diuers  of  the 
inhabytants  were  privately  and  vnlawfully  (as  already  alleged) 
chargyd  vnto  a  further  some  then  the  some  which  they  were 
(taxed)  att. 


MISCELLANEOUS  DOCUMENTS  663 

A  commission  was  appointed  by  the  King  to  inquire  into  the  alleged 
disturbances  and  abuses.  It  was  composed  of  Sir  Walter  Stoner,  knt,, 
Sir  John  Bridges,  knt.,  William  Fermour  and  Thomas  Bridges  (Sir 
John's  brother),  and  sat  at  Burford  on  the  20th  of  Sept.,  33  Henry  VIII, 
when  the  following  witnesses  were  examined  : — 

William  Hodges  of  Burford,  baker,  aged  60,  'borne  within  the 
towne  of  Burford,  and  hath  kept  his  household  there  continually 
by  the  space  of  xl  yeres ',  who  deposes  that  a  hundred  persons 
at  least,  being  householders,  were  present  in  the  Guild  Hall  when 
the  taxation  was  made  ;  that  the  house  called  Ivy  House,  which 
defendant  Barker  now  holdeth  in  Burford,  hath  been  ever  con- 
tributory to  the  common  charges  of  the  towne,  such  as  the 
watch,  and  hath  given  the  holy  loff  ;  And  furder  he  sayeth  that 
he  hath  seen  one  John  Clemson,  somtyme  dwelling  within  the 
house  of  the  Hospital  of  Saint  John  in  Burford,  and  there  keping 
household,  and  having  the  Priour  boarding  in  his  howse,  chosyn 
owte  of  the  same  howse  to  be  constable  of  the  towne  of 
Burford. 

Symon  Wynchester,  constable  of  Burford,  bocher,  aged  36  yeres. 

Robert  Johnson  of  the  same  town,  showmaker,  aged  50  yeres  and 
above. 

Thomas  Richards  of  the  same  town,  sadler,  aged  66  yeres. 

Robert  Browne  of  the  same  towne,  mercer,  aged  50  yeres. 

Jamys  Grene  of  the  same  town,  bocher,  aged  46  yeres. 

Robert  Ennysdale  of  the  same  town,  wullen  draper,  aged  46 
yeres. 

WiUiam  Hewis  of  the  same  town,  glover,  aged  40  yeres. 

William  Roberts  of  the  same  town,  baker,  aged  40  yeres. 

Who  depose  that  the  deposition  of  William  Hodges  is  in  everything 
true ;  that  the  wief  of  Edmond  Sylvester  payed  her  husbonds 
porcyn  to  the  constable,  prayenge  hym  that  he  would  speake 
nomore  to  her  husbond  for  itt ;  that  there  was  nomore  money 
gethered  by  the  sessment  than  was  truly  accompted,  but  only 
the  some  of  iJ5.  xd.,  which  was  gyven  agayne  to  xij  poor  men ; 
that  a  true  and  perfect  boke  was  made  of  the  same,  which  boke 
was  openly  brought  before  Sir  John  Bridges  and  Thomas  Bridges, 
Stewards  of  the  towne  ;  that  certain  of  the  defendants,  asserting 
the  contrary,  and  resolved  to  have  the  matter  newly  examined 
and  redressed,  went  with  pen  and  inke  and  paper  from  howse 
to  howse,  to  the  number  of  twentie  houses,  requiryng  eury 


664  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

man  to  take  their  parties,  saying  they  wold  make  them  as  free 
as  Bayliffs  of  the  towne  by  Cristmasse  Day,  and  that  they  should 
by  and  sell  as  freely  as  any  Burgesse  ;  that  after  that  the  towne 
grewe  into  suche  murmor  and  controuersye  that  there  was  like 
to  ensue  greate  inconvenyence,  insomuche  that  William  Hiatt 
said  vnto  John  Jones  in  the  strete :  Come  forthe,  and  all  thy 
men  with  thee,  if  they  be  fortie,  for  now  wee  are  prouided  for  thee  ; 
and  the  said  Hiatt  sayed  vnto  his  owne  wief,  in  the  hyringe  of 
one  John  Hannys  of  Burford,  then  constable  :  I  trust  ones  to 
be  Bayliff  of  the  towne,  and  see  some  of  the  Burgesses  hangyd, 
and  to  sitt  vppon  them  my  silf  ;  that  Sir  John  Bridges  and  Thomas 
Bridges  came  to  the  towne  and  tooke  vppon  them  the  exaumynacon 
of  the  matter  openly  and  thoroughly,  and  could  fynde  no  falte 
in  the  oflEicers  nor  Burgesses,  on  which  occasion  the  said  Sylvester, 
being  askyd  what  was  the  cause  of  the  grudge,  aunsweryd  that 
they  could  shewe  none,  forasmuche  as  the  matter  was  before 
the  Lord  Chauncellor  and  the  King's  Counsaill,  but  said  that 
that  they  did  was  for  a  comon  wealthe  ;  and  the  forsaide  fiiatt, 
then  stondyng  by,  said  Yea,  and  for  the  King's  advauntage  ; 
whervppon  the  said  Sir  John  Bridges  and  Thomas  Bridges 
wyllyd  them  to  fynde  suretie,  which  to  doo  they  vtterly  refusyd, 
and  therevppon  they  were  comyttyd  to  warde  and  letten  owte 
agaynst  the  daye  that  they  should  appeare  before  the  King's 
Counsaill. 

The  above  were  witnesses  for  the  Burgesses  and  Bailiffs.    Against 
the  Burgesses  and  Bailiffs  there  were  called  the  following : — 

Henry  Parratt  of  Burford,  towne  clerke,  aged  32,  who  hath  dwellyd 

within  the  towne  but  only  fyve  yeres. 
Robert  Alflet,  smith,  aged  40. 
John  Hayter,  yeoman,  aged  57^  who  sayth  that  he  was  in  the  Guild 

Hall  in  the  momyng,  the  daye  of  the  assessment,  when  there 

weare  no  mo  in  the  Hall  but  only  the  Bayliffs  and  oon  John  Jones, 

and  ij  mo  with  hym. 
John  Smythyer,  husbondman,  aged  50. 
Thomas  Ockford,  wever,  aged  26. 
John  Colyns,  showmaker,  aged  60,  and  Nicholas  Stanes,  laborer, 

aged  50,  who  sayeth  that  he  was  nother  at  the  begynnyng  nor 

at  the  end,  and  therefore  what  was  doone  for  the  taxacon  he 

knoweth  not. 


MISCELLANEOUS  DOCUMENTS  665 

Other  witnesses,  called  on   behalf  of  Edmond  Sylvester,  John 
Barker,  and  other  defendants,  were  : — 
John  barker  of  Burford,  gent  (one  of  the  defendants). 
Edmund  Silvester,  mercer. 
William  Hiatt,  baker. 
Thomas  Barton,  innkeeper. 
Robert  Wigpit,  fietcher. 
John  Hewes,  wever. 

John  Sands,  servant  to  Thomas  Abridges,  Esq.  and  constable  of 
Burford,  who  deposes  that  he  had  William  Hiatt,  and  fyve  others, 
to  warde  in  the  stokhowse  for  their  misdemeanors. 
The  result  of  the  inquiry  is  not  disclosed  by  the  documents. 

B.     EXTRACTS  FROM  MSS.  AT  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM 

B.M.  Harl.  56,  B.  3. 

1372.    15  July,  46  Edward  III. 

Grant  by  William  Sewale  to  William  Kokerell  of  Boreford.  *  Unum 
messuagium  cum  pertinenciis  in  Boreford  scituatum  inter  messuagium 
predicti  Willelmi  Kokerell  ex  parte  boriali  et  messuagium  lohannis 
Cakebred  ex  parte  australi.'    Of  the  chief  lords,  &c. 

Witnesses  :  John  Crosham,  John  Wenryssh,  John  Bruere,  John 
Saleman,  William  Naylere. 

B.M.  Harl.  49,  D.  36. 

1380.    Feast  of  St.  George  the  Martyr,  3  Richard  II. 

Release  and  quit  claim  by  Elizabeth,  late  the  wife  of  John  Deonye 
of  Gloucester,  *  in  pura  mea  viduetate  ',  to  Thomas  Cawlyn,  burgensis 
de  Boreford.  *  Omne  ius  in  uno  burgagio  cum  curtilagio  adiacente 
et  omnibus  pertinenciis  suis  scituato  in  Wytteney  stret  de  Boreford 
ex  parte  australi  inter  tenementum  beate  marie  ex  una  parte  et  tene- 
mentum  meum  ex  altera  parte.' 

Witnesses  :  John  Wynrich,  John  Crosson,  William  Nailer,  Robert 
Coteler,  John  Sclater,  Roger  Wynrich,  Thomas  Spicer,  William 
Bemes,  clerk, 

B.M.  Harl.  47,  C.  47. 

1404,    20  April,  5  Henry  IV. 

Indenture  of  lease  between  William  Brampton  of  Oxford,  mercer, 
and  Margaret  his  wife,  of  the  one  part,  and  John  Baker  of  Gloucester, 
draper,  and  Isabella  his  wife  of  the  other  part. 


666      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

A  tenement  with  garden  adjacent  '  in  villa  de  Burford '  between 
the  tenement  of  John  ffauelour  on  the  north  and  the  tenement  of 
Thomas  Alys  on  the  south. 

Lease  for  seven  years  at  a  rent  of  '  quatuor  libras  argenti  fidelis 
monete  Anglie  '  payable  at  the  four  usual  terms  of  the  year,  the  Feast 
of  St.  Michael;  the  Feast  of  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  the  Annunciation 
of  the  B.V.M.,  and  the  Nativity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist. 

Clause  providing  that  the  lessors  are  to  repair  and  maintain  the 
house. 

Clause  providing  that  the  lessees  are  not  to  sublet. 

Clause  providing  for  distress  to  be  taken  if  the  rent  be  fifteen  days 
in  arrear,  and  in  the  event  of  failure  of  the  distress  for  right  of  re-entry 
and  recovery  of  the  house. 

Witnesses :  Henry  Coteler,  Thomas  Spycer,  Thomas  Morcok, 
John  Mason,  John  Stowe. 

B.M.  Add.  Ch.  39958.  10. 
1577.    Exchequer  Acquittance. 

De  lohanne  Moore  Thoma  Cooke  et  margaretaCurteis 

IK'        ^^^^    pro  fine  dimissionis  in  revercione  certarum  terrarum 

No  xxv^°  It; 7 7      ^^  Barkhamsted  certarum  terrarum  mariscarum  in 

Barking  et  scitus  maneriorum  de   Estimanneo   et 

Burford  de  eodem  fine  xliili.  viiis.  quadraginta  duas 

libras  octo  solidos 
Mich**  anno  regni  Regine  Eliz'  xix""" 

B.M.  Add.  Ch.  39971.  14. 

1613.    Exchequer  Acquittance. 
Q  ^         ,  De  Reginaldo  Edwards  et  Humfrido  Repington 

pro  redditu  Rectorie  de  Burford  et  capelle  de 
ffulbroke  debito  pro  dicti  anni  fructu  ad  festum  Sancti  Michaelis 
Archangeli  anno  Regis  lacobi  xi"  xli.  decem  libr' 

B.M.  Add.  Ch.  39971.  15. 
i6i8.    Exchequer  Acquittance. 
Oxon  7  Nov  i6i8      ^^  Lawrencio  Tanfeild  milite  capitali  Barone 
scaccarii  pro  redditu  Rectorie  de  Burford  et 
capelle  de  ffulbrooke  debito  pro  dicti  anni  fructu  ad  festum  Sancti 
Michaelis  Archangeli  anno  Regis  lacobi  xvit°  xli.  decem  libras. 

B.M.  Add.  Ch.  38960. 
635.    An  Inventorie  of  the  Goods  and  Chattels  of  Roberte  Veysey 


the  mort- 


DOCUMENTS  AT  THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM      667 

late  of  Chymney  in  the  Countie  of  Oxon  gentleman  taken  and  appraysed 

the  one  and  twentieth  day  of  Julie  Anno  dni  1635  .  .  . 

[Follows  an  inventory  of  goods  and  chattels  at  Chimney,  another  of 
goods  and  chattels  at  Tainton,  another  of  goods  and  chattels  at  Duckling- 
ton,  and  another  of  goods  at  Broadwell.] 

1634.  This  part  of  the  Inventorie  followinge  was  taken  the  sixt 
day  of  October  Anno  dni  1634  at  Burford  by  Christopher  Glin  Gierke 
and  Tho.  Randolph. 

Item  in  the  chamber  over  the  hall  one  Chest  one  box  and  hamper 

vii5. 

Item  gloves,  handkerchiefs.  Points,  a  purse  and  three  smale  peeces 
of  Lynnen  Cloth  and  other  lumber  and  a  Cheste  wherein  these  thinges 
lie  XXXV5. 

[Follows  a  list  of  leases  and  mortgages  in  various  places  including  these :] 

A  lease  from  Robert  Collier  of  foure  Yeard  lands  in  Upton  in  Com 

Oxon  for  86  yeares  to  come  with  promise  that  if  50'*  p  ann  be  paid  gager 

for  foure  yeares  with  consideration  then  the  lease  to  be  voide  dated  f^i^  ^^ 

■'  hath  paid 

1 6'^  April  Anno  octavo  Re  Car  valued  att  ccli.       this 

A  lease  from  Thomas  ffrancis  of  a  house  in  Burford  for  about 
96  yeares  to  come  valued  att  cli. 

A  lease  from  William  Hunt  of  a  tenement  in  Burford  for  about 
27  yeares  to  come  with  a  provisoe  that  if  thirtye  pounds  be  paid 
then  to  be  voide  xxxZz. 

[The  total  of  the  value  of  leases,  mortgages,  and  debts  by  bond  is  entered 
at  £71$^  65.  sd. ;  and  the  total  value  of  ready  money,  household  stuff,  and 
cattle  ;^324  i  is.  6rf.] 

B.M.  Stowe  MSS.  752. 

Letters  from  William  Borlase  to  Lyttelton,  Dean  of  Exeter. 

1753.    Fol.  155. 

From  Cirencester  we  came  along  the  Foss,  which,  tho'  call'd  thus, 
is  a  Ridgeway  and  Roman,  to  Burford. 

The  Church  at  Burford  has  been  built  at  several  times  :  The  Tower  * 
on  which  the  Spire  is  erected,  is  near  the  middle  of  the  building,  and 
is  of  y'  Saxon  style  :  the  Arches  on  which  it  stands  are  semicircular, 
low,  and  solid,  and  have  a  very  ill  effect  on  the  inside  of  the  Ch:  being 
design'd  doubtless  for  a  much  smaller  building,  than  the  Ch:  is  at 
present. — On  the  Outside  of  this  Tower  which  is  much  more  antient 
than  the  rest,  there  are  three  pannells  or  sham-windows,  on  the 
south,  side  with  a  window  of  a  very  singular  structure  between  them, 
and  a  window  of  a  semicircular  arch  below  them,  all  in  y*  Saxon 


668  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

style,  which  I  therefore  send  you.  All  above  this  in  the  tower  is  more 
modem,  but  of  no  despicable  gothick  taste — On  the  outside  coving 
of  one  of  the  windows  in  Saxon  letters  is  this  Inscr"  ORASE  (for 
Orate)  pro  animabus  Patris  et  Matris  lohannis  Leggare  per  quem 
ista  Finestra  decoratur — ^This  Ch:  is  not  at  all  uniform,  and  divided 
into  several  Chancels  and  Isles — 

The  Priory,  now  the  house  of  Mr.  Lenthall,  seems  to  be  a  mighty 
good  old  house,  in  perfect  repair — ^the  Chapel  adjoyning  has  much 
Gothick  ornament  and  some  rich  carvings  over  the  Door,  The  whole 
would  make  a  good  Print,  if  Justice  be  done  to  it — but  tis  so  neat 
than  I  can  hardly  think  it  prior  to  y*  Reformation  ;  and  the  Plantations 
round  it  are  too  close  and  crowded  for  such  a  low  situation. 

[A  little  sketch  follows  of  the  Roundheaded  windows  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Church  tower,  described  '  Saxon  Remains  in  the  Tower  of  the 
Church  at  Burford  June  30,  1753  '.] 


C.     EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  MUNIMENTS  OF  BRASE- 
NOSE  COLLEGE,  OXFORD 

BURFORD  LEASES 

circa  1250.    Release  and  Quit-claim. 

Sciant  presentes  et  futuri  quod  ego  Seyld  uxor  quondam  Ricardi 
Beaufront  de  Bureford  concessi  et  quietum  clamavi  pro  me  et  heredibus 
meis  in  perpetuum  Priori  et  canonicis  de  Nortun  omne  ius  quod 
habui  vel  habere  potui  in  illo  dimidio  Burgagio  cum  pertinenciis  suis 
quod  predictus  Ricardus  quondam  vir  meus  et  ego  tenuit  de  prefatis 
canonicis  in  villa  de  Bureford  Et  in  huius  rei  testimonium  commune 
sigillum  de  Bureford  rogatu  meo  huic  scripto  feci  apponere  Testibus 
Radulfo  capellano  lohanne  Annor  Hugone  Urri  Martino  fratre  suo 
Radulfo  camerario  Henrico  filio  Nicholai  Rogero  le  Nobble  Ricardo 
pistore  Aluredo  le  bonde  Rogero  Cockerel  et  curia  burgencium  de 
bureford. 

1264.    Indenture  of  Lease. 

Anno  dni  mcclxiiii  ad  festum  beati  Gregorii  Haec  conventio  facta 
inter  Simonem  priorem  et  canonicos  prioratus  de  Caldenorton  ex  una 
parte  et  Walterum  Adgar  de  Bureford  ex  altera  parte  videlicet  quod 
dicti  prior  et  canonici  concesserunt  et  dederunt  dicto  Waltero  unum 
dimidium  burgagium  cum  domibus  et  curia  edificatis  cum  curtilagio 
et  pertinenciis  suis  in  villa  de  Bureford  ad  terminum  vite  sue  .  .  .  que 


MUNIMENTS  OF  BRASENOSE  COLLEGE       669 

Ricardus  Beaufront  quondam  tenuit  .  .  .  Reddendum  .  .  .  sex  solidos 
argenti.  .  .  .  Et  non  iicebit  dicto  Waltero  dicta  edificia  .  .  .  alienare 
sine  asser.su  et  consensu  dicti  prions  .  .  . 

Witnesses  :  Richard  the  Vicar,  Henry  Pride,  Will  Osebem,  Robert 
de  Bradeston,  Will  le  Coluns,  Ralph  de  Dicheley,  Richard  Wale, 
Ralph  the  cook,  Walter  the  draper. 

Same  date.    Counterpart  of  the  above. 

To  the  clauses  providing  against  subletting,  &c.,  is  added  the 
following  clause  :  '  Et  ad  ista  predicta  fi^eliter  observanda  supponit 
se  et  omnia  catalla  sua  mobilia  et  immobilia  sub  pena  dimidie  marce 
solvende  dictis  priori  et  canonicis  et  ballivis  de  bureford.' 

Witnesses :  The  same. 

1367.  Tuesday  next  after  the  Feast  of  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul, 
41  Edward  IIL 

Lease  by  the  Prior  and  convent  of  Cold  Norton  to  Robert  le  Cotelir 
'  seniori  burgensi  de  Boreford  '.  A  half  burgage  with  appurtenances 
lying  in  the  High  Street  of  Burford  in  the  western  part  between 
tenements  of  the  said  Robert  le  Cotelir  on  either  side.  For  60  years 
at  45.  a  year. 

Witnesses  :  Robert  le  Pope,  Richard  Saundres,  John  Wynrich, 
John  Bruere,  Thomas  Stowe,  John  Crosson,  Will  atte  Berne  clerk. 

1416.    Sunday  next  after  the  Ascension,  4  Henry  V. 

Grant  by  Philip  James  of  Borford  to  Robert  Legg  of  the  same. 
'  Dimidiam  acram  terre  arabilis  iacentem  in  campo  de  Borford  super 
beldame  furlong  inter  terram  domini  vocatam  MuUelond  ex  una 
parte  et  terram  Thome  Spicer  ex  altera  parte.  .  .  .' 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Spicer,  Henry  Coteler,  William  Coteler,  John 
Spicer,  John  Punter. 

1423.    26  June,  I  Henry  VI. 

Grant  by  Elizabeth  Payne  de  Boreford  in  pura  viduetate  et  legitima 
potestate  to  Richard  Martyn  and  Johanna  his  wife.  *  Dimidium 
Burgagium  cum  curtilagio  adiacente  cum  omnibus  pertinenciis  suis 
iacentia  in  Boreford  predicto  in  le  Newelond  inter  tenementum 
beate  Marie  ex  una  parte  et  tenementum  quondam  Thome  Wygewolde 
ex  altera  parte.  .  .  .' 

Witnesses  :  Thomas  Spycer,  Will  Coteler,  Richard  Lavyngton, 
John  Ponter,  Simon  Hosyer. 

1429.    Feast  of  St.  Edmund  the  Archbishop,  8  Henry  VI. 

Lease  from  the   Prior  of  Cold  Norton   to  William  Coteler,   of 


670  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Boreforde,  Burgess.    Half  Burgage  on  the  west  side  of  the  High 
Street  between  tenements  of  the  said  William  on  either  side. 

1431.    7  April,  9  Henry  VI. 

Grant  by  Johanna  late  the  wife  of  Richard  Martyn  of  Boreford 
in  pura  viduetate  to  Roger  Mylton  and  Johanna  his  wife.  Half 
Burgage  in  le  Newelond,  described  as  above. 

Witnesses  :  William  Coteler,  John  Ponter,  John  Moysyer  senior, 
Henry  Bysshop,  William  Pynneller. 

1435.    20  September,  14  Henry  VI. 

Grant  by  Roger  Mylton  and  Johanna  his  wife  to  Robert  Coburley 
of  Boreford.    The  half  Burgage  as  in  the  last. 

Witnesses  :  William  Coteler,  Henry  Bysshop,  John  Pynnok  junior, 
William  Pynneller,  Richard  Leverych. 

1461.  Feast  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  i  Edward  IV. 

Grant  by  Robert  Coburley  burgensis  to  Robert  Mondy  of  Burford 
chawndeler.  The  half  burgage  *in  le  newelond  inter  tenementa 
procuratorum  beate  Marie  virginis  ex  partibus  orientali  et  occidentali '. 

Witnesses  :  John  Pynnok  junior,  Henry  Byschop,  John  Pynnok 
senior,  Robert  Cace,  Richard  Leverych. 

1462.  14  April,  2  Edward  IV. 

Grant  by  Robert  Coburley  of  Burford  Shearman  to  Robert  Mondy 
and  Alice  his  wife.  The  half  burgage  as  above  and  4  acres  of  arable 
in  the  town  and  fields  of  Burford.  '  Quod  quidem  Dimidium  Burgagium 
cum  curtilagio  adiacente  situatum  est  in  Borford  predicto  ex  parte 
orientali  inter  clausos  procuratorum  beate  marie  virginis  in  newlond 
ex  utraque  parte  vocatum  the  berehowse  quod  nuper  habui  ex  dono 
et  feoiSamento  Rogeri  Mylton  et  lohanne  uxoris  sue  Que  quidem 
quatuor  acre  terre  iacent  in  campis  de  Borford  predicto  quarum  due 
acre  iacent  super  le  Worthe  iuxta  terram  custodis  Sti  lohannis  hospi- 
talis  ex  parte  occidentali  et  aha  acra  iacet  super  Whitston  furlong 
iuxta  terram  lohannis  Maddock  de  Seynat  ex  parte  orientali  et  una 
dimidia  acra  terre  iacet  et  abbuttat  super  viam  que  ducit  versus 
Westwelle  inter  terram  custodis  hospitalis  Sti  lohannis  ibidem  ex 
parte  australi  et  terram  quondam  Thome  Spicer  ex  parte  boriali 
alia  vero  acra  iacet  super  Beldamys  forlong  inter  terram  Domini 
vocatam  Myllonde  ex  una  parte  et  terram  dicti  Thome  Spicer  ex  alia 
parte.' 

Witnesses  :  Henry  Byschop,  John  Pynnock  senior,  John  Pynnock 
junior,  John  Stowe,  John  Maior. 


MUNIMENTS  OF  BRASENOSE  COLLEGE       671 

1462.    14  April,  2  Edward  IV. 

Grant  by  Robert  Coburley,  hosyer,  to  Robert  Mondi,  chawndeler. 
Two  half -acres  of  arable  land, '  quarum  una  dimidia  acra  terre  iacet 
in  campo  occidentali  inter  terram  custodis  hospitalis  Sti  lohannis 
ibidem  ex  parte  australi  et  terram  quondam  Thome  Spicer  ex  parte 
boriali  altera  vero  dimidia  acra  terre  iacet  in  campo  orientali  super 
le  Beldamysforlong  inter  terram  Domini  vocatam  Millonde  ex  parte 
una  et  terram  dicti  Thome  Spicer  ex  parte  altera.' 

Witnesses :  Henry  Bischop,  John  Pynnock  senior,  John  Grove, 
John  Mayor,  Thomas  Dyere. 

147 1.    II  May,  II  Edward  IV. 

Grant  by  John  Wynchecombe  of  Borford  chawndeler  and  Alice 
his  wife  to  Richard  Haddon.  The  half  burgage  and  four  acres  of  arable 
as  above. 

1488.    Mortgage. 

Be  hytt  knowyn  to  all  men  y'  I  John  Cubberly  off  y*  towne  off 
Burford  in  y"  County  off  Oxenfordshere  son  and  ayre  off  Robert 
Cubberly  latte  off  Burford  hath  sold  grantyd  and  promyssyd  to 
Thomas  Everard  marchaunt  off  Burford  ii  cottagys  and  a  crofte 
w'y^pertynse  y®whych  I  sold  sum  tyme  to  John  Pynnoke  y®  younger 
as  hytt  a  peryth  in  a  dede  wryttyn  and  selyd  w*^my  sele  to  y^foresayd 
John  Pynnoke  in  y*  ere  of  y®  raigne  off  Kyng  Edward  y*  fforeth 
sixteneth  ere  The  whyche  ii  cotages  and  croft  and  y®  pertynens  when 
I  y®  forsayd  John  hath  made  a  statte  to  y*  forsaid  Thomas  Everard 
for  y®  forsayd  ii  cotages  w*  a  croft  and  y®  pertynens  att  such  day  and 
tyme  as  y<f  forsayd  Thomas  Everard  will  desyre  The  whyche  statte 
gevyn  ye  sympull  obligacion  bownd  to  y*  byll  shall  stond  as  voyd 
and  yff  hytt  benott  then  to  stond  in  hys  grett  strenkyth  and  power 
Wrytten  in  burford  y®  last  day  off  September  The  er  off  y®  reyne  off 
Kyng  hary  y*  vii*'*  after  y®  conquest  y®  iiii*^  in  y®  presens  wrytyn 
and  selyd  off  Rychard  Hamdyn  and  John  Hanne. 

Bond  attached  (in  Latin)  for  £30. 

1488.    17  October,  4  Henry  VII. 

Grant  by  John  Cobberley  to  Thomas  Everard  and  Elizabeth  his 
wife.  Two  cottages  and  a  croft  in  Witney  Street  on  the  north  side 
between  a  tenement  of  Thomas  Umfry  alias  Maior  on  the  west 
and  a  tenement  of  Richard  Mosyer  on  the  east,  containing  in  length 
30  feet  and  in  width  from  the  street  to  the  close  of  Henry  Bysshope 
on  the  north  20  feet ;   the  croft  lying  in  a  certain  place  called  the 


672      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Newlond  between  a  croft  of  John  Pynnok  on  the  east  and  a  croft  of 
the  chantry  of  Blessed  Mary  on  the  west. 

Witnesses  :  John  Bysshope  and  John  Botterell,  then  Bailiffs  of 
Burford,  Thomas  Stawnton,  John  Hanne. 

1493-    15  July>  8  Henry  VII. 

Grant  by  Robert  Coke  alias  Moke  of  Chylliston  to  Thomas  Everard 
and  Elizabeth  his  wife.  A  messuage  in  Burford  and  seven  acres  of 
arable  land.  'Quodquidem  messuagium  scituatum  est  in  magna  strata 
eiusdem  ville  ex  parte  orientali  inter  tenementum  predicti  Thome 
Everard  ex  parte  australi  et  venellam  que  vocatur  que  (sic)  Bordem- 
wetlane  que  se  extendit  versus  ecclesiam  ex  parte  Boriali.* 

Witnesses :  Thomas  Dodde  then  Bailiff,  John  Laurans,  William 
Glover,  John  Grene,  William  Bryce. 

1514.    26  October,  6  Henry  VIII. 

Grant  by  Lambert  Goughman  of  Burford,  tailor,  and  Matilda  his 
wife,  lately  wife  of  Thomas  Parsons  of  Burford,  smith,  defunct,  to 
John  Fomby  clerk,  Rowlande  Messynger  clerk,  and  Henry  Rathbone. 
A  tenement  in  St.  John's  Street  in  Burford  between  a  tenement  of 
Thomas  Kene  on  the  east  and  a  tenement  of  John  Faller  on  the  west. 

Witnesses  :  Peter  Aynesdale  and  Robert  Reyley,  then  Bailiffs 
of  Burford,  Nicholas  Butler,  Nicholas  Phippys. 

1526.    2  August,  17  Henry  VIII. 

Grant  by  Katerine  Evarard,  late  the  wife  of  Thomas  Evarard  in 
pura  viduetate,  to  Robert  Syngulton,  clerk,  pro  suo  bono  servicio 
michi.  A  tenement  or  messuage  in  Burford  and  sixteen  acres  of  land 
with  meadow  and  pasture,  the  messuage  situate  in  the  High  Street 
between  a  tenement  of  William  Este  on  the  south  and  a  way  leading 
to  the  church  on  the  north. 

Witnesses :    Ralph  Bostoke,  Johanna  Tumor,  William  Bradshaw. 

Executed  at  Merston. 

1526.    25  September,  17  Henry  VIII. 

Indenture  of  Sale  by  Robert  Syngulton,  clerk,  to  Matthew  Smyth, 
John  Hawardyn,  and  William  Sutton,  for  20  marks .  The  same  property 
as  in  the  last. 

Peter  Eynesdale  and  Richard  Hannes  appointed  attorneys  to  give 
possession. 

[Note. — ^The  above  is  the  Deed  by  which  this  property  passed  into 
possession  of  Brasenose  College.  From  this  point  onwards  the  documents 
are  leases  granted  by  the  College.] 


MUNIMENTS  OF  BRASENOSE  COLLEGE       673 

1552.    22  November,  6  Edward  VI. 

Lease  to  Symon  Wisdome  of  Burford,  yeoman,  of  a  half-burgage 
house  with  a  garden  platt.    For  30  years  at  6s.  a  year. 

'559'    7  December,  2  Elizabeth. 

Lease  to  Elyzabeth  Sambiche  of  Burford,  widow,  and  Andrew 
Sambyche,  son  to  the  said  EUzabeth,  of  a  messuage  with  seven  acres 
of  land  in  Burford  field.    For  21  years  at  20s.  a  year. 

1567.    5  December,  10  Elizabeth. 

Lease  to  Willyam  Wisdome  of  Burford,  clothier,  of  the  house  leased 
to  Simon  Wisdom,  for  30  years  at  6s.  a  year,  upon  expiry  of  the  term 
granted  to  Simon  Wisdom  or  any  forfeiture  of  the  lease. 

1600.    9  April,  1600. 

Lease  to  John  Templer,  clothyer,  of  the  house  as  leased  to  the 
Wisdoms. 

1620.    8  November,  1620. 

Lease  to  Symon  Perkes,  shoemaker,  of  the  house  as  leased  to 
Sambyche  ;  rent  now  135.  4d. 

1636.    Lease  to  the  same  with  a  heriot  of  20^.  added  to  the  rental. 

1651.  Assignment  of  lease  to  Thomas  Hunt,  son  in  law  to  Symon 
Perkes. 

1732.  Lease  to  John  Jordan  of  Burford,  gentleman,  of  the  house 
as  leased  to  John  Templer. 

1743.  Lease  to  Elizabeth  Beesley  of  Burford,  widow,  of  the  house 
as  leased  to  Hunt,  described  as  next  to  the  Three  Goats  Inn. 

1753.  Lease  to  WilUam  Jordan,  schoolmaster,  of  the  same,  described 
as  having  a  house  of  Robert  Castle  on  the  north  and  Elizabeth  Clarke's 
messuage  called  the  Three  Goats'  Heads  on  the  south,  and  a  house 
of  William  Taylor  on  the  west. 

1788.    Lease  of  the  same  to  John  Kempster,  perriwig  maker. 

D.     DOCUMENTS  PRESERVED  IN  THE  BODLEIAN 
LIBRARY,  OXFORD 

Bodl.  MSS.  Arch.  Oxon.  b.  40  (Terriers). 

Visus  terrarum    pertinentium  Rectoriae  et  glebe  ibidem  xxiii''^  Anno 
mensis  lunii   anno  Regis  Henrici  septimi  xvi'**  per  informationem  I^^'^SOI" 
Roberti  Maihowe  Gulielmi  Patten  lohn  Calaber  Richardi  Davis  et 
aliorum  fide  dignorum  Est  fylde 

Rectoria  de  Burford 

3304  XX 


674  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Fyrste  in  a  furlonge  besydes  Angecrosse  at  Halcrafte  ende  ii  acres 
lyinge  between  the  land  of  Jhon  Howse  on  the  west  parte  and  the 
land  called  Kyllings  land  on  the  est  parte 

ic.  fur.  Item  in  a  furlonge  abuttinge  upon  Bampeton  waye  iiii  acres  lyinge 

abutting  |;ogether  betwene  the  lande  of  Richarde  Bisshope  on  the  west  and 
Bamp-  the  lande  of  the  lorde  in  the  tenure  of  WylUam  Shepperd  of  Synett 
wa^e.        intheeste. 

Bampton  Item  in  a  furlonge  that  goeth  over  Bampeton  waye  iii  acres  whereof 
waye  fur.  ^jj  ^cre  lyethe  betwene  the  churche  lands  of  Burforde  on  the  est  and  the 
land  called  Heystonysland  on  the  west  and  one  lyethe  betwene  the 
land  of  Thomas  Pole  one  bothe  syde  est  and  west  and  di  unius  acre 
abuttethe  upon  the  northe  ende  of  the  same  Acar  towarde  the  northe 
and  lyethe  betwene  the  lande  of  William  Patten  of  Synete  on  the  west 
and  the  lands  of  the  churche  of  Burford  on  the  est  and  di  an  acre  in 
the  same  furlonge  lyinge  betwene  the  land  called  Heystonisland  on 
the  west  parte  and  the  lande  of  Wylliam  Shepperd  on  the  est  &  di 
an  acre  abuttinge  upon  the  north  ende  of  the  same  di  acre  stretcheth 
unto  Henfurlonge  and  lyethe  betwixt  the  land  of  Thomas  Pynnocke 
on  the  west  and  the  lords  land  of  Burford  lyinge  to  his  farme  on  the  est. 

Item  besydes  the  said  furlonge  ther  lyethe  i  acre  &  di  whereof  di 
acre  abuttethe  upon  coppyd  crosse  towarde  the  southe  and  upon 
Henfurlonge  towarde  the  northe  &  lyethe  betwene  the  lande  of  Wyllyam 
Patten  of  Sinet  on  the  west  and  the  churche  lande  on  the  est,  another 
acre  abuttethe  upon  the  sayd  coppyde  crosse  towards  the  northe 
&  lyethe  betwene  the  lande  of  Robert  Osmunde  on  the  west  and  the 
land  of  Richard  Byshop  on  the  est. 

Brodhed-      Item  in  a  furlonge  called  brodehedden  furlonge  ii  acres  &  di  wherof 

den  fur-    jyethe  di  acre  abuttinge  upon  Henfurlonge   betwene  the  land  of 

Thomas  Pynnocke  on  the  west  and  the  land  of  the  churche  of  Burford 

on  the  est  &  ii  acres  betwene  the  land  of  S^  Jhon  Neweman  one  the 

west  &  the  land  of  the  pryor  of  Saint  Jhon  on  the  est. 

Esterhen       Item  in  a  furlong  called  Esterhenfurlonge  one  acre  w<=^  lyeth  betwene 
furlonge.  jyjoyserg  i^nd  south  &  the  land  of  William  Patten  north. 

Wester-        Item  in  Westerhenfurlong  di  an  acre  vf^  lyeth  betwene  the  land 
furlonge.   ^^  W™  fHudyate  north  &  y ^  church  land  south. 

Ridg-  Item  in  a  furlonge  besyds  ridgway  iii  acres  and  di  acre  lying  betwene 

furkfnge    *^®  ^^^^  °^  J^°^  Lammer  on  the  northe  &  the  churche  land  on  the 

southe    Item  i  acre  lyinge  above  the  waye  that  ledethe  from  Burford 


DOCUMENTS  IN  THE  BODLEIAN  LIBRARY     675 

to  Whit  hyll  besyde  the  hedg  called  Shednills  betwene  the  said  hye 
waye  north  and  Salmons  slad  southe  Item  another  acre  by  the  said 
(sic)  lying  betwene  the  said  land  called  Salmons  land  south  &  the  land 
of  William  Patten  of  Synet  northe  Item  half  an  acre  Besyde  the  Whit 
hyll  betwene  the  land  of  Jhon  marriner  southe  &  the  land  of  Jhon 
Lammer  northe. 

Item  in  moresty  furlonge  abuttinge  upon  Whit  waye  half  an  acre  moresty 
betwene  the  land  of  William  Patten  the  younger  southe  and  the  pryor  *""o°R®- 
of  St.  John  northe. 

Item  in  Hiot  half  an  acre  betwene  Salmons  land  on  the  northe  Hiot. 
&  the  churche  land  on  the  southe    Item  in  the  west  syde  of  Whit 
waye  di  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Jhon  legger  south  and  the  land  of 
William  patten  y*  younger  north. 

Item  in  Uphedfurlonge  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Robert  Jennens  uphed 
on  the  est  &  the  land  of  William  ffludyate  west    Item  di  acre  lying      '^  ^^s^- 
betwene  the  church  land  on  the  est  (sic). 

Item  in  Brodhedden  furlonge  iiii  acres  wherof  one  acre  lyethe  Brodhed- 

betwene  the  land  of  Jhon  Byllinge  on  the  est  &  the  land  of  W™  Patten  ^^onee 

on  the  west   Item  ii  acres  lyinge  betwene  the  land  of  William  Shepperd 

west  &  the  heystons  land  est    Item  i  acre  lyeth  betwene  the  land 

of  Jhon  fan  west  &  the  land  of  Richard  Davy  est  Item  one  acre  betwene 

Heystons  land  on  the  west  &  the  land  of  William  ffludyate  est. 

.  .  .  .  Offley 

Item  m  Offley  furlong  1  acre  mter  terram  nescitam.  furlonge. 

Item  in  Sawnfyfe  ffurlonge  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  William  Sawnfyf 
Shepperd  north  and  southe.  furlonge. 

Item  in  Hedsondye  furlonge  i  di  acre  called  the  head-half  acre  Hedson- 

betwene  the  churche  lande  on  the  southe.  ^^^ 

furlon 

Item  juxta  Stertwell  halfe  one  acre  betwene  Heystonisland  on  the  Stertweil. 
west  &  the  land  called  the  Stert  on  the  est  Item  in  a  furlonge  abutting 
upon  brodhedden  furlong  on  the  south  di  an  acre  betwene  the  Churche 
land  est  and  heystonysland  west  Item  in  the  same  furlong  di  an  acre 
that  is  to  say  di  an  acre  betwene  the  church  land  est  &  St.  Jhon  west 
Item  in  the  sayde  furlong  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  W"  Patten  est. 

Item  in  Bampton  waye  furlonge  at  copyslade  di  an  acre  betwixt  Cope- 
the  land  of  the  churche  est  &  Jhon  Marriner  west    Item  one  acre  ®^*^®' 
betwene  the  land  of  Thomas  Pynnocke  Northe  &  Jhon  Byshops  land 
southe     Item  in  the  southe  syde  of  Bampton  waye  i  acre  betwene 
the  land  of  Jhon  Byllinge  est  &  the  land  of  Edmund  Tame  west 

XX2 


676  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Item  in  the  same  furlonge  di  an  acre  betwene  the  churche  land  est 
&  the  land  of  W™  Pattyn  west  Item  ibidem  halfe  an  acre  besyd 
Shilton  way  betwene  the  land  of  the  churche  est  &  the  land  of  William 
ffludyate  west. 

Bellam         Item  in  a  furlonge  abuttinge  upon  Bellam  Furlonge  i  acre  betwene 

Furlonge.  Heistonsland  west  and  Salmons  land  est. 

Item  di  an  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Richard  Davy  west  and  the 
churche  land  est  Item  in  the  nether  end  of  Bellam  furlonge  i  acre 
betwene  the  land  of  William  Patten  est  and  Salmons  land  west. 

Whitston     Item  in  Whitstone  furlong  ii  acres  of  Hedlands  betwene  Heystonys 

^"'^^^'^g-    land  est. 

Comfast       Item  in  comfast  furlong  one  acre  betwene  y*  land  of  Jhon  newman 
furlong.     ^^^-^  ^  ye  land  of  W"  Patten  south. 

Salmons        Item  i  acre  goinge  over  Salmons  pathe  betwene  the  land  of  Richard 

P      ^'       Davy  northe  &  Salmons  land  south    Item  a  fferdelland  abutting 

upon  Salmons  path    Item  one  ley  and  a  half  betwene  the  churche 

land  north  and  Richard  Davy  southe. 

Downe  Item  in  Downe  furlonge  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  W*"  Patten 

ffurlonge.  west  &  Jhon  marriner  est    Item  one  acre  abuttinge  upon  the  Downe 

acre  way  betwene  the  land  of  Thomas  Pynnock  south  &  the  land  of 

the  pryorye  of  Saint  Jhon  north    Item  one  acre  goynge  over  Salmons 

pathe  betwene  Jhon  Marriner  southe    Item  one  acre  in  Deane  acre 

betwene  the  land  of  William  Patten  south  and  the  land  of  Janyver 

northe. 

Summa  acrarum  in  le  est 
fiyld  xlvii 

et  di.  ffer. 
1576 

Est  West  fEylde 
Juxta  ffyrst  in  est  fylde  at  the  townsende  of  Burford  besyde  Shepestret 

str^e        crosse  ii  acres  wher  one  lyeth  betwene  the  colverhey  est  &  the  land 

called  Heystones  west  and  one  other  acre  lyeth  in  the  west  syde  of  the 

same  Heystonys  next  to  the  waye. 

Item  in  the  same  furlonge  lyethe  ii  acres  betwene  the  land  of  thomas 
Pynnocke  southe  &  the  land  of  Richarde  Davy  northe  Item  in  the  same 
fiEurlonge  besyde  Ridgway  at  longe  crosse  i  acre  betwene  the  sayd 
Ridgwaye  northe  &  the  land  of  Richard  Davy  southe  Item  in  the  same 
ffurlong  i  acre  lyinge  betwene  the  land  of  Richarde  Davy  north 


DOCUMENTS  IN  THE  BODLEIAN  LIBRARY     677 

&  the  lande  of  Thomas  Jeniver  southe  Item  in  the  same  furlong  i  acre 
lyinge  betwene  the  land  of  Jhon  Byllinge  northe  &  the  land  of  Thomas 
Pynnocke  southe  Item  in  the  same  furlong  one  acar  lying  betwene 
the  land  of  John  Bottrell  northe  &  a  pece  of  heyland  no  man  knowethe 
whose  it  is  southe. 

Item  in  Cheyney  ffurlonge  lyethe  ii  acres  hedland  &  the  land  called  Cheyneye 
Heystoiiyse  land  on  the  northe  parte.  ^'  °°^^' 

Item  in  Cley  ffurlonge  lyeth  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Thomas  Cley 
Pynnocke  west  and  the  land  of  Anyse  Dod  est.  °^^' 

Item  in  Deane  acre  furlong  lyeth  ii  acres  wherof  i  acre  lyeth  betwene  Deane 
the  land  of  Jhon  Byllynge  northe  and  the  land  of  William  Patten  lurlo'Lg^* 
southe  &  the  other  acre  lyethe  betwene  the  land  of  Wylliam  Patten 
north  &  the  land  of  Jhon  Bylling  south. 

Item  in  Cleyt  ffurlong  lyeth  di  an  acre  betwene  y*land  of  the  church  Cle5rt 
est  &  y*  land  of  WiHiam  Patten  Junioris  west. 

Item  in  a  furlonge  of  the  est  syde  of  Westwell  waye  lyeth  ii  acres  Westwell 
wherof  one  acre  lyethe  betwene  the  land  of  W™  fludyeate  northe  &  ffurlong. 
the  land  of  Richard  Davy  southe  the  other  acre  lyethe  betwene  the 
land  of  Thomas  Pynnocke  northe  &  y*  land  of  Heystonyst  southe. 

Item  in  long  furlonge  on  the  est  syde  of  Westwell  waye  di  an  acre  Longe 
betwene  the  land  of  Robert  Jennens  northe  &  the  land  of  the  churche    ^^  ^^^' 
of  Burford  southe    Item  another  half  acre  lyethe  betwene  the  land 
of  Jhon  ffarmer  northe  &  the  land  of  thomas  Pynnocke  southe. 

Item  in  a  furlonge  abuttinge  upon  Deane  acre  waye  lyeth  i  acre  A  ffur- 
betwene  y*  land  of  Moysers  southe  and  Heystonise  land  northe    Item  ^biming 
in  the  same  furlonge  lyethe  halfe  an  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Jhon  super 
Davy  northe  &  the  land  of  the  churche  of  Burford  southe    Item  in  ^^^^ 
the  same  ffurlonge  di  an  acre  lying  betwene  the  land  of  Robert  Jennes  waye. 
{sic)  &  the  churche  land  southe. 

Item  in  the  myddle  furlonge  lyethe  one  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Myddle 
William  Patten  northe  and  Heystonyseland  southe.  furlong. 

Item  in  northe  furlong  abutting  fuldenslade  lyeth  one  acre  betwene  Northe 
the  land  of  W"  Patten  est  and  the  land  of  Jhon  Howse  west    Item  ^buttin 
in  the  same  ffurlong  di  an  acre  lyinge  betwene  the  land  of  the  churche  super  f ul- 
of  Burford  est  &  Jhon  Bottrell  weste   Item  in  the  est  part  of  Westwell  ^enslade. 
waye  lyeth  one  acre  betwene  the  land  of  the  pryor  of  St.  Jhon  in  Bur- 
forde  northe  &  the  land  of  Richard  Davy  southe. 

Item  in  ffuldenslad  lyethe  i  acre  of  Hedlande  by  the  land  of  S*"  Jhon 
Neweman  on  the  northe  syde     Item  in  the  ffurlong  abutting  upon 


678  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

ffulden-    the  same  hedacre  lyeth  one  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Wylliam 
slad.         fludyeat  est  &  the  land  of  W"*  Patten  Junior  west    Item  in  the  same 

furlong  lyeth  di  an  acre  betwene  the  church  land  est  &  the  land  of 

Wilham  Patten  west. 

the  Item  upon  the  Worthye  lyeth  one  acre  of  hedlande  besyd  the  church 

worthye.  land  of  Burford  on  y*  south  part. 

Item  in  the  same  furlong  lyeth  i  acre  abuttinge  upon  the  tyle 
quarry  betwene  Keystones  land  northe  &  the  land  of  W™  Patten 
y*  younger  southe  Item  in  y*  same  furlong  i  acre  abutting  upon  the 
same  tyle  quarry  &  lyethe  betwene  the  land  of  thomas  Pynnock 
northe  &  the  land  of  W™  Patten  junior  south  Item  upon  the  worthye 
lyeth  di  an  acre  of  hedland  besyde  y*  churchland  on  y®  est  syde  Item 
Ibidem  half  an  acre  lying  betwene  the  land  of  est  (sic)  and  Southeweks 
land  west  Item  one  acre  of  pyckedland  lyinge  betwene  the  land  of 
W™  Semer  and  the  land  of  WilUam  Shepperd  southe. 

owldhull.  Item  upon  the  owld  hull  lyeth  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Jhon 
Lane  northe  &  the  land  called  Salmons  southe  Item  in  the  same  owld 
hull  in  a  furlong  abutting  upon  ffuldene  lyeth  one  acre  betwene  the 
land  of  Jhon  Bylling  est  &  y®  land  of  Thomas  Janiver  west. 

Goryse         Item  in  a  furlonge  called  the  Gowrys  lyeth  one  acre  betwene  the 
furlong.    2and  of  Jhon  Byshope  south  and  the  land  of  William  Patten  northe. 

ffuldeane  Item  in  a  furlonge  upon  ffuldenschulflyeth  i  acre  betwene  the  land, 
of  the  pryor  of  St.  Jhon  west  and  the  land  of  Jhon  Howsse  est  Item 
in  a  furlong  abuttinge  upon  westwell  waye  lyeth  i  acre  betwene  the 
land  of  Thomas  Janyver  southe  and  Heystons  land  northe. 

a  furlong      Item  in  a  ffurlong  besyde  hyllslade  lyethe  i  acre  betwene  the  land 
hvlklade  °^  William  ffludyeate  est  and  the  land  of  Richard  Davye  west    Item 

in  the  same  ffurlong  lyeth  half  an  acre  betwene  the  churche  land  est 

and  the  land  of  Jhon  Byllinge  west, 
mydle  Item  in  mydle  furlong  lyeth  ii  acres  upon  the  hull  betwene  the  land 

furlong.    qJ  jj^q^  Botrell  west  and  the  land  of  Richard  Davy  est. 

short  Item  in  a  short  furlonge  abutting  upon  the  hull  towards  the  southe 

furlorg.     lyethe  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  William  Patten  est  &  the  land  of 

S'  Jhon  Neweman  west. 

Bright-         Item  in  a  furlong  abuttinge  upon  Bright  hyll  towards  the  northe 

furlong,    ly^^^  °^^  ^^^^  betwene  the  land  of  Jhon  Lane  est  &  the  pryor  of 

St  Jhon  west     Item  i  acre  abuttinge  upon  the  same  towards  the 

southe  betwene  the  churche  land  &  the  land  of  Jhon  Chadwells  west* 


DOCUMENTS  IN  THE  BODLEIAN  LIBRARY     679 

Item  in  a  fEurlong  by  ridgwaye  lyethe  one  acre  betwene  the  lande  Ridg- 
of  Heystonyse  on  the  northe  &  the  sayd  Ridgwaye  on  the  southe.        ^'^y^* 

Item  in  ferny  ffurlong  lyethe  i  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Thomas  ferny 
Pynnock  on  every  syde    Item  in  the  same  furlonge  di  an  acre  lyinge        °  ^* 
betwene  the  land  of  Edmunde  Tame  west  &  the  churchland  est. 

Item  in  a  fEurlong  abuttinge  upon  Whyteslade  lyethe  di  an  acre  WTiit- 
betwene  the  churchland  south  &  the  land  of  W™  Patten  north    Item  {„^^n_ 
in  the  same  furlong  lyethe  di  an  acre  besyde  the  land  of  the  churche 
southe. 

Item  in  elerstubfurlonge  lyethe  ii  acres  betwene  the  land  of  W™  Elerstubo 
Patten  west  &  the  land  of  Richarde  Davy  este  Item  in  the  same  ""^^^St* 
furlong  lyeth  di  an  acre  betwene  the  land  of  Wyllyam  Patten  west 
&  the  churche  land  est  Item  in  the  same  furlong  di  an  acre  betwene 
the  land  of  thomas  est  (sic)  &  the  land  called  o"^  ladys  lande  west 
Item  in  the  same  fEurlong  di  an  acre  betwene  the  land  of  the  pryor  of 
St  Jhon  west  &  the  land  of  Thomas  Everarde  est 

Summa  acrarum  arabilium  * 

lii  in  est  west  ffylde 
finis. 

This  recorde  was  caused  to  be  renued  &  written  agayne  by  M"^  Ed- 
mund Harman  Esquir  the  v***  day  of  maye  1576  in  the  xviii*  yere 
of  the  raigne  of  o'  most  gracious  Soveraigne  Ladye  Elyzabethe  by 
the  grace  of  God  Quene  of  England  flEraimce  &  Ireland  defender  of 
the  fEaythe. 

On  the  dorse  of  the  same  parchment. 
Burforde 

A  Rentall  renovated  and  renewed  w'  the  oversyght  of  the  lands 
pertaynynge  to  the  parsonage  in  the  morowe  after  the  nativ)rtie  of 
Saint  Jhon  Baptist  in  the  xvi*^  yeare  of  the  raigne  of  King  Henry 
the  vii^**  &  in  anno  domini  1501. 

In  primis  the  feoffurs  of  the  lands  pertayninge  to  the 
churche  of  Burforde  for  one  tenement  in  Burford  w<*  is 
called  the  crowne  the  quit  rent  bye  the  yere  ii^. 

Item  one  tenement  of  late  in  the  tenure  of  S*"  Jhon 
Neweman  for  one  messuage  in  Burford  in  St  Jhons  strete 
de  quit  xiii. 

Item  of  the  land  of  o'  blessed  virgin  Mary  in  Burford  for 
ii  tenements  in  the  hye  streat  by  the  yere  of  quit  rent  vf< 


xiii. 


680  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Item  y*  tenements  of  one  of  the  mylls  of  Burford  xiif. 

Item  one  tenement  in  the  hye  stret  of  Burford  late  S"^ 
Jhon  Shene  after  Sir  Thomas  may  pryst  quit  rent  by  the 
yere 

Item  Jhon  Bylling  for  i  tenement  in  Burford  late  Robert 
Leverege  the  rent  therof  by  the  year  xviiid. 

Item  Jhon  Taylor  for  i  tenement  &  i  garden  in  the  hye 
strete  tennaunt  at  wyll  by  y*  yere  xis.  iiiii. 

Item  Richarde  Haynes  for  i  cottage  &  a  garden  beinge 
tennaunt  at  wyll  yerly  xi^.  iiii<?. 

Item  Thomas  Stamford  for  a  cottage  &  a  garden  ten- 
naunt at  will  yerly  vs. 

Item  Jhon  Calaber  for  a  cottage  &  a  garden  tennaunt  at 
wyll  yerly  iiiis. 

Item  W™  Baker  for  a  garden  next  the  parsonage  garden 
yerly  for  y*  same  xvid. 

xxxiiis. 
Summa  totalis  reddituum  ]ms.  viJ, 

Bodl.  MSS.  Arch.  Oxon.  b.  81 

Burgus  de     A  true  Terrier  of  the  Messuages  houses  and  lands  given 
Burford.        to  the  parish  Church  of  Burford  viJ. 

The  tenements 

Imprimis  one  messuage  standing  in  the  streate  there 
called  the  Bull  now  in  the  tenure  of  John  Cooke  rent  per 
annum  -vili. 

Item  one  other  messuage  in  the  same  streate  called  the 
Crowne  now  in  the  tenure  or  occupacion  of  John  Woodward 
rent  yerely  -vili. 

Item  one  Messuage  in  Sheepstreate  in  the  tenure  of  David 
Berry  yerely  rent  xxs. 

Item  one  Messuage  in  the  highstreate  there  in  the  tenure 
of  Edmund  Heming  rent  per  annum  xb. 

Summa     xv/«. 

The  lands 

Item  Twenty  two  Acres  of  errable  Lands  lying  in  the 
feilds  of  Burford  &  Signett  now  in  the  tenure  of  William 
Tailor  of  Burford  chaundeller  Rent  per  annum  xxviy.  \md. 

Some  totall  xvi/j.  vis.  viiii. 


DOCUMENTS  IN  THE  BODLEIAN  LIBRARY     68i 

Wherof  doth  belong  to  the  poore  in  Burford  as  by 

a  decree  in  his  Ma'*  highe  cort  of  Chauncery   plainlie 

appereth  viZt.  wis.  viiii^. 

The  residue  belongeth  to  the  aforesaid  Church  of  the 

parish  of  Burford  being  xZi. 

William  Barthollmew  ' 

thomas  precavance         Church 

Will  Veysey  [  wardens 

Richard  Sessions 

[Note. — This  document  has  on  the  dorse  the  certificate  of  its  production 
in  the  Chancery  case  of  1742  between  the  Burgesses  of  Burford  and  John 
Lenthall  and  Others.] 


E.     BURFORD  AND  UPTON  ENCLOSURE  AWARDS 

The  Enclosure  Awards  for  Burford  (1795)  and  Upton  (1773)  are 
preserved  at  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Peace  at  Oxford.  The 
following  transcripts  have  been  made  from  the  original  documents, 
and  are  in  full,  with  a  few  obvious  abbreviations  of  detail.  The 
Award  maps,  which  should  be  preserved  with  the  Awards,  are  in  both 
cases  missing.  But  when  the  exchanges  of  "enclosures  provided  for 
in  the  Burford  Award  took  place  a  small  map  was  prepared  for  the 
purpose,  which  must  have  been  copied  from  the  Award  Map.  This 
small  map  exists,  and  is  preserved  at  the  Tolsey,  having  been  pre- 
sented by  the  late  Mr.  Jonathan  Banbury.    It  is  dated  1823. 

BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD 
INDEX 


Commissioners         ...... 

Public  Roads  established  by  Award  :  Nos.  i,  2,  3 

»    4.  5.  6 
M    7.  8.  9 
,,     10,  II,  12,  13 
Grass  and  Herbage  of  Roads      .... 

Appointment  of  John  Lenthal  as  Surveyor  of  Roads 
Footways  :   No.  i    . 

Nos.  2,  3,  4  . 
Allotments  for  Stone,  &c. :   Nos.  i,  2 

,.    3.4 
,.     5.  6,  7 
Allotments  : 

Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Caswall,  for  Glebe  Lands  and  right  of 
Common  ......... 

Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Caswall  and  Francis  Knollis,  for  Rectorial 
and  Vicarial  Tithes  .         ...         .         .         .  ■ 


PAGE 

1-2 
2 
3 
4 
5 

5-6 
6 
6 

7 
8 

9 

lO-II 


12-14 


682 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Allotments  {contd.)  :  page 

Tithes  {Vicarial)  to  Francis  Knollis  und  successors      .          .          .  14-15 

John  Lenthal  as  Lord  of  the  Manors  of  Burford  and  Bury  Barns    .  ISA 
John  Lenthal,  for  rights  and  in  lieu  of  meadows  Chavasse's  Ham 

and  Stevens's  Hcim,  1 1  plots 15A-18 

Edward  Ansellior  ^th  aWotment  to 'Lenth.dX       .          .          .          .  18 

R.  C.  Caswall  for  freehold  rights,  4  plots 18-19 

Mary  Legg,  7  plots           ........  20-1 

B.  C.  Finch.  M.  Finch,  and  M.  E.  Tibbut  (?  Tebbut),  3  plots       .  .22 

Elizabeth  Patten 22-3 

Margaret  Faulkner           ........  23 

Brasenose  College  and  Wm.  Boulter,  Lessee          .          .          .          .  23 

Samuel  Heath          .........  23—4 

Thomas  Minchin    .........  24 

Ann  Rich       ..........  24 

Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford,  FeoSees  of  Land  for         .          .  25 

Poor  of  Burford  and  Signet,  Trustees  ioT   .          .          .          .          .  25 

Thomas  Hunt  and  Lois  Heyes  .......  25 

Oriel  College  and  Thomas  Smith,  Lessee      .          .          .          .          .  25 

Church  Land  (Feoffees)    ........  26 

School  Land  (Feoffees)     ........  26 

Richard  Weller,  4  plots    ........  26-7 

James  Hunt  ..........  27 

Notes  on  Other  Clauses  of  Award       .....  28 

Exchanges : 

Caswall  and  Lenthal         .......  29,  30—1 

Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Casufall  and  Lenthal           ....  29 

John  Lenthal  and  Mary  Legg        .         ...         .         .         .  29-30 

„                  Trustees  for  Upton  Poor      ....  30 

„                 Feoffees  of  Fifteens     .....  30 

„                  Feoffees  of  Church  Land      ....  30 

,,                 James  Hunt      ......  3^ 

James  Hunt  and  Mary  Legg     .......  31 

Richard  Weller  and  James  Hunt        .          .          .          .          .          •  3 ' 

Mary  Legg  and  John  Lenthal  .......  31 

Schedule    of    Rectorial    and    Vicarial    Tithes    due    from 
messuages,  gardens,  &c.,  for  which  no  compensation  has  been 

made  in  Land  :    Matthias  Padbury   .....  32 

Wm.  Higgins             .....  32 

Paul  Sylvester          .....  32 

—  Smith 32 

Christopher  Kempster       .          .          .          .  32 

Thomas  Huntley      .          .          .          .          .  33 

Wm,  Chapman         .....  33 

Thos.  Hunt  and  Lois  Heyes       .          .          .  IZ 

Other  Schedules          ........  34-9 

Notes  on  missing  plan,  first  meeting  and  Clerk  to  Commissioners  40 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD 
The  Award  is  date^  28  February,  35  George  III,  1795.    The  Com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  Act,  34  George  III,  for  enclosing  the 
common  fields,  common   meadows,  common  pastures,  and  other 
commonable  lands  of  Burford,  were  John  Chamberlain  of  Cropredy; 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  683 

the  Rev,  John  Horseman  of  Souldem ;  and  John  Davis  of  Bloxham. 
With  them  were^joined,  as  participating  in  the  award,  Edward,  Bishop 
of  Oxford ;  John  Lenthal,  of  Burford  Priory ;  the  Rev.  Robert 
Clarke  Caswall,  as  Lessee  of  the  Bishop  of  the  Impropriate  Rectory  of 
Burford ;  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis  Knollis,  Vicar  of  Burford ; 
the  Rev.  Robert  Clarke  Caswall,  as  proprietor  of  certain  freehold 
lands ;  Mary  Legg,  of  Burford,  widow ;  Richard  Weller,  of  New 
Woodstock,  *  slatter  and  plaisterer ' ;  Edward  Ansell,  of  Burford, 
tanner  ;  John  Kenne,  of  Alvescot,  attorney  and  agent  of  John  Williams 
Willaume,  Esquire,  Trustee  of  the  estates  of  Robert  Fettiplace  for  the 
benefit  of  his  creditors ;  Thomas  Hunt,  of  Burford,  surgeon,  for  and  on 
behalf  of  his  father,  James  Hunt ;  the  Rev.  Francis  Knollis,  John 
Lenthal,  Charles  Fettiplace,  late  of  Swinbrook  and  now  of  Taynton, 
Thomas  Kimber,  of  Burford,  mealman,  and  William  Young,  of  Burford, 
brazier,  as  acting  feoffees  or  trustees  of  the  land  called  the  Church 
Land,  the  School  Land,  and  the  Fifteens ;  and  the  Rev.  Francis 
Knollis  as  surviving  Trustee  of  the  land  for  the  poor  of  Upton. 
The  Award  begins  by  establishing  the  following  roads  : 

1.  One  public  carriage  road  and  drift  way  of  breadth  of  sixty  feet 
being  the  present  turnpike  road  from  Burford  to  Witney. 

2.  One  other  pubhc  carriage  road  and  drift  way  of  the  like  breadth 
of  60  feet  leading  from  and  out  of  the  top  of  a  certain  street  in  Burford 
aforesaid  called  the  High  Street  and  extending  eastward  by  certain 
old  inclosures  in  Burford  aforesaid  known  by  the  name  of  the  Garden 
Ground  and  the  Upper  Leasow  to  a  certain  furlong  known  by  the  name 
of  the  Furlong  crossing  Alvescot  way  from  thence  extending  in  a 
southward  direction  over  the  said  furlong  Bush  and  Pie  furlong 
Butt  furlong  Radcot  furlong  and  Barley  park  piece  to  the  west  comer 
of  a  certain  common  called  Sturt  Down  common  from  thence  over 
the  said  common  by  the  side  of  certain  old  enclosures  known  by  the 
name  of  Sturt  Farm  Grounds  into  the  new  inclosures  of  Shilton  in 
the  county  of  Berks  being  the  intended  track  of  the  Turnpike  Road 
leading  from  Burford  aforesaid  to  Faringdon  in  the  county  of  Berks. 

3.  One  other  pubUc  Carriage  Road  and  Drift  Way  of  the  like 
breadth  of  sixty  feet  leading  from  and  out  of  the  top  of  the  said  High 
Street  in  Burford  aforesaid  and  extending  southward  to  the  Turnpike 
Gate  at  Signet  in  the  said  county  of  Oxford  being  part  of  the  present 
Turnpike  Road  from  Burford  aforesaid  to  Lechlade  in  the  County 
of  Gloucester. 

4.  One  other  public  Carriage  Road  and  Drift  Way  of  the  breadth 


684      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

of  forty  feet  branching  out  of  the  said  first  described  Road  at  or  near 
the  West  comer  of  a  certain  Piece  of  Ground  known  by  the  Name  of 
Hell  Acre,  and  extending  Eastward  to  Widford  Lane  in  the  said  county 
of  Oxford  being  part  of  the  present  Road  from  Burford  aforesaid  to 
Widford  aforesaid. 

5.  One  other  public  Carriage  Road  and  Drift  Way  of  the  like  breadth 
of  forty  feet  branching  out  of  the  second  described  road  at  the  Upper 
Leasow  and  extending  Eastward  of  the  said  Upper  Leasow  along  the 
present  track  called  the  Bird  in  Hand  Road  to  High  Park  Grounds 
to  join  the  first  described  Road  being  the  present  turnpike  Road  from 
Burford  aforesaid  to  Witney  aforesaid. 

6.  One  other  public  Carriage  Road  and  Drift  Way  of  the  like 
breadth  of  forty  feet  branching  of  (sic)  the  second  described  Road  at 
Radcot  Road  furlong  and  extending  south  westward  over  the  same 
furlong  and  Barley  Park  Piece  to  a  certain  gate  leading  into  Sturt 
Farm  being  part  of  the  road  from  Burford  aforesaid  to  Shilton  afore- 
said, 

7.  One  other  public  Carriage  Road  and  Drift  Way  of  the  like 
breadth  of  forty  feet  leading  from  the  West  End  of  a  certain  lane  in 
Burford  called  the  Bird  in  Hand  Lane  at  the  North  West  comer  of 
certain  old  Inclosures  called  eighteen  Acres  Piece  and  extending 
Westward  by  Kerapster's  Comer  into  the  Hamlet  of  Upton  being  part 
of  the  present  road  from  Burford  aforesaid  by  the  Bird  in  Hand  Inn 
towards  Cirencester  in  the  said  County  of  Gloucester. 

8.  One  other  public  Carriage  Way  and  Drift  Way  of  the  like  breadth 
of  forty  feet  leading  out  of  a  certain  Lane  in  Burford  aforesaid  known 
by  the  Name  of  Tanner's  Lane  and  extending  southward  by  the  two 
trees  to  join  the  last  described  road  at  the  South  West  comer  of  a 
certain  old  Inclosure  known  by  the  Name  of  thirty  Acres  Piece. 

9.  One  other  public  Carriage  Way  and  Drift  Way  of  the  like  breadth 
of  forty  feet  branching  out  of  the  seventh  described  Road  at  or  near 
the  North  East  comer  of  a  certain  furlong  called  Fern  Furlong  and 
extending  in  a  South  western  direction  over  the  same  furlong  the 
Furlong  south  of  Fern  Furlong  Hull  Bush  Furlong  the  Furlong  south 
of  Hull  Bush  Furlong  the  Pikes  and  Short  Furlong  to  the  Gate  in  the 
parish  of  Westwell  in  the  said  County  of  Oxford  being  part  of  the  Road 
from  Burford  aforesaid  to  Westwell  aforesaid. 

10.  One  public  Bridle  and  Drift  Road  of  the  Breadth  of  twenty 
feet  leading  out  of  a  certain  road  in  Upton  aforesaid  at  the  south  west 
comer  of  a  garden  known  by  the  Name  of  Phipps's  Garden  and 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  685 

extending  southwards  over  Apple  Pye  Corner  to  a  Gate  leading  into 
Westwell  Grounds. 

11.  One  public  Bridle  Road  and  private  Carriage  Way  of  the 
breadth  of  twenty  feet  leading  out  of  Hollwell  Grounds  and  extending 
westward  over  the  Furlong  between  the  old  Pits  and  Westwell  Hedge 
into  Westwell  Grounds  for  the  Use  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Westwell 
Burford  and  Signet  aforesaid  and  of  Hollwell  in  the  said  County  of 
Oxford. 

12.  One  other  public  Bridle  Road  and  private  Carriage  Way 
of  the  like  breadth  of  twenty  feet  leading  out  of  the  second  described 
road  at  or  near  the  East  Corner  of  Park  Piece  and  extending  eastward 
over  Sturt  Down  Common  into  the  parish  of  Swinbrook  aforesaid 
for  the  use  of  the  inhabitants  of  Westwell  Hollwell  Burford  and 
Signet  aforesaid. 

13.  Also  one  other  public  Bridge  Road  and  Private  Carriage  Way 
of  the  like  breadth  of  twenty  feet  leading  out  of  Shilton  new  Inclosure 
and  extending  Northward  to  High  Park  ground  for  the  use  of  all 
persons  resorting  to  and  returning  from  the  Mill  at  Widford  aforesaid. 

The  Award  proceeds  : 

And  we  the  said  Commissioners  do  hereby  order  and  direct  that 
the  Grass  and  Herbage  of  all  and  every  the  Public  Bridle  roads  and 
Private  Carriage  and  Drift  ways  shall  be  and  remain  to  and  for  the 
use  of  the  several  persons  over  whose  allotments  the  said  Roads  are 
hereinbefore  respectively  directed  to  go  .  .  .  and  that  the  grass  and 
herbage  of  all  and  every  the  public  Carriage  and  Drift  Ways  shall  be 
and  remain  to  and  for  the  use  of  the  several  persons  whose  allotments 
adjoin  thereto. 

Clause  appointing  John  Lenthal  Surveyor  of  all  the  public  Carriage 
and  Drift  Ways  and  directing  him  to  cause  the  said  Ways  to  be 
properly  found  and  put  in  good  and  sufficient  repair  and  afterwards 
to  certify  the  clerk  of  the  peace  of  Quarter  Sessions — Yearly  salary 
of  £xo. 

The  following  Foot  Ways  are  next  established  : 

I.  One  public  Foot  Way  of  the  breadth  of  four  feet  leading  out  of 
the  first  described  road  called  the  Witney  Road  and  extending  East- 
ward through  and  over  the  first  allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said 
Mary  Legg  the  third  allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said  Robert 
Clarke  Caswall  in  lieu  of  his  freehold  Lands  the  fifth  allotment  herein 
awarded  to  the  said  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Robert  Clarke  Caswall 
his  Lessee  in  Lieu  of  rectorial  Tithes  the  first  allotment  herein  awarded 


686  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

to  Benjamin  Cutler  Finch  Matthew  Finch  and  Mary  Eleanor  Tebbut 
wife  of  John  Tebbut  the  third  allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said 
Mary  Legg  into  Widford  Inclosures  being  part  of  the  present  Foot 
Way  from  Burford  aforesaid  to  Widford  aforesaid. 

2.  One  other  pubUc  Foot  Way  of  the  like  breadth  of  four  feet  leading 
out  of  the  said  third  described  road  opposite  Bury  Bams  Homestall 
and  extending  through  and  over  the  second  allotment  herein  awarded 
to  the  said  Robert  Clarke  Caswall  in  lieu  of  his  freehold  lands  to  a  cer- 
tain stile  leading  into  Sturt  Farm  being  part  of  the  present  Foot  Way 
from  Burford  aforesaid  to  Shilton  aforesaid. 

3.  One  other  public  Foot  Way  of  the  like  breadth  of  four  feet 
leading  out  of  the  said  second  described  road  opposite  a  lane  in  Burford 
aforesaid  called  the  back  lane  and  extending  through  and  over  the 
said  second  allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said  Robert  Clarke  Caswall 
in  lieu  of  his  freehold  Lands  through  and  over  the  said  fourth  allot- 
ment herein  awarded  to  the  said  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Robert 
Clarke  Caswall  his  Lessee  in  Lieu  of  rectorial  Tithes  through  and  over 
the  said  second  allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said  John  Lenthal 
to  a  certain  stile  leading  into  Signet  Inclosures  being  part  of  the  present 
Foot  Way  from  Burford  aforesaid  to  Signet  aforesaid. 

4.  One  other  public  Foot  Way  of  the  like  breadth  of  four  feet 
leading  out  of  the  said  seventh  public  Road  herein  described  at  or 
near  the  North  West  Comer  of  eighteen  acres  piece  and  extending 
through  and  over  the  said  third  allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said 
Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Robert  Clarke  Caswall  his  Lessee  in  Lieu 
of  rectorial  Tithes  to  join  the  said  ninth  public  road  herein  described 
at  the  Pikes  being  part  of  the  present  Foot  Way  from  Burford  aforesaid 
to  West  well  aforesaid. 

The  Award  proceeds  : 

The  said  Commissioners  . . .  have  by  virtue  of  the  powers  and  authori- 
ties etc. ...  set  out  and  appointed  for  stone  gravel  pits  or  quarries  for 
the  materials  for  making  the  public  roads  the  following  seven  plots 

parts  of  the  land  directed  by  the  Act  to  be  inclosed. 
a.  r.  p,    ^  •'  .      ^ 

2.  o.  (i)  One  plot  or  piece  of  land  or  ground  situate  on  Whitehill  con- 
taining two  Roods  as  the  same  is  now  admeasured  staked  and  set 
out  Bounded  on  the  north  by  the  first  described  Road  called  the 
Witney  Road  on  the  south  by  the  fifth  described  Road  called  the 
Bird  in  Hand  Road  and  on  the  West  by  the  fifth  allotment  herein 
awarded  to  the  said  Mary  Legg. 

2.  I.        (2)  One  oth6r  plot  or  piece  of  land  or  Ground  situate  on  Whitehill 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  687 

aforesaid  containing  two  roods  and  one  perch  as  the  same  is  now 
admeasured  staked  and  set  out  Bounded  on  part  of  the  north  by 
the  said  fifth  described  road  called  the  Bird  in  Hand  Road  on  the 
remaining  part  of  the  north  by  the  said  first  described  Road  called 
the  Witney  Road  and  on  the  South  by  a  certain  old  inclosure  in 
Burford  aforesaid  known  by  the  name  of  High  Park  Ground.  a.  r.  p 

(3)  One  other  plot  or  piece  of  Land  or  Ground  situate  on  Sturt  2.  o. 
Down  Common  containing  two  Roods  as  the  same  is  now  admeasured 

staked  and  set  out  Bounded  on  part  of  the  north  by  the  second  allot- 
ment herein  awarded  to  the  said  Francis  ICnollis  in  lieu  of  vicarial 
Tithes  on  the  remaining  part  of  the  north  and  the  South  East  by  the 
third  allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said  John  Lenthal  and  on  the 
south  west  by  the  second  described  road  called  the  Faringdon  road. 

(4)  One  other  plot  or  piece  of  land  or  ground  situate  near  the  Leasow  3.  o. 
Wall  containing  three  Roods  as  the  same  is  now  admeasured  staked  . 

and  set  out  Bounded  on  the  north  by  the  said  fifth  described  road 
called  the  Bird  in  Hand  Road  on  the  south  east  by  the  allotment 
herein  awarded  to  Margaret  Faulkner  and  on  the  south  west  by  the 
second  described  road  called  the  Faringdon  Road. 

(5)  One  other  plot  or  piece  of  land  or  Ground  situate  in  Windsmoor  2.  o. 
Hedge  Quarter  containing  two  Roods  as  the  same  is  now  admeasured 

staked  and  set  out  Bounded  on  the  North  and  East  by  the  second 
allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said  Robert  Clarke  Caswall  in  lieu 
of  Freehold  Lands  on  the  south  by  the  fourth  allotment  herein  awarded 
to  the  said  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Robert  Clarke  Caswall  his 
Lessee  in  lieu  of  Rectorial  Tithes  and  on  the  West  by  the  third  public 
Road  herein  described  called  the  Lechlade  Road. 

(6)  One  other  plot  or  piece  of  Land  or  Ground  situate  in  Abigal's  3»  o. 
Bush  Quarter  containing  three  roods  as  the  same  is  now  admeasured 

staked  and  set  out  Bounded  on  the  north  by  the  seventh  public 
Road  herein  described  on  the  south  East  and  South  West  by  the  third 
allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Robert 
Clarke  Caswall  his  Lessee  in  lieu  of  rectorial  Tithes  and  on  the  north 
West  by  the  ninth  public  Road  herein  described  called  the  Westwell 
Road. 

(7)  One  other  Plot  or  Piece  of  Land  or  Ground  situate  in  Abigal's  i.  o. 
Bush  Quarter  containing  one  Rood  as  the  same  is  now  admeasured 

staked  and  set  out  Bounded  on  the  West  and  North  by  the  second 
allotment  herein  awarded  to  the  said  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Robert 
Clarke  Caswall  his  Lessee  in  Lieu  of  rectorial  Tithes  and  on  the  South 


688      CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

by  the  said  ninth  pubHc  road  herein  described  called  the  Westwell 
Road, 

Allotment  in  lieu  of  Glebe  Lands  and  right  of  Common  to  Edward 

Glebe     Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Robert  Clarke  Caswall  as  his  lessee, 
a,  r.  p. 
92.  3.25.      Ground  in  Abigal's  Bush  Quarter  contammg  92  acres  3  roods  and 

25  perches    Bounded  on  the  north  by  road  7  on  S.E.  by  road  9  on  S.W. 

by  the  second  allotment  to  the  Bishop  and  Caswall  in  lieu  of  rectorial 

Tithes  and  on  several  parts  of  North  West  and  North  by  old  inclosures 

in  the  Hamlet  of  Upton,  and  every  part  thereof  next  to  the  tenth 

allotment  to  John  Lenthal  for  the  purpose  of  being  exchanged. 

Allotment  to  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Caswall  and  to  Francis  KnoUis 
in  lieu  of  Rectorial  and  Vicarial  Tithes  of  tithable  parts  of  Common 
Tithes    fields. 

471.  i".  10.      Nine  plots  part  of  common  lands  containing  471a.  ir.  lop. 

(i)  Situate  in  the  Garden  Ground  in  Upton  7a.  3r.  i2p.  Bounded 
on  N.  by  fourth  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange  on  several  parts 
of  S.E.  and  S.  by  the  second  allotment  to  Bishop  of  Oxford  and 
Caswall  and  on  West  by  road  from  Upton  to  Westwell. 

(ii)  Situate  in  Hull  Bush  Quarter  52a.  2r.  39p.  Bounded  on  N.E. 
by  Glebe  Lands  allotment  on  several  parts  of  S.E.  and  S.  by  9th  road 
and  7th  stone  allotment  on  S.  and  W.  by  the  old  inclosures  of  Westwell 
on  several  parts  of  N.  and  N.W.  by  the  ist  allotment  for  rectorial 
Tithes  on  other  parts  of  W.  and  on  S.  by  4th  allotment  to  Lenthal 
for  exchange  and  on  rest  of  west  by  other  inclosures  in  Upton. 

(iii)  Ground  in  Abigal's  Bush  Quarter  252a.  2r.  33p.  Bounded 
N.  by  road  7  on  several  parts  of  E.  S.  and  N.  by  old  inclosures  in  Bur-* 
ford  called  the  Eighteen  acres  on  E.  by  Lechlade  Turnpike  Road  on. 
S.E.  by  Signet  Green  on  several  parts  of  S.  and  W.  and  E.  by  old 
inclosures  in  Upton  on  S.  and  S.W.  by  the  ist  allotment  to  Caswall 
for  freehold  Lands  on  N.W.  by  road  9  and  on  N.  and  N.W.  by  6th 
allotment  for  stone, 

(iv)  Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  41a.  2r.  3'ip.  Bounded  on  part  of 
N.  by  5th  allotment  for  stone,  on  rest  of  N.  and  on  E,  by  2nd 
allotment  to  Caswall  for  freehold  lands  on  part  of  south  by  2nd  allot-* 
ment  to  Lenthal  on  remaining  part  of  S.  by  allotment  to  Trustees  for 
poor  of  Burford  and  Signet  and  on  W.  by  Lechlade  Turnpike 
Road. 

(v)  Ground  in  High  Meadow  4a,  3r.  36p,  (exclusive  of  footway 
passing  over  same  as  hereby  directed)    Bounded  on  N.  N.E.  and  N.W*. 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  689 

by  Windnish  on  E.  by  ist  allotment  to  B.  C.  Finch,  M.  Finch,  and 
Eleanor  Tebbut  on  part  of  S.  by  an  old  inclosure  in  Burford  called 
Bob's  Ham  on  rest  of  S.  by  Witney  Turnpike  Road  and  on  W.  by 
3rd  allotment  to  Caswall  for  freehold  lands. 

(iv)  Ground  in  Sturt  Common  set  out  with  intent  to  exchange  with 
John  Lenthal  iia.  or.  gp.  Bounded  N.W.  and  N.E.  by  3rd  allotment 
to  John  Lenthal  on  S.E.  by  Shilton  new  Inclosures  on  S.W.  by  7th 
allotment  to  Mary  Legg  for  exchange. 

Boundary  fences  to  2nd  allotment  3rd  allotment  4th  allotment 
and  5th  allotment  to  be  made  with  quick  set  hedges  or  stone  walls  by 
the  commoners  except  the  Bishop,  Caswall,  and  Knollis  and  kept  up 
for  7  years — after  that  by  the  Bishop,  Caswall,  and  owners  for  the 
time  being. 

Tithes  (Vicarial). 

To  Francis  Knollis  and  his  successors. 

(i)  Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  loa.  ir.  35p.  Bounded  on  N.W.  by 
Faringdon  Turnpike  on  S.  by  old  inclosures  in  Signet  called  Sturt 
Grounds.  ' 

(ii)  Ground  in  White  Hill  Quarter  84a.  2r.  23p.  Bounded  on  N. 
by  5th  public  road  on  E.  and  N.  by  6th  allotment  to  Mary  Legg 
on  several  parts  of  S.E.,  S.W.  and  part  of  S.  by  3rd  allotment  to 
John  Lenthal  on  rest  of  S.  by  3rd  allotment  for  stone  on  S.W.  by 
2nd  public  road  called  the  Faringdon  Turnpike  Road  and  on  N.W. 
by  2nd  allotment  to  Finches  and  Tebbut. 

(iii)  Ground  in  High  Meadow  5a.  or.  32p.  exclusive  of  footway  over 
same  Bounded  on  N.  and  N.W.  by  Windrush  on  E.  by  second  allot- 
ment to  Mary  Legg  on  several  parts  oi  S.  and  E.  by  ah  old  inclosure 
in  Burford  called  Long  Close  on  rest  of  S.  by  4th  public  road  and 
on  N.  and  W.  by  6th  allotment  to  Finches  and  Tebbut. 

Similar  provision  as  to  fencing. 

John  Lenthal  as  Lord  of  the  Manors  of  Burford  and  Bury 
Barns. 

Ground  in  Sturt  Down  Common  la.  ir.  Bounded  on  N.E.  by  7th 
allotment  to  Mary  Legg  for  exchange  on  S.E.,  S.W.,  and  N.W.  by 
3rd  allotment  to  Lenthal — this  allotment  as  compensation  for  lord 
of  manor's  right  and  interests  in  waste  lands. 

Division  of  residue  of  open  and  commo^n  fields  common  meadows 
common  pastures  and  other  commonable  lands  among  their  several 
owners  and  proprietors  and  other  people  interested  therein. 

2304  Y  y 


690  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

John  Lenthal,  in  lieu  of  rights  and  in  lieu  of  his  two  meadows  called 
Chavasse's  Ham  and  Stevens's  Ham.     ii  plots  of  ground. 

(i)  Ground  in  Batledge  Quarter  7a.  ar.  28p.  Bounded  on  N.W. 
and  N.E.  by  4th  allotment  to  Caswall  for  freehold  lands  for  exchange 
on  S.E.  by  8th  public  road    on  S.  by  seventh  public  road. 

(ii)  Ground  in  Windsmoor  Hedge  Quarter  17a.  or.  i3p.  exclusive 
of  footway  Bounded  on  S.  by  4th  allotment  to  Bishop  of  Oxford  and 
Caswall  for  rectorial  tithes  on  E.  by  second  allotment  to  Caswall  for 
freehold  lands  on  S.  by  ancient  inclosures  in  Signet  on  part  of 
W.  by  6th  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange  and  on  rest  of  W.  by 
allotment  to  trustees  for  the  poor  of  Burford  and  Signet. 

(iii)  Ground  in  Sturt  Down  Common  68a.  3r.  ip.  exclusive  of  2 
Bridle  roads  Bounded  on  several  parts  of  N.W.,  N.  and  N.E.  by  2nd 
allotment  to  KnoUis  for  vicarial  Tithes  on  rest  of  N.  and  part  of  E. 
by  ancient  inclosures  in  Burford  called  High  Park  Grounds  on  E.  by 
open  and  common  fields  of  Swinbrook  on  part  of  S.W.  and  S.E.  by 
6th  allotment  for  rectorial  tithes  for  exchange  on  other  parts  of  S.E. 
and  N.E.  by  7th  allotment  to  Mary  Legg  for  exchange  on  part  of 
S.E.,  N.E.  and  N.W.  by  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  manorial  rights  on 
rest  of  S.E.  by  new  inclosures  of  Shilton  on  rest  of  S.W.  by  2nd  public 
road    on  rest  of  N.W.  and  on  S.  by. 3rd  allotment  for  stone. 

(iv)  Ground  of  Edward  Ansell  in  Upton  6a.  or.  2ip.  with  a  piece  of 
land  of  Edward  Ansell  being  an  old  inclosure  called  Ansell's  Ham 
2r.  i6p. — in  lieu  of  a  meadow  of  John  Lenthal  in  Fulbrook  called 
Bridge  Meadow  of  2a.  or.  ip,,  allotted  for  purpose  of  passing  in  exchange 
to  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Caswall  Bounded  on  part  of  N.  and  N.W. 
by  old  inclosures  in  Upton  on  rest  of  N.  and  on  S.E.  by  2nd  allotment 
for  rectorial  Tithes  on  S.  by  ist  allotment  for  rectorial  Tithes  and 
on  W.  by  other  old  inclosures  in  Upton. 

(v)  Ground  in  Further  White  Hill  Quarter  for  exchange  with  Mary 
Legg  12a.  2r.  28p.  Bounded  on  N.  by  allotment  to  James  Hunt  for 
exchange  on  parts  of  E.,  on  S.  and  on  N.E,  by  old  inclosures  in 
Widford    on  S.  and  W.  by  4th  allotment  to  Mary  Legg. 

(vi)  Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  for  exchange  with  Trustees  for  poor 
of  Upton  2a.  2r.  op.  Bounded  on  N.  by  allotment  to  trustees  for  poor 
of  Burford  and  Signet  on  E.  by  2nd  allotment  to  Lenthal  on  S. 
by  an  old  inclosure  in  Signet  on  W.  by  Common  Green  of  Signet. 

(vii)  Ground  in  Windsmoor  Hedge  Quarter  for  exchange  with 
feoffees  of  Fifteens  land  la.  or.  24p.  Bounded  on  N.E.  by  2nd  public 
road    on  S.  by  8th  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange    on  W.  and  N. 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  691 

by  allotment  to  feoffees  for  benefit  of  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Burford 
aforesaid. 

(viii)  Ground  in  Windsmoor  Hedge  Quarter  for  exchange  with 
feoffees  of  Church  lands  oa.  ir.  319.  Bounded  on  N.E.  by  2nd  public 
road  on  S.  by  3rd  allotment  to  Finches  and  Tebbut  on  W.  by  allot- 
ment to  feoffees  for  benefit  of  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  on  N.  by  7th 
allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange. 

(ix)  Ground  in  Whore's  Quarter  for  exchange  with  Caswall  90a.  ar. 
9p.  Bounded  N.  by  ist  allotment  to  Caswall  for  freehold  lands  on 
several  parts  of  E.,  S.,  S.E.,  N.E.  and  S.W.  by  ancient  inclosures  in 
Signet  and  on  several  parts  of  S.W.,  S.E.,  S.  and  N.W.  by  old  in- 
closures in  Westwell. 

(x)  Ground  in  Abigal's  Bush  Quarter  for  exchange  with  Bishop 
of  Oxford  and  Caswall  for  Glebe  la.  or.  7p.  Bounded  on  N.,  E.,  S., 
and  W.  by  allotment  for  Glebe. 

(xi)  Ground  in  Stevens's  Ham  for  exchange  with  James  Hunt 
la.  or.  op.  Bounded  on  N.,  part  of  N.W.  and  part  of  S.E.  by  Windrush 
on  rest  of  S.E.  by  allotment  to  Richard  Weller  on  part  of  S.W.  and 
on  E.  by  old  inclosure  in  Signet  called  Hunt's  Close  on  S.  by  Witney 
Turnpike  Road    and  on  N.W.  by  ist  allotment  to  Richard  Weller. 

Allotment  to  Edward  Ansell.    In  lieu  of  4th  allotment  to  Lenthal. 
Bridge  meadow  of  John  Lenthal  2a.  or.  ip. 

Allotment  to  Robert  Clarke  Caswall  in  lieu  of  his  freehold  rights. 
Four  plots. 

(i)  Ground  in  Whore's  Quarter  40a.  or.  32P.  Bounded  on  part  of 
N.W.  by  9th  public  road  called  Westwell  Road  on  N.E.  and  N.  by 
3rd  allotment  for  rectorial  tithes  on  E.  by  an  old  inclosure  in  Signet 
called  the  tenacres  on  S.  by  9th  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange 
and  on  S.W.  by  an  old  inclosure  in  Westwell. 

(ii)  Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  119a.  zr.  3op.  exclusive  of  footways 
Bounded  on  part  of  N.E.  by  2nd  public  road  called  Faringdon  Turnpike 
Road  on  S.E.  by  allotment  to  Thomas  Minchin  for  lands  purchased 
of  Matthias  Padbury  on  part  of  E.  by  allotment  to  Ann  Rich,  widow, 
on  remaining  part  of  E.  by  allotment  to  feoffees  for  benefit  of  Bailiffs 
and  Burgesses  on  other  part  of  N.E.  and  N.  by  3rd  allotment  to  Finches 
and  Tebbut  on  rest  of  N.E.  by  Faringdon  Turnpike  Road  on  S.E.  by 
6th  public  road  on  several  parts  of  S.W,,  E.  and  W.  by  Sturt  Grounds 
on  part  of  W.  by  2nd  allotment  to  Lenthal  on  rest  of  W.  and  other 
part  of  S.  by  4th  allotment  for  rectorial  tithes    on  part  of  N.W.  and 

Y  y  2 


692  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

remaining  part  of  S.  by  5th  allotment  for  stone  on  N.W.  by  3rd 
described  road  called  Lechlade  Turnpike  Road. 

(ill)  Ground  in  High  Meadow  7a.  or.  34p.  exclusive  of  footway 
Bounded  on  N.  and  N.E.  by  Windrush  on  S.E.  by  5th  allotment 
for  rectorial  tithes  on  S.  by  Witney  Turnpike  Road  and  on  N.W.  by 
first  allotment  to  Mary  Legg. 

(iv)  Ground  in  Batledge  Quarter  for  exchange  with  Lenthal  39a. 
3r.  i6p.  Bounded  on  several  parts  of  W.  and  N.  by  ancient  inclosures 
in  Burford  on  remaining  part  of  N.  by  a  common  Street  in  Burford 
on  a  small  part  of  E.  by  a  Homestall  in  occupation  of  Thomas  Merrick 
on  rest  of  E.  by  Tanner's  Lane  Road  on  part  of  S.  and  on  remaining 
part  of  E.  by  ist  allotment  to  Lenthal  and  on  rest  of  S.  by  7th  public 
road. 

(N.B. — ^This  was  not  inclosed  towards  the  '  common  street '  or 
towards  Tanner's  Lane.) 

Allotment  to  Mary  Legg,  widow,  for  rights  and  interests.    7  plots. 

(i)  Ground  in  the  West  End  of  High  Meadow  2a.  3r.  22p.  exclusive 
of  footway  Bounded  on  several  parts  of  N.,  W.,  E.  and  S.E.  by  the 
Windrush  on  remaining  part  of  S.E.  by  3rd  allotment  to  Caswall  and 
on  S.W.  by  Witney  Turnpike  Road. 

(Fences  to  be  made  next  to  Caswall  and  next  to  Witney  Turnpike 
Road.) 

(ii)  Ground  in  East  End  of  High  Meadow  6a.  ir.  36p.  Bounded  on 
several  parts  of  N.  and  N.E.  by  Windrush  on  E.  by  an  old  inclosure 
in  Burford  called  Long  Close  and  on  W.  by  3rd  allotment  for  vicarial 
Tithes. 

(iii)  Ground  in  Hell  Acre  oa.  2r.  36p.  Bounded  on  S.W.  by  Witney 
Turnpike  Road  on  N.  by  4th  public  road  on  E.  and  S.  by  old 
inclosures  in  Burford  called  White  Hill  Ground. 

(iv)  Ground  in  the  Farther  White  Hill  {sic)  19a.  ir.  7p.  Bounded 
on  parts  of  N.,  W.  and  S.W.  by  old  inclosures  called  White  Hill  ground 
on  other  part  of  N.  by  4th  public  road  on  N.E.  by  old  inclosures  in 
Widford  on  S.  and  on  small  part  of  E.  by  allotment  to  James  Hunt 
for  exchange  on  other  part  of  E.  and  rest  of  N.  by  5th  allotment  to 
Lenthal  for  exchange  on  rest  of  E.  by  old  inclosures  in  Widford  and 
on  S.W.  by  Witney  Turnpike  Road. 

(v)  Ground  in  the  Homeward  Whitehill  47a.  2r.  4p.  Bounded  on 
N.  and  N.E.  by  Witney  Turnpike  Road  on  E.  by  the  ist  allotment 
for  stone  •  on  part  of  S.  by  5th  pubhc  road  called  Bird  in  Hand  road 
on  part  of  N.W.  and  rest  o   S.  by  allotment  to  Brasenose  College  and 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  693 

William  Boulter  lessee  on  rest  of  N.W.  by  old  inclosures  in  Burford 
called  Spring  Grounds. 

(vi)  Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  19a.  or.  38p.  Bounded  on  N.  by  5th 
public  road  called  Bird  in  Hand  Road  on  S.E.  by  old  inclosure  in 
Burford  called  High  Park  Grounds  on  S.  and  W.  by  2nd  allotment 
for  vicarial  tithes. 

(vii)  Ground  in  Sturt  Down  Common  for  exchange  with  John 
Lenthal  6a.  2r.  21  p.  Bounded  on  N.E.  by  6th  allotment  to  Bishop 
of  Oxford  and  Caswall  by  exchange  on  S.E.  by  new  inclosures  of 
Shilton  on  part  of  S.W.  by  3rd  allotment  to  Lenthal  on  rest  of  S.W. 
by  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  manorial  rights  and  on  N.W.  by  3rd 
allotment  to  Lenthal. 

Allotment  to  Benjamin  Cutler  Finch,  Matthew  Finch,  and 
Mary  Eleoner  T^ebbvt  for  rights  and  interests.    3  plots. 

(i)  Ground  in  High  Meadow  3a.  2r.  39p.  Bounded  on  N.W.,  N. 
and  N.E.  by  Windrush  on  E.  and  S.E.  by  3rd  allotment  for  vicarial 
tithes  on  part  of  S.  by  4th  public  road  on  part  of  W.  and  rest  of  S. 
by  an  old  inclosure  in  Burford  called  Bob's  Ham  on  rest  of  W.  by  5th 
allotment  for  rectorial  tithes. 

(ii)  Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  and  Windsmoor  Hedge  Quarter 
50a.  or.  25p.  Bounded  on  part  of  N.  by  5th  pubhc  road  called  Bird 
in  Hand  road  on  S.E.  by  2nd  allotment  for  vicarial  tithes  on  S.W. 
by  Faringdon  Turnpike  Road  on  rest  of  N.  and  on  N.W.  by  allotment 
to  EUzabeth  Butler. 

(iii)  Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  and  Windsmore  Hedge  Quarter 
27a.  ir.  i8p.  Bounded  on  N.E.  by  2nd  public  road  called  Faringdon 
Turnpike  Road  on  S.  and  S.W.  by  2nd  allotment  to  Caswall  on  part 
of  N.  by  allotment  to  feoffees  for  benefit  of  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of 
Burford  and  on  rest  of  north  by  8th  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange. 

Allotment  to  Elizabeth  Patten  in  lieu  of  rights  and  interests. 

Ground  in  Windsmore  Hedge  Quarter  31a.  3r.  op.  Bounded  on 
N.  by  5th  public  road  called  Bird  in  Hand  road  on  S.E.  and  S.  by 
2nd  allotment  to  Finches  and  Tebbut  on  S.W.  by  2nd  described 
road  called  Faringdon  Turnpike  Road  and  on  N.W.  by  allotment 
to  Margaret  Faulkner. 

Allotment  to  Margaret  Faulkner /tw  rights  and  interests. 

Ground  in  Windsmore  Hedge  Quarter  28a.  ir,  i5p.  Bounded  on 
N.  by  5th  public  road  called  Bird  in  Hand  road    on  S.E.  by  allotment 


694  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

to  Eliz.  Patten  on  S.E.  by  2nd  public  road  called  Faringdon  Turn- 
pike :^oad    on  N.W.  by  4th  allotment  "for  stone. 

Allotment  to  Brasenose  College  and  Wm.  Boulter  their 
Lessee /or  rights  and  interests. 

Ground  in  the  Homeward  White  Hill  3a.  3r.  3op.  Bounded  on  part 
of  N.W.  by  allotment  to  Samuel  Heath  for  lands  purchased  of  Robert 
Woodman  on  rest  of  N.W.  and  on  part  of  N.  by  old  inclosures  in 
Burford  called  the  Leasows  on  rest  of  N.  and  on  S.E.  by  5th  allot- 
ment to  Mary  Legg  and  on  S.  by  5th  public  road  called  Bird  in 
Hand  road. 

Allotment  to  Samuel  Heath  with  consent  of  John  Kenn  testified  by 
his  being  made  a  party  to  these  presents  for  rights  and  interests. 

Ground  in  the  Leasows  la.  2X.  35p.  Bounded  on  N.W.  and  N.E. 
by  old  inclosures  in  Burford  called  the  Leasows  on  S.E.  by  allot- 
ment to  Brasenose  College  and  on  S.  by  5th  public  road  called  Bird  in 
Hand  Road. 

To  Thomas  Minchin  inlieuof  lands  purchased  of  Mattbias  Padbury. 

Ground  in  Windsmoor  Hedge  Quarter  3a.  3r.  op.  Bounded  N.  and 
N.E.  by  2nd  public  road  called  Faringdon  Turnpike  Road  on  S.  by 
allotment  to  Ann  Rich    on  N.W.  by  2nd  allotment  to  Caswall. 

Allotment  to  Ann  Rich  for  rights  and  interests. 
,    Ground  in  Windsmoor  Hedge  Quarter  7a.  3r.  8p.    Bounded  N.  by 
allotment  to  Minchin     on  N.E.  by  2nd  pubUc  road  called  Faringdon 
Turnpike  Road     on  S.  by  allotment  to  feoffees  for  benefit  of  Bailiffs 
and  Burgesses  of  Burford  and  on  W.  by  2nd  allotment  to  Caswall. 

Allotment  to  Francis  Knollis,  John  Lenthal,  Charles  Fetti- 
PLACE,  Thomas  Kimber,  and  William  Young,  and  also  George 
Davis,  late  of  Ducklington  now  of  Bensington,  Esquire,  as  feoffees  of  the 
land  for  the  benefit  of  the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses. 

Ground  in  Windsmoor  Hedge  Quarter  15a.  2r.  32p.  Bounded 
N.  by  allotment  to  Ann  Rich  on  part  of  N.E.  by  2nd  public  Road 
called  Faringdon  Turnpike  Road  on  parts  of  S.  and  rest  of  N.E.  by 
7th  and  8th  allotments  to  Lenthal  for  exchange  on  rest  of  S.  by  3rd 
allotment  to  Finches  and  Tebbut    on  W.  by  2nd  allotment  to  Caswall. 

Allotment  to  Caswall  as  lessee  of  the  Impropriate  Rectory  and  his 
successors,  to  Francis  ^^oiaas, vicar, and  his  successors,  John  Lenthal, 
Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Burford,  and  his  successors  as  Trustees  for  the  Poor 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  695 

oj  Burford  and  Signet  in  lieu  of  the  right  'of  the  poor  to  cut  furze  in  Sturt 
Down. 

Ground  in  Sturt  Quarter  5a.  or.  32p.  Bounded  N.  by  4th  allotment 
for  rectorial  tithes  on  E.  by  2nd  allotment  to  Lenthal  on  S.  by 
6th  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange  and  on  W.  by  Lechlade  Turn- 
pike Road. 

Allotment  to  Thomas  Hunt  and  Lois  HEYEs/<jr  rights  and  interests. 
Ground  in  Stevens's  Ham  oa.  ir.  32p.  Bounded  on  N.  by  back 
water  course  running  from  Higgins's  Mill  into  the  Windrush  on  S.E. 
by  allotment  to  Oriel  on  S.  by  Witney  Turnpike  Road  and  on  N.W. 
by  an  old  inclosure  in  Burford  called  Chavasse's  Paddock. 

Allotment  to  Oriel  College  and  Thomas  Smith,  lessee  for  rights 
and  interests. 

Ground  in  Stevens's  Ham  oa.  or.  29p.  Bounded  N.  by  the  same  back 
water  course  on  S.E.  by  allotment  to  feoffees  of  Church  Land  on  S. 
by  Witney  Turnpike  Road    on  N.W.  by  allotment  to  Hunt  and  Heyes. 

Allotment  to  Francis  Knollis,  John  Lenthal,  Charles  Fetti- 
PLACE,  Thomas  Kimber,  William  Young,  and  George  Davis, 
Feoffees  of  Church  Land. 

Ground  in  Stevens's  Ham  oa.  ir.  24p.  Bounded  N.  by  Windrush 
S.E.  by  allotment  to  feoffees  of  School  Land  on  S.  by  Witney  Turn- 
pike Road    on  S.W.  by  allotment  to  Oriel. 

Allotment  to  the  Same  as  feoffees  of  the  School  Land. 

Ground  in  Stevens's  Ham  la.  3r.  igp.  Bounded  on  several  points 
on  N.W.,  S.,  N.,  and  N.E.  by  the  Windrush  on  S.E.  by  ist  allotment 
to  Richard  Weller  on  S.  by  Witney  Turnpike  Road  and  on  N.W. 
(?  S.W.)  by  allotment  to  feoffees  of  Church  Land. 

Allotment  to  Richard  Weller  for  rights  and  interests.   4  plots. 

(i)  Ground  in  Stevens's  Ham  and  in  Chavasse's  Ham  la.  or.  6p. 
Bounded  on  several  parts  of  N.E.,  N.,  and  N.W.  by  the  Windrush 
on  S.E.  by  nth  allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange  on  S.  by  Witney 
Turnpike  Road  and  on  N.W.  by  allotment  to  feoffees  of  School  Land. 

(ii)  Ground  in  Kempster's  Comer  2a.  2r.  32p.  Bounded  on  W. 
N.,  and  E.  by  old  inclosure  in  Upton  and  on  S.  by  7th  public  road 
from  Burford  to  Cirencester. 

(iii)  Ground  in  Upton  Inclosures  4a.  ir.  i8p.  Bounded  on  N.  by 
said  road  to  Cirencester  on  several  parts  of  E.  and  part  of  S.  by  allot- 
ment for  Glebe    on  remaining  part  of  S.  by  another  old  inclosure  in 


696  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Upton  and  on  W.  by  another  old  inclosure  in  Upton  called  Hunt's 
Ground  and  hereinafter  exchanged. 

(John  Kenn) 

(iv)  Ground  in  Chavasse's  Ham  la.  ir.  29p.  Bounded  on  E.,  N. 
and  W.  by  Windrush  on  small  part  of  S.  and  on  S.E.  by  a  small 
meadow  called  Legg's  meadow  hereinafter  exchanged  on  S.W.  by  old 
inclosures  in  Burford  called  Hunt's  Closes  and  on  N.W.  by  nth 
allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange. 

Allotments  to  Hunt  and  Heyes,  Oriel,  Church  Land,  School  Land 
and  ist  and  4th  to  Weller  are  with  the  consent  of  Lenthal,  he  having 
received  compensation  by  other  allotments. 

Allotment  to  James  Hunt /or  rights  and  interests. 

Ground  in  Farther  White  Hill  la.  2r.  23p.  for  exchange  with  Mary 
Legg  Bounded  W.  and  N.  by  4th  allotment  to  Mary  Legg  on  E. 
and  part  of  S.  by  an  old  inclosure  in  Widford  on  rest  of  S.  by  5th 
allotment  to  Lenthal  for  exchange. 

Clause  that  these  allotments  are  all  in  Burford  and  compensation 
for  all  rights  and  interests  in  common  fields. 

Clause  reciting  authority  to  authorize  exchanges  for  greater  con- 
venience. 
Exchanges. 

To  Caswall.    9th  allotment  to  Lenthal. 

To  Lenthal  in  Exchange.  Pieces  of  Land  called  Upton  Meadow 
3a.  2r.  22p.  the  Bank  called  Femhill  Bank  3a.  2r.  i6p.  Part  of  meadow 
adjoining  2a.  3r.  22p.  Small  piece  of  land  in  Ladwell  Meadow  oa.  31. 
25p.  The  Northward  Thirty-acre  piece  7a.  3r.  i9p.  the  Southward 
thirty  acre  piece  9a.  3r.  21  p.  Two  several  pieces  of  inclosed  land  in 
Signet  called  the  Down  Ground  14a.  ir.  27p.  and  the  Down  Bottom 
4a.  3r.  I  op.    Making  together  48a.  or.  2p. 

Exchange  between  Bishop  of  Oxford  and  Caswall  and  John 
Lenthal. 

To  Bishop  and  Caswall.  loth  allotment  to  Lenthal  in  exchange 
for  piece  of  ground  in  Upton  Meadow  called  Glebe  Piece  oa.  2r.  2op. 

4th  allotment  to  Lenthal  in  exchange  for  6th  allotment  for  rectorial 
tithes. 

John  Lenthal  and  Mary  Legg. 

To  Mary  Legg.  5th  allotment  to  Lenthal  in  exchange  for  two 
several  closes  in  Upton  called  Upston's  Withys  2a.  or.  i2p.  and  Lane's 
Close  3a.  ir.  i6p.    Together  5a.  ir.  28p. 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  697 

John  Lenthal  and  Trustees  for  Upton  Poor. 

To  Trustees.  6th  allotment  to  Lenthal  in  exchange  for  Ground  in 
Upton  called  the  Great  Downs  8  acres. 

John  Lenthal  and  Feoffees  of  Fifteens. 

To  Feoffees.  7th  allotment  to  Lenthal  in  exchange  for  ground  on 
west  side  of  the  garden  ground  called  Phipps's  Garden  in  Upton 
la.  2X.  2ip. 

John  Lenthal  and  Feoffees  of  Church  Land. 

To  Feoffees.  8th  allotment  to  Lenthal  in  exchange  for  piece  of 
inclosed  ground  also  on  West  side  of  Phipps's  Garden  in  Upton 
2r.  2ip. 

John  Lenthal  and  James  Hunt. 

To  Hunt.  I  ith  allotment  to  Lenthal  in  exchange  for  close  in  Burford 
called  Hallcroft  close  oa.  y.  3op. 

Caswall  and  Lenthal. 

To  Lenthal.  4th  allotment  to  Caswall  (Batledge)  in  exchange  for 
several  pieces  of  inclosed  land  at  Signet  called  Hiron's  Fatting  Close 
4a.  or.  39p.  Close  and  garden  called  Blacksmith's  Close  5a.  ir.  'i6p. 
The  Pump  Ground  12a.  or.  8p.  The  Homeward  Hollwell  Ground 
22a.  ir,  5p.  Middle  Hollwell  Ground  13a.  3r.  iSp.  Further  Hollwell 
Ground  22a.  2r.  i6p.  and  a  small  part  of  Hiron's  Back  Yard  being 
the  westward  part  containing  23p. — together  80a.  2r.  5p. 

James  Hunt  and  Mary  Legg. 

To  Mary  Legg.  Hunt's  allotment  in  Further  White  Hill  in  exchange 
for  piece  of  meadow  ground  called  Legg's  Ham  2r.  i3p. 

Richard  Weller  and  James  Hunt. 

To  Hunt.  4th  allotment  to  Weller  in  exchange  for  piece  of  ground 
in  Upton  called  Wiggins's  Ground  2a.  ir.  ip. 

Mary  Legg  and  John  Lenthal. 

To  Lenthal.  7th  allotment  to  Mary  Legg  in  exchange  for  piece  of 
inclosed  ground  called  Long  Close  3a.  3r.  6p. 

To  the  Award  is  affixed  a  schedule  of  the  sums  due  in  rectorial 
and  vicarial  tithes  from  messuages,  tenements,  gardens,  old  inclosures, 
&c.,  for  which  no  compensation  had  been  made  in  land. 


698 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Quantities. 

Rector. 

Vicar. 

a. 

r. 

P- 

i     s. 

d. 

s. 

d. 

Matthias  Padbury 

Paper    Mill    and 

Premises 

in 

occupation  of  — 

•  Ward. 

. 

3 

0 

2 

5 

34 

5 

4i 

The  Copse 

. 

I 

II 

— 

H 

Warner's  Close  in  occupation 

of 

Widow  Warner 

• 

• 

I 

0 

6 

•  — 

3 

«i 

5     3i 


William  Higgins 

Mill  and  Premises  in  occupation 

of  himself    .  ... 

The  Meadow  .... 


Paul  Silvester 

Lady  Ham      .... 

—  Smith 

Drying  Yatd  in  occupation  of 
—  Beal        .... 

Christopher  Kempster 
Picked  Close  .... 
Homestead  Orchard  and  Close  . 
The  Saintfoin  Ground 
The  Clover  Ground 


Thomas  Huntley 

School  Ground  and  Premises     . 

Burnet  Close  .... 

Two  Cottages  and  Garden  in 
occupation  of  Barrett  and 
Green  .... 


Mr.  Chapman 

Houses,  Gardens  and  Premises 

Thomas  Hunt  and  Lois  Heyes 
Upton  Ground  in  occupation  of 

Chas.  Mills 
Upton  Bam  Yard  and  Close 
Upton  Close  west  of  ditto 
Houses  Yards  and  Gardens  in 

the  Town    .... 


3     32 


9      9 


2    25 

I  36 

19      2i 

2 

9 

3 

7 

— 

19      2j 

II 

10 

2         8 

4     oi 

2 

oi 

7 
6 
6 

3     21 
0     38 
0     21 
3     29 

I     34 
9     5 
I       0    0 

I       3     8i 

6 
4 

5 

7f 
8 
0 
04 

2     14     5 

16 

4l 

I 

2       6 
2      16 

I     5 

5 

a 

— 

— 

I 

2 

— 

I     5 

•      7 

si 

I 

I      32 

I     I 

3 

84 

8 
I 

I 

3     20 

0  20 

1  32 

I      4    H 

2      0 

4    0 

5 

I 
I 

2f 

8| 
9i 

— 

— 

9% 

I     10     8J 


BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD 


699 


Thomas  Clare 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

occ.  Chas.  Legg 

s.      d. 
6i 

Edward  Daniel 

Do. 

occ.  Bunting  &  Co. 

I       7 

Jacob  James 

Do. 

own  occ. 

I       0 

Joseph  Strafford 

Do. 

Do. 

2       0 

Danl.  Faulkner 

Do. 

Do. 

4 

William  Young 

Do. 

occ.  Wm.  Hemmings 

10 

Padbury  &  Rich 

Do. 

Jas.  Wickins 

5 

Do. 

Do. 

Robt.  Harris 

3 

Do. 

Do. 

Robt.  Sperrinck 

3 

Bucklands  Garden 

own  occ. 

I       4 

Richard  Swancot 

Do. 

Do. 

4 

Feoffees  of  Church 

Do. 

John  Stevens 

2       4 

John  Stevens 

House  &  Yard 

own  occ. 

6 

Widow  Bun 

Do. 

Jas.  Dyer  &  Co. 

li 

Padbury  &  Rich 

Do. 

Wm.  Notgrove 

I 

Do. 

Do. 

Widow 

I^ 

Do. 

Do. 

Henry  Titcomb 

ll 

John  Wilson 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

occ.  late  Stephen  Young 

10. 

Thos.  Hunt 

Do. 

John  Mills 

ll 

J  as.  Edgington 

House  &  Yard 

Dr.  John  Nunney 

ll 

Widow  Nicholls 

Do. 

own  occ. 

I 

Widow  Nunny 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

own  occ. 

2 

Arthur  White 

Do. 

Do. 

8 

William  Reeves 

Do. 

Do. 

10 

Stephen  Smith 

Do. 

Dr.  Sharp  &  Co. 

2       0 

Stphen  (sic)  Young 

Do. 

own  occ. 

10 

John  Dean 

Cottage  only 

occ.  Bunting  &  TJames 

I 

Widow  Bun 

Cottage  &  Yard 

occ.  Wm.  Bolt 

I 

Charity  Widows 

Land  House  Yard  & 
Garden 

occ.  George  Sims 

2      6 

Thos.  James 

Do. 

own  occ. 

9 

Ranchford  Strafford 

Do. 

Do. 

8 

Widow  Woodman 

Do. 

Chas.  Stevens 

8 

Widows  Charity 

Do. 

own  occ. 

9 

John  Mason 

House  &  Yard 

own  occ. 

li 

Widow  Bun 

Do. 

Wm.  Miles 

I 

James  Strafford 

Do. 

James  Miles 

I 

Widow  Harman 

Do. 

own  occ. 

li 

Widow  Chapman 

Do. 

John  James  &  Co. 

I 

Widow  NichoUs 

Do. 

Seymour  &  Waine 

I 

Do. 

Do. 

Dan.  Mills  &  Co. 

I 

Wm.  Green 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

own  occ. 

4 

Widow  Chapman 

Do. 

James  Manning 

8 

Benjamin  Waters 

Cottage  only 

Widow  Eldridge 

I 

Widow  Chapman 

House  &  Yard 

William  Cox 

'i 

Solomon  Jeffs 

Do. 

Widow  Beechey 

4 

Do. 

Do. 

Moses  Smith 

2 

Do. 

Do. 

James  Spacksman 

2 

Do. 

Do. 

own  occ. 

2 

Widow  Bun 

Do. 

Matthias  Padbury 

'i 

Feoffees  of  Bridge 

Do. 

Thos.  Chavasse 

6 

Widow  Bun 

Do. 

Saml.  Tiptree 

6 

John  Dean              • 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

occ.  Henry  Mander 

3 

Mary  Upston 

Do. 

own  occ. 

10 

Benjamin  Haynes 

Do. 

Do. 

I         3 

700 


CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 


Widow  Chapman 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

occ.  Saml.  Bolt 

Widow  Higgins 

own  occ. 

Chas.  Yates  . 

Do. 

Thos.  Clarke                    i 

William  Monk 

Do. 

own  occ.                            I 

Feoffees  of  Church 

Do. 

John  Nunney                   i 

Micl.  Wills 

Cottage  only 

Widow  Palmer  &  Co. 

Widow  Chapman 

Do. 

void 

Thomas  Humphries 

Do. 

own  occ. 

Feoffees  of  Workhouse  and  Alms  Houses  Yards  &  Gardens                                i 

Cottage  only 

Widow  Steer 

Thomas  Minchin  Butcher 

2 

James  Wickin 

Do. 

Jas.  Franklin 

Saml.  Parker 

Do. 

own  occ. 

John  Arkill 

Do. 

Wihn.  Turner 

Do. 

Do. 

Thos.  Cook  &  Widow 
GiUett 

Do. 

Do. 

John  Day 

Do. 

Do. 

Moses  Smith 

Do. 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

John  Turner 

WiUiam  Beechey 

Do. 

own  occ. 

John  Smith 

Do. 

Do. 

Mr.  Lawrence 

Do. 

Do. 

Wihn.  Bolter 

Do. 

Do. 

Miss  Bartholomew 

Do. 

Do. 

William  Clarke 

Do. 

Wm.  Wiggins 

Fifteens 

Do. 

void 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Rob.  Spackman 

John  Hemming 

House  &  Yard 

Thos.  Holland 

Matthias  Padbury 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

Jno.  Dean  &  Co. 

Widow  Woodman 

Do. 

Thos.  Large  &  Co. 

Thos.  Kimber 

Do. 

own  occ. 

Widow  Humphries 

Do. 

Do. 

Thos.  Badger 

Do. 

Widow  Sessions 

Widow  Chapman 

Do. 

Thos.  Osmond 

Do. 

Do. 

John  Pankridge 

Do. 

Do.. 

Joseph  RawUngs 

Ralph  Ellis 

Do. 

own  occ. 

S.  &  W.  Clare 

Do. 

Do. 

Widow  Chapman 

Bruton  Orchard 

own  occ. 

John  Green 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

Do. 

Thomas  Andrews 

Do. 

Do. 

Widow  Bun 

Do. 

Do. 

John  Woodman 

Do. 

Widow  Pocket 

George  Arian 

Do. 

Thos.  Merrick 

Wm,  Bites  &  Thos. 

Snowshill 

Do. 

Widow  Miles  &  Co. 

Chas.  Miles 

Do. 

John  Hitchman 

John  Spurrit  junr. 

Do. 

own  occ. 

Widow  Hutton 

Do. 

Do. 

S.  &  W.  Clare 

Do. 

Rev.  W.  Francis 

Wm.  Beal 

Do. 

W.  Bye  &  Co. 

Henry  Buckland 

Do. 

own  occ.                            I 

Thos.  Randolph 

Do. 

Do. 

Richard  TuckweU 

Do. 

Do.                             I 

Thomas  Kempster 

Do. 

Do. 

BURFORD  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  701 


Thomas  Kempster 

House  Yard  &  Garden 

occ.  James  Daniel  Tenant 

s. 

d. 
4 

William  Minchin 

Do. 

Do. 

4 

William  Fry- 

Do. 

Wm.  Jeffs 

4 

William  Jeffs 

Do. 

Widow  Wyatt 

5 

Thos.  Clare 

Do. 

Robert  Jacobs 

8 

William  Young 

Do. 

Mackquirk 

2 

William  Beal 

Do. 

Himself  &  Co. 

I 

0 

John  Beal 

Do. 

William  Brown 

7 

Edward  Daniel 

Do. 

own  occ. 

8 

John  Turner 

Do. 

Do. 

6 

John  Brown 

Do. 

Martin  Brown 

I 

4 

Charles  Legg 

Do. 

own  occ. 

2 

James  Strafford 

Do. 

TiUing  &  Co. 

2 

Dr.  Castle's  College 

Do. 

Thos.  Day  &  Co. 

S 

Widow  Wightwick 

Do. 

Widow  Taylor  &  Co. 

6 

Chas.  Kimber 

Part  of  Mill  &  Mill  Bank 

own  occ. 

2 

0 

Mr.  Cozens 

a  small  Meadow 

I 

6 

A  SECOND  SCHEDULE  OF  MONEYS  RECEIVED  AND  PAID 

» 

i 

s. 

d. 

To  cash  received  for  general  expenses   . 

.      1.699 

I 

0 

„ 

Roads  &  Surveyor's  salary      .         .         358 

II 

I 

f» 

Tithe  fencing 

429 

6 

2 

„ 

„         Fencing    the    poor's 

allotment    & 

Fifteens 

12 

14 

0 

2,499 

12 

3 

By  Cash  Paid     . 

.      2,431 

8 

S 

By 

Balance  in  Hand  . 

68 

3 

10 

2.499      12         3 

"Note. — The  first  sheet  mentions  a  plan  made  by  James  Jennings 
of  Somerton,  Oxon.,  Land  Surveyor,  containing  open  fields,  en- 
closures, &c. 

1,300  acres  or.  up. 

This  plan  is  not  with  the  Award  at  the  Clerk  of  the  Peace  Office. 

Hiote  also. — First  meeting  (of  which  notice  given  on  church  door) 
at  house  of  John  Stevens  known  as  the  Bull  Inn  in  Burford  27  May,  1794. 

H.  J.  North,  Solicitor,  was  Clerk  to  the  Commissioners. 

Clerk  0/  the  Peace  Office,  Oxford. 

UPTON  ENCLOSURE  AWARD 

Dated  9th  Dec,  14  Geo.  Ill,  1773. 

In  pursuance  of  an  Act  13  Geo.  Ill  for  dividing  and  inclosing  the 
open  and  common  fields  of  Upton  in  the  Parish  of  Burford. 


702        •        CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Commissioners  :  Francis  Burton  of  Aynho,  Northants,  Esq.,  Thomas 
Baseley  of  Friars  Marston,  Warwick,  Gentleman,  and  Ralph  Whitehert 
of  Cirencester,  Glos.,  Gentleman, 

Quality  Men  or  Valuers  :  William  Wright  and  William  Ansell. 

Total  area  inclosed  803a,  2r.  7p. 

Allotment  to  William  Lenthal. 

(i)  Ground  of  706a.  t^x.  36p.  including  Roads  and  ways  Bounded 
part  of  E.  allotments  of  Thos.  Ansell  Thomas  Hunt  and  Richard 
Heyes  and  Thomas  Castle  :  Part  of  S.  by  allotments  of  Thomas 
Castle,  Piercy  Galliard,  and  James  Hunt :  other  part  of  E,  Common 
Fields  of  Burford  and  certain  old  inclosed  lands  in  Upton  and  allot- 
ment of  Christopher  Kempster  :  Part  of  N.  certain  inclosed  meads 
in  parish  of  Tainton  allotment  of  John  Cousins  and  John  Prior  and 
other  meads  in  Tainton  :  Part  of  W.  and  other  part  of  N.  by  allotment 
of  William  Upstone,  other  part  of  W.  inclosed  lands  of  Little  Barring- 
ton  :  other  part  of  S.  and  W.  by  certain  inclosures  in  Upton  :  other 
part  of  S.  W.  and  N.  by  allotment  of  Furze  set  out  for  poor  of  Upton  : 
other  part  of  S.  by  inclosed  lands  of  Westwell :  other  part  of  E.  and 
S.  by  allotment  for  Church  Land  and  another  allotment  for  Land 
commonly  called  the  Fifteens. 

(ii)  Ground  2a.  2r.  ip.  Bounded  on  S.,  E.,  and  N.  and  W.  by  old 
inclosed  Lands  of  Upton. 

(iii)  Grounds  7a.  or.  28p.  Bounded  E.  and  part  of  N.  by  inclosed 
land  and  common  field  of  Fulbrook :  on  part  of  W.  and  other  part 
of  N.  by  allotment  to  heirs  of  late  Henry  Furley  :  other  part  of 
W.  inclosed  land  in  parish  of  Taynton  :  on  S.  by  Windrush. 

Allotment  to  John  Pry  or,  Lessee  of  Bishop  of  Oxford. 

(i)  Ground  oa.  2r.  i7p.  Bounded  S.E.  allotment  to  John  Cousins  : 
N.  inclosed  meadows  of  Tainton  :  N.W.  2nd  allotment  to  Pryor  : 
S.  allotment  of  Wm.  Lenthal.  This  in  compensation  for  meadow 
called  Tythe  Ham  which  is  to  be  enclosed  and  allotted. 

(ii)  Ground  9a.  2r.  9p.  Bounded  S.E.  by  ist  allotment  to  Pryor  : 
part  of  N.W.  and  on  E.  by  inclosed  meads  of  Tainton  :  W.  and  S. 
by  allotment  to  Lenthal. 

Allotment  to  William  Upstone. 

Ground  2a.  or.  2ip.  Bounded  S.  and  E.  by  allotment  to  Lenthal : 
N.  common  meadows  of  Tainton :  W.  inclosed  land  of  Little 
Barrington. 


UPTON  ENCLOSURE  AWARD  703 

Allotment  to  John  Cousins. 

Ground  oa.  ir.  35p.  Bounded  N.E.  by  inclosed  meadows  of  Tainton  : 
N.W.  allotment  to  John  Prior  :  S.  allotment  to  William  Lenthal. 

Allotment  to  Robert  Fettiplace,  Esq. 

Ground  4a.  ir.  22p.    Bounded  E.  common  fields  of  Burford  and 
Signet :  W.  allotment  to  James  Hunt :  S.  allotment  to  Thomas  Hunt 
and  Richard  Heyes. 
Allotment  to  James  Hunt. 

Ground  2a.  or.  3op.  Bounded  E.  allotment  to  Rob.  Fettiplace  : 
N.  allotment  to  William  Lenthal :  W.  allotment  to  Piercy  Galliard  : 
S.  allotment  to  Thomas  Hunt  and  Richard  Heyes. 

Allotment  to  Piercy  Galliard,  Esq. 

Ground  3a.  or.  22p.  Bounded  E.  allotment  to  James  Hunt :  N. 
allotment  of  Wm.  Lenthal :  W.  allotment  of  Thomas  Castle  :  S. 
allotment  of  Thos.  Hunt  and  Richard  Heyes. 

Allotment  to  Thomas  Castle. 

Ground  3a.  or.  6p.     Bounded  E.  allotment  of  Piercy  Galliard  : 
N.  and  W.  allotment  of  Wm.  Lenthal :   S.  allotment  of  Thos.  Hunt 
and  Richard  Heyes. 
Allotment  to  Thomas  Hunt  and  Richard  Heyes. 

Ground  8a.  2r.  i8p.  Bounded  E.  common  fields  of  Burford  :  N. 
by  several  allotments  of  Fettiplace,  James  Hunt,  Galliard  and  Castle  : 
W.  allotment  of  Wm.  Lenthal :   S.  allotment  of  Thomas  Ansell. 

Allotment  to  Thomas  Ansell. 

Ground  41a.  ir.  27p.  Bounded  S.  and  E.  by  common  fields  of 
Burford  :  N.  by  allotment  of  Thomas  Hunt  and  Richard  Heyes  :  W. 
allotment  of  Wm.  Lenthal  and  allotment  for  Church  Lands  and  Fifteens. 

Allotment  to  Wm.  Lenthal  as  surviving  Feoffee  of  Fifteens  Land. 

Ground  la.  2r.  2ip.  Bounded  E.  Thomas  Ansell :  N.  and  W. 
Wm.  Lenthal :  S.  allotment  for  Church  Land. 

Allotment  to  Wm.  Lenthal  for  Church  Land. 

Ground  oa.  2r.  2ip.    Bounded  E.  Thos.  Ansell :  N.  Fifteen  Land  : 
W.  Wm.  Lenthall  and  S.  inclosures  of  Westwell. 
Allotment  to  Christopher  Kempster. 

Ground  oa.  3r.  op.  Bounded  E.  old  inclosure  of  Chr.  Kempster  : 
N.  Public  Road  from  Burford  to  Cirencester  :  W.  an  allotment  to 
Chr.  Kempster  :  N.  Public  Road  from  Burford  to  Cirencester  {sic 
repeated) :    W.  allotment  to  Lenthal. 


704  CALENDAR  OF  THE  RECORDS 

Allotment  to  Heirs  of  Henry  Furley. 

Ground  oa.  ir.  23p.  Bounded  S.  and  E.  allotment  Wm.  Lenthal : 
N.  the  Home  Close  belonging  to  the  late  Henry  Furley  :  W.  common 
field  of  Tainton. 

Allotment  to  Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis  Knollis  and  Wm.  Lenthal,  Esq., 
for  poor  of  Upton  in  lieu  of  right  to  cut  furze. 

Ground  8a.  or.  op.  Bounded  S.,  E.  and  N.  allotment  to  Lenthal 
and  W.  by  certain  inclosures  of  Upton. 

Roads. 

(i)  One  publick  road  and  highway  leading  from  Burford  to  Cirencester 
beginning  at  N.E.  corner  of  allotment  to  Chr.  Kempster  and  leading 
through  and  over  first  allotment  to  Lenthal  into  inclosure  of  Westwell. 

(ii)  Publick  road  and  highway  leading  from  Burford  to  Gloucester 
branching  out  of  last  named  at  the  Hand  and  Post  in  ist  allotment 
to  Lenthal  and  leading  westward  in  its  ancient  course  or  direction 
to  S.W.  corner  of  the  said  ist  allotment  to  Lenthal  into  the  inclosures 
of  Little  Barrington. 

(iii)  Publick  road  and  highway  branching  out  of  first  mentioned 
road  near  a  certain  piece  of  land  called  Bunce's  Piece  and  leading 
from  Upton  to  Little  Barrington  through  and  over  first  allotment  to 
Lenthal  in  its  ancient  course  or  direction  to  S.W.  comer  of  allotment 
to  Wm.  Upstone  into  the  inclosures  of  Little  Barrington. 

(iv)  Publick  road  and  highway  beginning  at  N.W.  corner  of  allot- 
ment to  Robt.  Fettiplace  and  leading  through  and  over  first  allotment 
to  Lenthal  into  the  first  mentioned  road  leading  from  Burford  to 
Cirencester  which  road  is  commonly  called  the  Bird  in  Hand  road. 

(v)  Publick  road  and  highway  branching  out  of  the  Turnpike  Road 
leading  from  Burford  to  Cirencester  at  N.E.  side  of  an  inn  called  the 
Rose  and  Crown  and  leading  northward  through  and  over  the  second 
allotment  to  W.  Lenthal  into  and  through  the  hamlet  of  Upton 
and  from  there  toward  the  Paper  Mill  belonging  to  Edward  Baker 
and  several  Farms  of  Wm.  Lenthal. 

All  which  roads  to  be  sixty  feet  broad  between  and  exclusive  of 
the  ditches. 

(vi)  One  private  road  and  public  bridle  road  called  the  Mill  Way 
of  breadth  of  thirty  feet  branching  out  of  Bird  in  Hand  road  at  N.W. 
comer  of  allotment  to  Thomas  Castle  and  leading  southward  through 
ist  allotment  to  Lenthal  and  allotment  to  Thos.  Ansell  into  Common 
field  of  Burford  and  thence  towards  Westwell     to  be  used  by  owners ' 


UPTON  ENCLOSURE  AWARD 


705 


and  occupiers  of  allotments  to  Thomas  Hunt  and  Richard  Heyes, 
Thomas  Ansell,  Fifteen  and  Church  Land  and  Wm.  Lenthal. 

(vii)  Private  road  and  way  of  20  feet  branching  out  of  publick 
road  from  Upton  to  Little  Barrington  at  E.  side  of  piece  of  land  called 
Femhill  through  ist  allotment  to  Lenthal  into  allotment  of  Pryor  to 
be  used  by  owners  and  occupiers  of  Lenthal's  and  Pryor's  allotments. 

(viii)  Publick  footpath  of  four  feet  beginning  at  the  E.  side  of  a  piece 
of  land  called  Bunce's  Piece  and  leading  along  the  same  through  and 
over  ist  allotment  to  Lenthal  into  the  public  road  leading  from 
Upton  to  Little  Barrington. 

(ix)  Private  Footpath  of  four  feet  branching  out  of  first  mentioned 
road  at  N.E.  comer  of  the  Downs  and  leading  westward  along  the 
same  to  the  allotment  of  Furze. 


STATEMENT  OF  COSTS 


Charges  allotted  as  follows  : 

Wm.  Lenthal  Esq. 

Thos.  Ansell 

Mr.  John  Prior     . 

Mr.  Thos.  Hunt  and  Richard  Heyes 

Robt.  Fettiplace  Esq.   • 

Mr.  Thos.  Castle  . 

Piercy  Galliard  Esq. 

Mr.  James  Hunt  . 

Mr.  William  Upstone    . 

Mr.  John  Cousins 

Heirs  of  the  late  Henry  Furley 

Mr.  Christopher  Kempster     . 

Feoffees  of  the  Fifteens 

The  Church  Land 


Costs  as  follows  : 

The  several  Bills  for  passing  the  Act 

Francis  Burton  Esq.  one  of  the  Commissioners  Bill 

Mr.  Baseley's 

Mr.  Whitehert's    . 

The  Clerk's 

Mr.  Pride's  Bill  for  surveying 

Mr.  Reve's  Bill  for  surveying 

Quality  Men 

Clare's  Bills 

Labourers    . 

Mr.  Smart's 

The  Servants 

The  Attorney's  Clerk 

Returned  the  Ballance 


£ 

s. 

d. 

383 

I 

10 

18 

9 

4i 

IS 

8 

10 

5 

7 

I 

2 

19 

7 

2 

I 

TI 

2 

I 

4 

I 

8 

2 

I 

6 

oi 

19 

I 

14 

4 

II 

7 

12 

0 

4 

6 

435 

5 

8 

262 

18 

6 

29 

0 

0 

26 

0 

0 

8 

8 

0 

25 

7 

0 

II 

0 

6 

25 

3 

0 

6 

6 

0 

21 

0 

0 

I 

14 

0 

13 

3 

0 

2 

12 

6 

I 

I 

0 

;^433     13      6 

I      13        2 


£435 


3304 


ZZ 


INDEXES 
I.    GENERAL  INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Fish  of,  i66. 
Account  Rolls,    158. 
Acts    of    Parliament :     dissolving 
Gilds  and  Chantries,  43. 
dissolving  Burford  Corporation, 
78. 
Advowson  of  Burford  :    granted  to 
Abbey  of  Keynsham,  134,  257. 
in  hands  of  Crown,  135. 
detached  from  Rectory,  135. 
possessed  by  Harman,  136. 
in  hands  of  Bishop  of  Diocese, 
136. 
Akeman  Street,   151. 
Alderman  of  Burford,  26,  33,  38, 
78,  200-1,  413. 
first  mentioned,  33,  201, 
list  of,  102, 
tenure  of  oflSce,  34. 
Alderman,  Deputy,  55,  375  sqq. 
Aletasters,  35,  36. 
Almshouse,  ihe  Great :  foundation 
*of,  181,  361-2. 
endowments  of,  30,  310,  336-8, 

346,  361-5.  369- 
mismanagement  of,  72,  350,  395, 

397- 
rules  for,  407. 
site  of,  169,  187,  208. 
structure  of,  184. 
Almshouse,  Castle's  Yard,  394. 
Almshouse,    the    Lesser,    or    Wis- 
dom's, 200,  360. 
Angel  Inn,  193,  219,  321,  373. 
Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  references 

to  Burford,   152,  154. 
Anne,  St.,  Altar  of,  106,  108,  112. 
Apothecaries,  220,  328,  372. 
Archers,  on  Burford  Muster  Roll, 

192-3. 
Architecture,  Early,  170-1. 
fifteenth  century,  182-4. 
sixteenth  century,  185-6. 
seventeenth  century,  211-13. 
of  the  Church,  104-7,  120-1,  122. 
of  the  Priory,  261-2,  272,  278-9, 
288,  291-2. 
Archways,  early,  in  Burford,  172, 
182-4,  261-3. 


Assizes,  held  in  Burford,  41.  223, 

416. 
Augmentations,  Court  of,  265. 
Augustinians,     Brethren     of     the 

Hospital,  259. 

Bailifis    of     Burford :      equivocal 
position  of,  1 5,  29,  51. 
executive  of  the  town,  27,  41. 
fine  for  refusing  office,  ^y. 
first  mention  of,  12. 
gradual  alliance  with  burgesses, 

16,  29,  37-8,  67. 
List  of,  21,  28,  9S-I02. 
mode   of  appointment,    15,    36, 

67.  389. 
Bakers,    166,    193,   338,   359,   360, 

387. 
Bampton  Way,  174,  175,  354. 
Bank  House,  169. 
Barber  Surgeons,    220,    265,    340, 

370- 
Barley  Closes,  the,  404. 
Battle,  at  Burford,  152-4. 
Battle  Edge,  153,  222,  405. 
Batts  Lane,  187,  191,  402,  405. 
Bavorks,    Tenement    called,    169, 

346. 
Bear  Close,  405. 

Bear  Inn,  193,  219,  221,  319,  321. 
Bede,  Ecclesiastical  History,  quoted, 

132. 
Beldam  (or  Bellam)  Furlong,  175. 
Bells,   Church,   bequests  for,    112, 

114. 
of  the  Priory,  264. 
Billmen,  on  Burford  Muster  Roll, 

192. 
Black  Death,  163. 
Blacksmiths,  328,  332. 
Booksellers,  220. 
Bordemwetlane,  168. 
Borough   Court,    baihffs'    position 

in,  41. 
burgesses'  position  in,  2,  39,  52. 
Court  of  Lord  of  Manor,  15,  16. 

375  sqq. 
Crown  claim  to,  55,  375,  sqq. 
first  mention,  13. 


ZZ2 


7o8 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Borough  Court  (continued). 

officials  not  answerable  to,  2. 

powers  and  functions,  39-41. 

profits  allotted  to  the  clerk, 
52. 

Record  Book  of,  21. 

where  held,  187. 
Boundaries  of  Burford,  156,  174-6. 
Brasenose  College.   161,  368,  449, 

458. 
Braziers,  359. 
Brewers,  166,  193,  419. 
Bridge,  Lands,  38,  309,  374,  395, 

397- 
repairs  to,  18,  309. 
responsibility  for,  389,  399. 
tolls,  grant  of,  18,  166. 
Brighthi'U  Furlong.  175. 
Broadgates,  169,  321,  324-7. 
Broadweavers,  316,  317. 
Brodhedden  Furlong,  175. 
Bronze  Age,  148. 
Bniem  Abbey,  161. 
Buildings,    of    fifteenth    century, 
172,  182-4,  261-2. 
of  sixteenth  century,  185-6. 
of  seventeenth  century,  211-13. 
of  eighteenth  century,  222-3. 
wattle  and  daub,   171,   172  and 
note. 
Bull  Inn,  169,  183,  193,  212,  219, 
226,  320.  358,  359,  372,  401-4. 
Burford,  derivation  of  name,  154-5. 

sketch-map  of,  4. 
Burford  water,  361. 
Burgages,  dimension  of.  173. 
division  of ,  172,  208-9. 
grouped    in   single    ownerships, 

162. 
holdings  of,  as  corresponding  to 

wealth,  191-2. 
not  a  burgess  qualification.   14. 

24. 
numbers  of,  162,  190,  208. 
tenure    producing    a    landlord 
class,  161. 
Burgage  Rents,  16. 
Burgage  Rent  Rolls,  207-10. 
Burgesses:  an  official  title,  14,  23. 
as  a  gild,  24-6,  31,  36,  50. 
as  incorporating  the  town,   13, 

18,  24,  29,  50,  53.  58. 
assessments  levied  by,  41. 
concern  for  records,  21,  32,  42, 

4".  414. 

Chapel  of ,  105,  112-14,  121. 

claim  to  nominate  a  church- 
warden, 141. 

control  of  charities,  22,  32,  44, 
46-7,  59-62,  67,  71-5,  397. 


Burgesses  {continued). 
Court  of.  12,  38-41,  412. 
decline  of,  53,  72,  78. 
disunion  among,  67. 
encroachments   by,   30,    37,    52, 

263-4,  374-85. 
entrance  fees  of,  on  election,  413. 
letter  to,   from   Corporation  of 

Oxford,  57,  401. 
loss  of  privileges,  53  sqq.,  374- 

85. 
misuse  of  funds  by,  61,  66  sqq., 

75-6.  350-1,  391-7. 
narrow  view  of  charters,  8,  11, 

57- 
number  of,  34. 
own  view  of  functions,   20,  41, 

47.  53.  58.  73. 
position  in  Borough  Court,  2,  39. 
Quo       Warranto       proceedings 

against,  53  sqq.,  74,  374-85- 
reception  of  Charles  II,  218. 
reception   of   Queen    Elizabeth, 

188,  415. 
recipients  of  charters,  24. 
rules  of  fellowship  of,  21,  27,  50, 

201,  369. 
scheme  for  recovering  privileges, 

73.  390-1. 
seniority  among,  36. 
suit  against  Lenthall  and  others, 

69.  398-9- 
Burgus  de  Burford,  86. 
Burh,  probable  situation  of,   149, 

156. 
Bury  Bams,  203,  287,  289,  341.  408. 
burh  at,  149,  156,  159. 
cruciform  bam  at.  170. 
site  of  manor,   86,    157-9,    170, 

195,  197,  199. 
sold  oflE  from  manor,  86,  143. 
Bury  Orchard,  149,  156,  346,  364. 
Bushel.  Standard,  of  the  Burford 

Corporation,  404. 
Butchers.  166,  193,  321,  373. 
Butts,  of  arable  land,  402. 

Cakebred  Land,  373. 
Capellani,  262-3. 
Carpenters,  316,  330,  403. 
Castle's  Almshouses,  394. 
Cellar  of  fifteenth  century,  183. 
Census  Figures,  229. 
Chamberlains,  28,  73,  103. 
Chancery  Proceedings  concerning 
charities.  21,  69,  283-4,  398-9. 
for    appointing    new    Trustees, 

77- 
Chandlers,  166,  325,  326,  338,  342, 
355.  357.  359.  4o6.  429. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


709 


Chantry  Certificate,  189.    • 
Chantry  Priests,  262-3. 
Chapels  :  see  under  Church  ;   Bur- 
gesses. 
Chapman,  353. 

Charity  Commissioners,  75,  78. 
Charity    Lands :      Chancery    suit 
concerning,  21,  69,  398-9. 
charity  commissioners'  scheme, 

78. 
confiscation  of,  43. 
early  declaration   of   trusts   of, 

32. 
inquiries  into,  by  commissioners 

(1628),  59,  345-51- 
inquiries  into,  by  commissioners 

(1738),  66,  391-8. 
inquiries  into,  by  commissioners 

(1822).  75. 
extraordinary    position    of,    in 

1826-7,  76. 
influence  of,  on  development  of 
corporation,  3,  22,  31-2,  44-6, 

59.65,71- 
loss  of  parts  of,  45. 
misuse  of,  61,  76-7,  350,  391-8. 
recovery  and  reconstitution  of, 

after     confiscation.     46,     61, 

339-42.  417-18. 
summary  of,  309-10. 
See  also  Almshouse  Lands,  Bridge 

Lands,  Church  Lands,  Fifteen 

Lands,    Poole's   Lands,    Wills 

and  Gifts. 
Charters  :    bequest  for  renewing, 

30.  309.  338.  ' 

character  of,  8-11,  298-300. 
costs  of  renewal,  411. 
dates  of,  295-7. 
formulas  of.  5,  10-11,  295-7. 
grouping  of,  298-300. 
narrow  scope  of,  5,  8,  ir,  300. 
original,  5,  295. 
probable     motive     for    earliest 

grants,  6,  9,  12. 
transcribed,  301-6. 
of  Robert  FitzHamon,  6,  10,  301. 
of    Robert   of    Gloucester,    296, 

299,  302. 
of  William  Earl  of  Gloucester, 

301. 
of  Henry  II,  8,  10,  57,  302. 
of  Richard  de  Clare,  9,  297,  30 1 . 
of  Edward   III,   23,   56-7.   302, 

380. 
of  Henry  VII,  24,  304. 
Cheyney  Furlong,  175. 
Christ  Church,   Oxford  :     Burford 

Stone  used  in,  171. 
Christopher,  St.,  107. 


Church :  altars  in  pre-Ref  ormation. 
104,  106, 

alterations  in  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. 121 ;  in  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, I 2 1-2. 

bells,  bequests  for,  112,  114. 

brass  in,  109. 

chapels  in,  105-6.  no.  112. 

coats  of  arms  formerly  in,  in, 
119. 

Cromwell's  Speech  in,  252. 

dates  of  existing  building,  104-5. 

font.  104.  122,  250. 

gift    of,   to   Keynsham   Abbey, 

134- 
Lady  Chapel,  105-6, 108,  112-15, 

119,  120,  122,  320,  367. 
Levellers    imprisoned    in,     249, 

255- 
lights  formerly  in,  108,  11 2-1 5. 
model  of,  122. 
modern  windows  in,  122. 
monuments,    of   sixteenth    cen- 
tury, 115. 
of  seventeenth  century,  115-16. 
Harman,  115,  267-8. 
Tanfield,  n6.    121,  273,   391, 

396.  398. 
lost,  117. 
porch  of,  105,  121. 
pulpit  in,  107. 
rood,  109,  113. 
screens,  mediaeval.  107. 
situation  of,  156. 
tower  of,  damage  to,  105. 
use  of,  Ijy  troops  in  Civil  War. 
121,  205-6. 
Church  Green,  168,  187,  208.  361. 
Church  Lands,  32,  177.  201,  309, 

317-22,  357  (note),  393. 
Church  Lane,  168,  185,  187,  208, 

360. 
Church  Schools,  169. 
Churchwardens.     68.     70,     140-3, 

^     392-3.  396-7. 
Churchyard:  cross  formerly  in,  112. 
execution  of  Levellers  in,   251, 

.255- 
Gild  Chapel  in,  105. 
Civil  War,  62,  143,  201-7. 
Clay  Furlong,  175.  354. 
Clerical  Subsidies,    134,    138.   258, 

260,  262-3. 
Clerks  of  the  Market.  34. 
Cleveley's  Charity,  310,  372,  395, 

398. 
Cleyt  Furlong,  175. 
Clothiers,  165,  315.  323,  329,  342, 
352.  353.  357.  368,  370,  371. 
397,  406. 


710 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Coach  Roads  :    to  Gloucester  and 
South  Wales,  7,  64,  215-16, 
224. 
to  Hereford,  224. 
to  Oxford  and  London,  216,  224. 
diversion  of.  228,  285,  287. 
Cobb  Hall,  117,  168,  219,  310,  369- 

71,  392,  396,  399.  ■ 
Cock  Row,  169. 

Collar-makers,  219,  330,  331,  388. 
'  College,  the  ',    322,  328,  329,  331, 

332. 
Cold  Norton,  Abbey  of,  12,  161. 
Comefast  Furlong,  175,  334. 
Commissions :     see    Royal    Com- 
missions. 
Committee    for    the    Advance    of 

Money,  202. 
Common   Fields :     Extent   of,   in 
1299,  174. 
extent  of,  in  1501,  174-5. 
extent  of,  in  1552,  195. 
extent  of,  at  Enclosure  Award, 

196. 
enclosed,  226. 

furlong  names  in,  175,  353-5. 
maps  of,  194,  227. 
schedules  of  lands  in,  353-5. 
town  tenants  no  longer  holding 

in,  196. 
two-field  system,  156,  174-5. 
Common  Lot  Meadow :    see  High 

Mead. 
Common  Seal,  12,  13  (note),  264, 

400. 
Commonwealth,  the :  commissions 
of  the  peace  to  Burford,  63, 306. 
racing  during,  217. 
Concealed  Lands,  exchequer  pro- 
ceedings   concerning,    386-7, 
411. 
Confirmation,  Letters  Patent  of  : 

see  Charters. 
Conigree,  354. 
Constables,  35,  416. 
Cookshop  Keepers,  166. 
Coopers,  340. 

Coppedslade  Furlong,  175,  334. 
Coroner,  no  trace  of  appointment 

of,  in  Burford,  19. 
Corporation     of     Burford  :      gild 
character  of,  14,  24,  26,  34. 
highest  development  of,  33  sqq. 
last  stages  of,  66,  72,  78-9. 
mistaken  view  of  powers  of,  2, 

49.  SO,  52.  58,  374-85. 
memorandum  book  of,   21,  41, 

44,  188,  200,  410. 
number  of  members,  14. 
Cotswold,  earthworks  on,  147-8. 


Council    of    the    Army,    in    1649* 

2^6-7,  238. 
Court,  profits  of  manorial,  17-18. 
of  Pie  Powder,  37. 
See  also  Burgesses,  Court  of. 
Court    of    Exchequer,    judgement 

concerning  town's  franchises, 

21,  53  sqq.,  374-85- 
proceedings   concerning  charity 

lands,  60,  373,  388-9. 
Court  Rolls,  36  (note),  193. 
'  Cow  Money  ',  368,  395. 
Crown,  the  :   effect  of  its  tenure  of 

the  manor,  51,  55,  74. 
manor   in  hands  of,    83-5,   87, 

90-3. 
presentations  to  the  living  by, 

125,  128,  129. 
Crown  Inn,  193,  219,  255,  372. 
Cucking  Stool,  413. 
Culverclose,  or  Culverhey,  the,  169, 

334.  336,  338-9,  340.  345.  35 1» 

352,  356,  359- 
Curia  Bur gensium,  12,  14-15. 
Curriers,  219,  324. 
Customary  Tenants,  162. 
Custumal  of  the  Burgesses,  49. 
Cutlers,  340. 

Deanacre  Furlong,  175. 
Deanacre  (Denacre,  Dynacre)  Way, 

175.  354.  402. 
Derivation  of  the  name  Burford, 

154-5- 

Discommoning  of  Burgesses,  38. 

Dissolution  of  the  Monasteries,  42, 
53,  258,  260,  264. 

Domesday,  entry  concerning  Bur- 
ford, 5. 
inhabited  site  at  date  of,  1 56. 

Double  Cross  (Lot  in  High  Mead), 
408. 

Down  Furlong,  175. 

Drapers,  165,  317. 

Dyers,  165. 

Easter,  synod  concerning  date  of, 
132. 

Easter  Offerings,  taken  by  Tan- 
field,  139. 

East  Field,  157,  174-5.  353-4- 

Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  140. 

Edwardian  Survey  of  the  Manor, 
86,  159,  162,  171,  177,  190, 
194-8,  408. 

Eighteenth  Century,  buildings  of, 
222-3. 

Elerstub  Furlong,  175. 

Enclosure  Award,  140,  196,  286, 
287,  407. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


711 


Enclosures  in  sixteenth  century, 

19s.  197- 
Engrossing  of  Farms,  195. 
Esterher  Furlong,  175. 
Exchequer,  Court  of :    judgement 

concerning    town    franchises, 

21. 53  &qq-,  374-85- 

proceedings  concerning  Charity 
Lands,  60,  373,  388-9,  411. 

Executions  in  Burford,  222,  251, 
416. 

Eyton's  Itinerary  of  Henry  II,  296. 

Fairs,  claimed  by  Crown,  17,  18, 

374-85- 
grant  of,  by  Henry  VII,  24,  37, 

304- 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  55,  56, 

230,  27  s  sqq. 
of  Holyrood  Day,   55,  56,  304, 

375  sqq. 
value  of,    17,   18. 
Farm-land,  engrossing  of,  195. 
Farthendales,    or    Farundells,    of 

land,  371,  408. 
Fee-farm,     not    in    operation    at 
Burford,  17,  51,  58. 
of  Oxford,  401. 
Fellowship     of     the     Burgesses : 
Character  of,  43,   50,   58,  65, 

67.  73- 

Discommoning  from,  38. 

Rules  of,  21,  27,  50,  201,  369.         ' 
Fellmongers,  371. 

Felons'  Goods,  55,  57,  375  sqq.,  401,   ' 
Feltmakers,  350.  I 

Fernhill :    see  Veronhill.  1 

Ferny  Furlong,  175,  402. 
Fifteen   Lands,    26,    310,    312-17,   i 

347- 
Fifteenth-century    Buildings,  172, 

182-4,  261-2. 
Fines,  326,  328,  401,  405. 
Firma  Burgi,  17. 

Font  of  the  Parish  Church  :    date 
of,  104. 
name  cut  on,  250.  ; 

Ford,  the,  Burh  at,  156. 
Fosse  Way,  151. 

Fotheringhay,  College  of,   135-6. 
Founders,  404. 

Franchises,  Burgesses'  limited  con- 
ception of,  2,  8,  II,  37. 
grants  of,  lo-ii,  301-2. 
loss  of,  53  sqq.,  374-85- 
true    nature    of,    6-7,     11,     18, 
53  sqq. 
Free    Stone,    comparatively    late 
use  of,  171,  181. 
quarry,  171,  261. 


Fulden  Bottom,  355. 

Fulden  Hill  Furlong,  175. 

Fuldenslad  Furlong,  175. 

Fullers,  329,  330,  332. 

Fulling  Mills.  165,  193. 

Furlong,   Ancient  names  of,    175, 

353-5- 
Fyssherscroft,  361. 

George  Inn,  169,  181,  186,  193,  205, 
213,  217,  221,  226,  338,  340, 
342.  352.  353.  356.  358. 
Gild  Merchant  of  Burford  :   certifi- 
cate of,  10  (note),  81,  295. 
chapel   of,   22,  25,  105,   1 12-15, 

121,  367. 
grant  of,  5,  10,  301. 
identifiable  with  Burgess  Body, 

14,  25,  28,  36,  50. 
identifiable    with    Corporation, 

14,  24,  26.  34,  43. 
privileges  of,  10,  14,  301. 
proctors  of,  25,  142,  320,  366. 
responsibility  for  charities,  22. 
seneschal  of,  25,  318. 
seniors  of,  26,  312,  318. 
tenement  of,   in   Sheep   Street, 
169,  210,  334,  339. 
Gilds    and    Chantries,    dissolution 

of,  43,  310. 
Glass  in  house  windows,  211,  402. 
Glebe,  rectorial,  134,  135,  137,  138, 
339.  353-5.  408-9. 
rectorial  terrier  of,  137. 
vicarial,  138-40. 
Gloucester,  Honour  of,  6,  8,  51. 
Glovers,  166,  347, 
Goldsmiths,  337. 
Gorse  Furlong,  175. 
Grammar  School,    139,    167,   200, 
270,  271.  307,  407. 
first  building  of;  412. 
foundation  endowment  of,  46. 
mismanagement  of,  68,  70,  393, 

396,  399- 
property  of  :    see  School  Lands. 
Gray's  Inn,  117,  180,  199. 
Great  House,  the,  212,  222,  226. 
Grocers,  166,  315. 
Guildenford  Lane,   168,   187,  208, 
361.  363.  394. 

Haberdashers,  220,  326,  344,  371. 

Hallcroft,  159. 

Hamlets  of   Upton  and   Signett : 

separation  from  town,  162-4, 

198. 
See     also     Outward     Tythings, 

Signett,  Upton. 
Harness-making,  219. 


712 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Hatters,  358.  ' 

Hawking,  216,  218. 

Hearne's  Diary  :    quoted,  283. 

Hedsondye  Furlong,  175. 

Heresy  Charges  in  Burford,    145, 

199. 
Heylin's  Charity,  310,  371-2,  393- 
Hides  in  the  Lot  Meadow,  408-9. 
High  Cross,  the,  210,  401. 
High    Mead,    177.    197-8,    324-S. 
327.  332,  339.  347.    349.  373. 
402,  404,  405,  408-9. 
High  Street,  134, 161,  167-9,  ^73>  ^^2, 
185-7,    193.    207-11,    223,    320, 
324-S.   331-3,   335.   338,   340-1, 
343-7.  352,  356,  366-7,  372. 
Hill,  the,  167,  172  (note),  186,  209. 
Hillslade  Furlong,  175. 
Hiot  Furlong,  175. 
Historical  MSS.  Commission,  refer- 
ences to,  49,  216-17  note,  280, 
308. 
Holloway  Charity,  310. 
Holy  Trinity,  chapel  of,  11 2-1 3. 
Horse-racing  at  Burford,  216-18. 
Hospital  of  St.  John  :    dissolution 
of,  42. 
first  mention  of,  160. 
masters  of,  30,  127,  257. 
patronage  of,  30,  257. 
property  of,  259-61,  272. 
probable  founder  of,  257. 
Earl   of   Warwick's   letter   con- 
cerning, 360. 
Houndmylles,  337. 
'  Howselyng People',  189  and  note. 
Hundred  Rolls,  Burford  references 
in,  12,  19,  260. 

Incorporation,  first  traces  of,  12. 
never  duly  established  in  Bur- 
ford, 48,  51,  57. 
Infangenethef,  11,  414. 
Jnns:  TheAngel,  193,  219,  321,  373. 
The  Bear,  193,  219,  221,  319,  321. 
The  Bird-in-Hand,  229. 
The  Blackamoor's  Head,  219. 
The  Black  Boy,  219. 
The   Bull,    169,    183,    193,    212, 
219,  226,  320,  358,  359,  372, 
401-3,  404. 
TheCrown,  193,219,  253,347,372. 
The  George,  169,  181,  186,  193, 
205,  213,  217,  221,  226,  338, 
340,  342,  352,  353,  356,  358. 
The  Greyhound,  219,  223. 
The  King's  Head,  161, 
The  Lamb,  168,  224,  262. 
The  Mason's  Arms,  183. 
The  Mermaid,  219,  304. 


Iims  {continued). 

Novum  Hospitium  Angulare,  25, 

169.  193. 
The  Ramping  Cat,  229. 
The  Swan,  219,  346,  370-1. 
The  Talbot,  219,  345,  351,  353, 

355.  358. 
The  White  Hart,  203,  219. 
Innholders,  Innkeepers,   315,   342, 

352.  353.  358,  359.  397.401. 
Inquisitions    Ad    Quod    Damnum, 

163. 
Inquisitions  Post  Mortem,  17,  88, 

89,  90,  91,  158,  162. 
Ironmongers,  166,  315,  397. 
Ivy  House,  260. 

Jesus  Acre,  373.  * 

Joiners,  397. 

Katherine,  St.,  Chapel  of,  107,  112, 

114,  409. 
Keynsham,    Abbey    of :     Gift    of 

Burford  Rectory  to,  134,  257. 
not  associated  with  the  Priory, 

258. 
presentations  to  the  living,  1 2  5-7 . 
temporalities  of,  in  Burford,  42, 

134,  168,  334. 
Kingdom's     Weekly     Intelligencer, 

quoted,  243,  253. 
King's  Head  Inn,  161. 
King's  Plate,  raced  for  at  Burford, 

217. 
Kit's  Quarries,  211. 

Lady    Chapel,    the,     105-6,     108, 

112-15,  119,  120,  122,  256. 
Lamb  Inn,  168,  224,  262. 
Lavington  Lane,  348,  357  (note). 
Lawrence  Lane,  161,  168,  209. 
Lay  Subsidies,   41,   83,    159,    162, 

164,  176,  191,  200,  260. 
Layne  Acres,  in  the  Lot  Meadow, 

408-9. 
Leasowes,  the,  197. 
Lesser  Almshouse,  the,  200,  360. 
Letter,  of  the  King-maker,  30,  360. 
of  the   Corporation  of   Oxford, 
57.401. 
Letters  Patent  confirming  Charters, 
continuity  of,  23. 
end  of  series,  59. 
calendar  of,  303-6. 
formulas  of,  23,  48,  300. 
Letters  Patent  establishing  Bridge 

Tolls,  18,  166. 
Levellers,  the,  62,  207,  233-56. 
bibliography       of       pamphlets 
quoted,  233-4. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


713 


Leynes,  the,  340,  342,  352, 402, 404. 
Libert  Tenentes,  14,  17,  162-3. 
Lights  in  pre-Reformation  Church, 

108,  112-15. 
Lincoln,  Longland,  Bishop  of,  144, 
199. 

registers  quoted,  125-8. 
Lists  of  the  aldermen,  102. 

of  the  bailifis,  95,  10 1. 

of  the  stewards,  103. 

of  Lords  of  the  Manor,  87-94. 

of  the  vicars,  125-30. 
LoUardry,  Charges  of,  in  Burford, 

145.  199- 
Long  Bushy  Close,  the,  402. 
Lord  of  the  Manor  :  early  relations 
with  town,  2,  6,  15,  17-18,  35, 
37-8. 
first  resident,  53. 
King  John  as,  8. 
lapsed  authority  of,  51-2,  58. 
patron  of  the  Hospital,  257,  262. 
Lordship  of  the  Manor  :    descent 
of,  80-7. 
sale  of,  to  Tanfield,  272-3. 
Loss  of  charity  lands,  45. 

of  privileges,  53sqq.,  374-85- 
Lot  Meadow,  157,  176-8,  197-8. 

See  also  High  Mead. 
Lots,  Names  of,  in  common  Lot 
Meadow,  408. 

Malmesbury    Abbey,    register    of, 

quoted,  130. 
Malting  at  Buriord,  219,  330. 
Maltsters,  330,  357.  359.  365.  397- 
Manor   of   Burford  :     Agricultural 

Portion,  as  distinct  from  town, 

85,  149,  162-5. 

alienated  by  the  Crown,  52,  272. 
confusing  descent  of,  82,  84. 
conjunction  with  Priory,  272-3. 
division  of   town  from  hamlets, 

86,  195. 

Edwardian  survey  of,   86,    159, 

162,  171,  177.  194-8,  269. 
effects  of  Crown's  tenure  of,  51. 
escheats  of,  83,  84. 
first  resident  lord  of,  53.  273. 
grants  of,  83,  85. 
history  of  lordship  of,  80-7. 
purchased  by  Tanfield,  53,  272. 
rents  of,  17-18,  163. 
remote  authority  of,  51,  58. 
settlement  of,  158,  163,  286. 
waste  of,  dealt  with  by  burgesses, 

52- 
Manor  House,  the  :    obscurity  of 
early  history  of ,  157-9,  170. 
site  of,  157-9.  »70.  199- 


Mansio  of  Burford,  158. 
Map  of  Burford  town,  4. 

of  the  open  fields  (i793).  I94- 
of  the  Enclosure  Award,  227. 
Market    at    Burford :      burgesses' 
control  of,  5?,  375  sqq. 
Crown  claim  to,  55,  374-85- 
goods  entering,  in  1322,  166. 
Grant  of,  6,  10,  301. 
last  stages  of,  229-30. 
value  of,  17-18. 
Market  Cross,  146,  203. 
Masons,  329.  33i.  332.  358. 
Mason's  Arms  Inn,  183. 
Masters  of  the  Hospital,  30,  127, 

144,  260-1. 
Meadow,  Common  Lot,  157,  176-8, 
197-8. 
See  also  High  Mead. 
Meadow  Customs,  177-8,  408-9. 
Mediaeval     Citizens,     prominent, 
178-80. 
personal  goods  of,  178-9. 
Memorandum    Book   of   the   Cor- 
poration, 21,  41,  44,  188,  200, 
410. 
Men  Servants,  192. 
Mercers,  220,  315,   323,   326,  334. 
344. 350. 352, 355.357. 359. 397. 
Merchants,  166,  327,  372. 
Mercia,  132-3,  152-3. 
Mercurius     Britannicus,     quoted, 

243- 
Mercurius  Elencticus,  quoted,  251, 

253- 
Mercurius     Pragmaticus,    quoted, 

245. 
Mermaid  Inn,  219,  404. 
Messuages,  division  of,  161-2,  172. 

engrossing  of  agricultural,  195. 
Middle  Forge,  210. 
Mills,    ownership   of,    17-18,    194, 
266. 
rental  of,  17-18. 
situation  of,  17,  160,  193. 
Mismanagement  of  Charity  Lands, 
61,    67-8,    72,    75-7,    350-1. 

391-7- 
Mode  of  Appointment  of  Ofiftcials, 

18,  34,  36,  67,  389- 
Model  of  the  Church,  122. 
Moderate,  The,  quoted,  243,  251. 
Modem  Windows  in  the  Church, 

122. 
Monasteries,    Dissolution    of    the, 

42,  53,  258,  260,  264. 
Monuments  :  see  under  Church. 
MuUender's  Lane,  310,  394,  407. 
Murder    in    the    Priory    grounds, 

282-3. 


714 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Muster  Roll  for  Burford,  192. 
Mutiny  of  1649,  234-54. 

Nail-makers,    166. 

Names,     Ancient,     in      Common 

Fields,  17  s,  353-5- 
Napper,  Le,  165. 
Narrow  Scope  of  Charters,  8,   11, 

57- 
Nativi  Tenentes,  163. 
Nature  of  Burford  Franchises,  6-7, 

II,  18,  S3  sqq. 
Neolithic    Implements    found    at 

Burford,   148. 
Neweland,  Le,  168. 
Norman  Building  in  Church,  104-5. 
Novum   Hospitium    Angulare,    25, 

169,  193. 
Numbers   of   burgages,    162,    190, 

208. 
of  the  Corporation,  14,  34. 

Oares,  the,  355. 

Obits,  262-3,   319,   320,   336,   367, 

373- 
Officials,  mode  of  appointment  of, 

18,  34.  36,  67,  389. 
Ordinances    of    the    fellowship    of 
burgesses,  21,  27,  49,  201,  369. 
Outward  Tythings,  the,  141. 
Oxford,  Bishop  of  :  lease  of  rectory 
by,  405. 
owner  of  rectorial  glebe,  140. 
presentations  to  living,  129-30. 
Oxford,     Corporation    of :      letter 

from,  57,  401. 
Oxford,    customs   of,    assigned    to 
Burford,  5,  301-2. 
road  to,  from  Burford,  216,  224. 
Speaker  Lenthall's  candidature 
at,  277-8. 

Parliamentary  Forces  :    at  Ciren- 
cester in  1642-3,  202. 
attack  Burford,  203. 
quartered  in  Burford,  205,  242. 
Penances  in  Burford,  in  1521,  146. 
Perfect  Diurnall,  quoted,  250. 
Personality  of  Town  :    developed 
by  independent  revenue,  3. 
effect  in  Bridge  Tolls  on,  18. 
in  Common  Seal,  13. 
Peter,  St.,  Chapel  of,  106. 
Physicians,  220,  356. 
Picage  and  Stallage,  375  sqq.,  401. 
Pillory,  41,  413. 

Pitt  and  Dock,  Pitt  and  Dockseed, 
Pitt  and  Stone,  Pitt  and 
Thorne,  lots  in  High  Mead, 
408-9. 


Plague    in    Burford,    before    the 

Black  Death,  163. 
Pleadings    in    the    chancery    suit 

of. 1742,  398-9. 
Poole's  Lands,  30,  32-3,  43,  68,  73, 

309,  333-58.  391.  393.  396. 
Population  of  Burford  :     at  time 
of  Domesday,  5,  157. 
census  figures,  229. 
circa  1299,  162. 
effects     of    increase     on    town 

buildings,  172. 
falling,  230-1. 

in  sixteenth  century,  189-91. 
in  seventeenth  century,  207-9. 
in  eighteenth  century,  223. 
Porch  of  the  Church  :  date  of,  105, 
121. 
arms  on,  120. 
Port  Mills,  160,  368. 
Posting,  importance  of,  to  Burford, 

64,  216,  219,  223,  224-5. 
Postmaster,     early,     in     Burford, 

216. 
Pound  in  Sheep  Street,  416. 
Prescription,  plea  of,  by  burgesses, 

56,  376  sqq. 
Prior,  the,  of  Burford,  144. 
Priory,    the,    53,    167,    168,    205, 
257-93.  360. 
See  also  Hospital  of  St.  John. 
Priory  Lane,  168,  208,  209. 
Privileges  :    burgesses'  assumption 
of,  37,  52,  58. 
grounds  of  burgesses'  claim  to, 

56. 
loss  of,  52  sqq.,  374-85. 
scheme  for  recovery  of ,  73,  390-1. 

Quarries  :    free  stone,  171. 
Kit's,  211. 
slating,  171. 
Quit  Rents  :    for  Charity  Lands, 

59.  388-9. 
Quo  Warranto  Proceedings  against 
burgesses,  53,  297,  374-85. 

Racing  at  Burford,  64,  216-18. 
Railways  :    diversion  of  traffic  by, 
229-30. 
project   for,    touching    Burford, 
231. 
Records  :    character  of  early,  2 1 . 
change  in  form  and  content  of, 
32. 
Rectory,  the  :  gift  of,  to  Keynsham 
Abbey,  133,  257. 
glebe  :    see  glebe,  rectorial, 
grant  to  Harman,  42,  135,  268. 
house  of,  134-7,  268, 


GENERAL  INDEX 


715 


Rectory  {continued). 

in  hands  of  college  of  Fothering- 
.    hay,    135. 

m  hands  of  ecclesiastical  com- 
missioners, 140. 
Reeve,  the,  408-9. 
Reformation,     the,     in     Burford, 

143  sqq. 
Registers,  the  Parish,  62,  143. 
Civil  War  entries  in,  204-6. 
entry  of  Levellers'  execution  in, 
ass- 
Rent,  Manorial :    appropriated  by 
Burgesses,  52. 
of  liberi  tenentes,  17,  163. 
of  market,  17-18,  55. 
of  mills,  17. 
rolls,  207-9. 
Return  of  Writs,  claim  to,  19. 
Revenues :     of    the    Hospital    of 
St.  John,  258,  261. 
of  the  manor,  17-18,  163. 
Rewley,  Abbot  of,  126,  264. 
Ridgeway,  the,  196,  353-4. 
Road  TraflSc :    importance  of,  to 
Burford,  7,  64,  151,  153,  213, 
215-16,  228,  231. 
Roman  Occupation,  traces  of,  at 

Burford,  149-50. 
Roodloft,  the,  106,  109,  113. 
Ropemakers,  330. 
Royal  Commission,  of  1628,  59-62, 

34S-SI- 
of  1738,  21,  66-70,  76,  391-8. 
Rugmaker,  387. 

Rules  of  the  Fellowship  of  Bur- 
gesses, 21,  27,  49,  201,  369. 
for  the  almshouse,  407. 
Ruxell,  the  great,  403. 
the  barn,  403. 

Sac  and  Soc,  grant  of,  11,  302. 

interpretation  of,  414. 
Sacristy,  104. 
Saddlers,  193,  219,  316,  326,  335, 

345.  355- 

Saddles  :    presented  to  royal  visi- 
tors, 219. 

Saddle-tree  maker,  357. 

Salmon's  Close,  169. 

St.  John's  Street,  168,  208. 

St.    Paul's     Cathedral :      Burford 
stone  used  in,  171. 

School  Lands,  309, 317-32,409, 410. 

Screens,  Mediaeval,  in  the  Church, 
107. 

Seals,  the  Town.  13  note,  264,  400. 

Seneschal,    the,    25,    28,    55,    58, 
37  S  sqq. 
list  of,  103. 


Seniors  of  the  Gild,  26,  102,  312, 

318. 
Serjeant,  the,  28,  35,  408-9. 
Seventeenth   Century :     buildings 

of,  211. 
population  in,  207-9. 
trades  in,  219-20. 
Shearmen,  165. 
Sheep   Street,    52,    167.    168,    169, 

175,   186,   188,   193,  208,  209, 

210,  211,  224,  228,  243,  255, 

285,  416. 
Shil  Brook,  156,  174,  196. 
Shoemakers,    313.    323.    324,    332, 

344.  350.  357- 
Shops,  173,  193.  333- 
Sieveyers.  328,  330. 
Single  Cross,  lot  in  High  Mead,  408. 
Sixteenth  Century  :    buildings  of, 

185-6. 
population  in,  189-91. 
prominent  men  of,  199-201. 
trades  in,  193. 
Skirmish  in  Burford,  in  1642, 202-4. 
Slatters,   166,  316,   331,  332,   358, 

359.  427. 
Smiths,  340,  412. 
Solicitors,  122  (note),  398. 
Spire  of  the  Church,  date  of,  105, 
Staplers,  166,  334. 
Stert  Quarry,  171. 
Steward,  the,  33,  34,  55,  58,  201. 

list  of,  103. 

oath  of,  413-14. 

tenure  of  office,  35. 
Stocks,  41,  413. 
Stone  Coffin,  found  near  Burford, 

149-51- 
Sturt,  176  (note),  197,  354. 
Subsidies,  Clerical,   134,   138,  258, 

260,  262-3» 
Subsidies,  Lay,  41,  83,  159,  162, 

164,   176,  191,  200,  260. 
Survey  of  the  Town  and  Manor, 

in  1552,  86,  159,  162,  171,  177, 

194-8,  269. 
Swan  Lane,  210,  310. 
Synod,  Alleged,  at  Burford,  13 1-3, 

Tailors,  165,  330,  334.  387,  403. 
Tanners,  166,  219,  323,  325,  328, 

331.  350,  359.  423- 
Taxatio  Ecclesiastica,  134,  260. 
Thames,  River,  147,  156. 
Thomas,      St.,      of      Canterbury, 

Chapel  of,  104,  107,  no,  113, 

119,  121,  373. 
figure  of,  in  ancient  glass.  108. 
Three  Pitts,  lot  in  High  Mead,  408. 


7i6 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Three- weekly  Court,  13, 55,  375  sqq. 
Timber  and  Plaster  Building,  17 1-2, 

173  and  note. 
Tokens,  the  Burford,  221. 
Tol  and  Theam  :  grant  of,  11,  302. 

interpretation  of,  414, 
Tolsey,   the,    187,   210,   222,    368, 

400,  411,  412. 
Torchlight,    light    called,    in    the 

Church,  108,  373. 
Tower,  the,  of  the  Church,  105. 
Town  Clerks,  323,  363,  369. 

duties  and  appointment  of,  35. 
Trades,     prevalent,     in     fifteenth 

century,  165-6. 
in  sixteenth  century,  193. 
in  seventeenth  century,  219-20. 
Traffic  Routes,  importance  of,  to 

Burford,  7,  64,  147,  151,  153, 

193,  213,  215-16,  224-6,  230. 
Transepts  of  the  Church,  date  of, 

104. 
Trustees  of  the  Charity  Lands,  61, 

68,  70,  76,  78,  349.  352,  355. 

357,  359- 
Two  Pitts,  lot  in  High  Mead,  408. 

Veronhill,  or  Fernhill,  197. 
Vicarage,  the,  168,  317,  322,  328, 
329.  332,  396. 

first  mentioned,  134,  317. 

glebe  of  :   see  glebe,  vicarial. 

house  of,  137,  211,  222. 
'  Vicaridge  Rights  ',  book  for  the, 

^37.  139. 
Vicars  of   Burford,   list  of,    125- 

30. 
Villeins,  5,  162. 
Virgates  :    measurement  not  used 

for  town  tenants,  196. 
numbers  of,  in    1299,    174;    in 

1552.  195. 


Virgates  (continued). 
size  and  rental  of,  162. 
system  undermined,  195. 

Waifs  and  Strays,  55,  58,  375  sqq., 

401. 
Walkemylle,  Le,  194. 
Wardsmen,  35,  416. 
Warwick's  Lands,  84,  334. 
Water  Crooke,  the,  405. 
Wattle  and  Daub  Building,    171, 

173  and  note. 
Wealth,    grades   of,    in   sixteenth 
century,  191-2. 
signs  of  increasing,  181,  213-15. 
slow  advance  of  town  in,  165. 
Weavers,  165,  316,  334. 
Welsh  Names,  in  Burford,  7,  215. 
Wesleyan  Chapel,  the,  210. 
Wessex,  132-3,  152-3. 
West  Field,  157,  174-5,  354-5, 402. 
Westwell  Way,  174-5,  355. 
White  Hill,  174-5, 196,224, 353,404. 

farm,  226. 
Whiteladies,  or  Whichelate  Quarry, 

171. 
Wills  and  Gifts,  1 12-14,  178-9,  310. 
Windrush,  River,  134, 147, 165,317. 
Witney-Northleach  Road,  174, 196. 
Witney  Street,  157,  167,  168,  169, 
171,   193,  194,  208,  209,  210, 
212,  224,  243. 
mediaeval  remains  in,  183-4. 
skirmish  in,  203-4. 
Wood,  Anthony,  Life  and  Times, 
quoted,  218,  219,  276,  279,  281. 
Woolhouse,  the.  336,  337,  338,  345, 

351. 
Woolmen,  165. 
Wort,  Le,  Quarry,  171. 
Wycliffites,  in  Burford,  144,  199. 
Wyldmore  Mead,  197. 


II.     INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Abbot,  Major,  242, 
Abell,  Richard,  371. 

„     Thomas,  371,  390,  484. 
Abercorne,     Countess    of,    281-2, 

390,475- 
,,  Earl  of,  282-3. 

Abraham,  John,  312. 
Ackerman,  William,  102. 
Adam  of  Belee,  125,  571. 
Adams,  Samuel,  397. 
Adgar,  Walter,  12,  668. 
Adynet,  John,  420. 


Albericus,  Comes,  5,  6  (note),  87, 

158. 
Aldhelm,  13 1-3. 
Alkin,  Thomas,  453. 
Allen,  Edward,  452. 
Allflett,    Richard,    323,    350,    364, 
433.  442,  443. 
„         Robert,  321,  322. 
„         Symon,  323,  412,  429. 
Thomas,  338,  631. 
Almeri,  Robert  de,  301. 
Alott,  John,  420. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


717 


Alys,    Thomas.    179,    333-4,    360, 

613,  666. 
Ameryes,  Alice,  318. 
Amice,  daughter  of  William  Earl 

of  Gloucester,  83,  88. 
Andrewes,  Rev.  Anthony,  129. 
Richard,  327-9. 
Robert,  451. 
Andrues,  John,  316,  512. 
Ansell,  Edward,  100,  loi,  515,  691. 

Thomas,  100,  228,  703. 
Appar,  Thomas,  322. 
Applegarth,  Richard,  345,  370. 
Robert,  370. 
Mary,  370. 
William,  317,  359. 
Arkell,  John,  loi. 
Amolde,  Thomas,  314. 
Ashworth,  Thomas,  330. 
Aston,  Ambrose,  331,  394,  505. 
,,       (or  Alston),  Robert,   99, 

435.  447.  455.  458.  464. 
Thomas,  332. 
Atkins,  Thomas,  255. 
Atkinson,  Anne,  403. 
Atkyns,  Robert,  86,  90.  170,  608. 
Attome,  Thomas,  421. 
Attwell,  394,  485,  496. 
Avenell,  Bartholomew,  450. 

Backster,  William,  217. 
Badger,  Simon,  512. 
Baggs,  Thomas,  445.  447.  453.  479- 
Bagote,  Richard,  320. 

Robert,  337. 
Baker,  John,  360. 

„  William.  576,  680. 
Baldwin  of  Burford.  565. 
Banbury,  John,  319,  400.  425,  426, 

438. 
Bancks,  Miles,  449. 
Barber,  Richard,  366. 

Thomas,  422,  423. 
Barker,  Anthony,  128,  657. 

John,  265,  612,  624,  640. 
Barnarde,  Henry,  412. 
Barrett,  Michael,  449. 

Philip,  315.  417.  635. 
Bartholomew,  John,  327.  328,  445, 
454.  482. 
Richard,    99,     355, 

357.  445.  454.  463. 
486. 

„  Richard    the   youn- 

ger. 357- 

„  William.  55,  98,  315. 

-       325,  326,  327,  328, 

343.350,35^352, 

374  sqq..  388,401, 

418,  482,  681. 


Bartholomew,  William  the  youn- 
ger, 344.  350.  353- 
Barton,  Major,  244. 
Basket,  John,  181,  654. 
Batson,  William,  348,  364. 
Batt,  William,  405. 
Batyn,  Thomas,  312. 
Bavork,  John,  169,  361. 
Baxter,  Thomas,  331. 
Bayley.  Captain,  241,  244. 

William,  633. 
Bay  lie,  Thomas,  135,  612,  642. 
Baylis,  Anne,  330. 
Henry,  332. 
,,       William,  447. 
Bayuse,  Thomas  de,  302. 
Beacham,  Edward,  449. 
Beare,  Thomas.  442. 
Beauchamp,  Lady  Anne,  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  War- 
wick, 91. 
„  Henry,  Duke  of  War- 

wick, 91,  580,  591. 
,,  John,    '  Dominus    de 

Beauchamp  ',  362. 
Beaufort,  Richard,  668-9. 
Beck,  Anne,  463. 
,,      Henry,  463. 
Beeston,  Henry,  397. 
Bekyngham,  William,  425,  426. 
Belcher.  Symon,  450. 
Bele.  John.  425. 
Belew,  John,  302. 
Bell.  Richard.  93,  199. 
Bemstere,  Geoffrey,  420. 
Benet,  Thomas,  420. 
Bennett, John.  455. 

,,         Leonard,  454. 
Berhtwald,     Regent     of     Mercia, 

131-2. 
Berkeley,  Maurice  de,  85,  90,  572. 
Bemes,  William,  420,  665,  669. 
Berry,  Ambrose,  355,  451,  460. 
„     .Daniel,  327,  444. 

David,328,329,433,434, 680. 
John,  358. 
Robert,  451,  459. 
Bery  alias  Glover,  WilUam,  112. 
Beynge,  Thomas,  321. 
Bicknell,  John,  403. 
Bignell,  Alice,  352. 
„        Phillis,  352. 
Billynge,  John.  320.  675.  677,  680. 
Birch,  Rev.  William.  121,  130,  514. 
Birt,  Philip,  436. 

Bishop  (Byschop,  Bysshope), 
Henry,  95,  107,  310,  311, 
361-2,  366,  367,  400, 
424,  425,  426,  438,  448, 
580,  670,  671. 


7i8 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Bishop       (Byschop,       Bysshope), 

John.96,255,312,319.320, 

321,  334,  336,  368,  423, 

426,  427,  439,  440,  672. 

„        Richard,    112,    319,    423, 

439.  674. 
Thomas,  96,  319,  368. 
William,     113.    368,    439, 

615.645- 
Bitton,  William  of,  125. 
Blackman,  Anne,  330. 
Blincoe,  Anthony,  385. 
Blocklee,  John,  334. 
Blonham,  Henry  de,  573. 
Blont,  Henry,  318,  422,  423. 
Blowin,  Matthias,  451. 
Bocke,  Henry,  453. 
Bohun,  Humfrey  de,  296,  302. 
Bolton,  Thomas,  327,  449,  561. 

„        William,  204. 
Bond,  Robert,  422,  423,  424,  425, 

611. 
Borham,  Edward,  353,  355. 
Borlase,  William,  284-5,  667. 
Bosworth,  Roger,  401. 
Boterell,  John,  96,  319,  320,  400, 
426,  439.  672,  677. 
Thomas,  319.  337- 
Boulter,     John,     316,     365,     450 
(Boulton). 

„        Thomas,  331. 

„        William,  10 1,  694. 
Bowdelare,  William,  103,  312. 
Bowles,  William,  99,  100,  357,  359, 

390.  395,435.478.  511. 
Boyce,  John,  331. 

,,        Thomas,  332. 
Boyes,  John,  144. 
Boys,  Joseph,  346. 
Bradeston,  Robert  de,  669. 
Bradshaw,  John,  455. 
Brag,  James,  455. 
Braggs,  Thomas,  327. 
Brame,  Richard,  96,  113,  312,  319, 
320,  335,  423,  426,  427. 
„        William,  335. 
Brampton,  Thomas,  318,  424,  425, 
614. 
„  William,  333,  334,  360, 

421,  422,  580,  665. 
„  William    the    younger, 

180-1,  335,  654. 
Bray,  Sir  Edmund,  352,  355. 
„      Edmund,  Esq.,  357. 
,,      Sir  Giles,  345, 
,,      Reginald,  355. 
„      Reginald  Morgan,  359, 
,,      William,  426. 
Brayne,  Thomas,  313. 
Bredocke,  John,  637. 


Brewton  (Bruton),  Agnes,  340,  430. 
Robert,    97,    312,    313, 
314,    322,    338,    368, 
400,  429,  659. 
William,  348,  368,  503. 
Bridges,  William,  345. 
Brisco,  Henry,  329. 
Brisse,  William,  96. 
Bristo,  William,  320. 
Broderick,  Francis,  476. 
Bromsgrove,  Anthony,  345. 
Brooke,  Charles,  444. 

,,        Christopher,  316. 
Brookes,  Joshua,  456. 
,,         Symon,  327. 
Brooks,  Ann,  365. 

Nathaniel,   116,   355,  364, 
365,  403.  457- 
Brown,  Edward,  332. 
,,       Matthew,  255. 
,,        Robert,  of  Orcheston,  125. 
Browne,  John,  321,  427. 

„        Robert,     321,     358,    411, 
427,  622,  637. 
Bruere,  John,  665,  669. 
Bryan,  Walter,  578. 
Bryce,  William,  427,  672. 
Bucking,  John,  456. 
Buckingham,    Edward,    Duke    of, 
127. 
„  Humfrey,    Duke    of, 

91,  590. 
„  Richard,  327. 

„  William,     328,     329, 

449.  458. 
BuUocke,  John,  206. 
Burbree,  Richard,  461. 
Burges,  Robert,  144,  145. 
Burgess,  Rev.  John  Hugh,  122, 130. 
Burgh,  John  de,  83. 
Burghley,  Lord,  188-9. 
Bumey,  Fanny,  226. 
Burrell,  WiUiam,  96,  336,  424. 
Busby,  Richard,  191,  633, 
Busbye  (Busbyne),  John,  96,  114, 

191. 
Busten,  Richard,  344,  351. 
Butcher,  Thomas,  322. 
„  William,  322. 

Butler,  Nicholas,  424,  440,  672. 
Byron,  Sir  John,  202-4. 

Cace,  Agnes,  620. 
„      Robert,  670. 
Cade,     Thomas,     122,     127,     190 

(note),  219,  265,  612,  639,  665. 
Cakebred,  John,  333,.420,  440,  645. 

„  Matilda,  333,  420-1. 

Calaber,  John,  673,  680. 
Calaway,  William,  321. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


719 


Calcott :  see  Hewes  alias  Calcott. 
Callis,  William,  205. 
Cally,  John,  321. 
CamseweU,  John  de,  587. 
,,  Michael,  624. 

Cannan,  Bartholomew,  363,  412. 
Cantilupe.  William  de.  83,  88.  567. 
Cantloe,  John,  255. 
Cardygan,  Alice,  400. 
John,  400. 
Carpen,  James,  255. 
Carpenter,  John,  459. 
Carswall,  John,  312. 
Gary,  Henry,  first  Viscount  Falk- 
land, 116,  274. 
„      Lucius,      second      Viscount 
Falkland.  62,  93,  116,  136, 
142,  159,  206,  274,  388-9. 
453. 
Cass,  Rev.  William  Anthony,  122, 

130. 
Castle,  Edmond,  327. 
„        Edward,  409. 

John,    100,   208,   214,  356, 

357.  389.  394.  405.  435. 
459,  481,  495. 
„        John  the  younger,  100. 
„       J°^°  (chandler),  357. 
Robert,  397,  512,  514. 
Thomas,  99.  353,  434.  461, 
462.  463. 
„       Thomas  the  younger,  355. 
WiUiam,  100,  331,  358,  372, 
408,  436. 
Caswell,  Rev.  R.  C,  406.  682-97 

passim. 
Catelyn,  Thomas,  420. 
Causton.  Geoffrey,  126,  317. 

„  Thomas,  317. 
Cawlyn,  Thomas,  665. 
Chadwell,  Henry,  450. 

,,  1°^".  439»  44*'»  ^7^- 

„  Richard,  34,  97,  98,  102, 

323.     339.     340.     351. 
363.     368,    412,    413, 
415,  429,  430,  442. 
Symon,    323,    350,    351, 
492. 
„  Thomas,  449,  634. 

Chaloner,  Nicholas,  333,  420. 
Chamberlayne,  John,  326. 
Chamberleyne,  Bartholomew,  128. 
Chancelere,  Richard,  338,  339. 
Chapman.  William,  10 1,  406.  514. 
Charles  I,  205,  216. 
Charles  II,  64,  216.  218,  219,  280, 

281. 
Charleye  (Chawrleye),  Richard,  97, 

3 1 3,  400,  440. 
Chaunce,  Kenelm,  373,  660. 


Chaunceler,  Richard,  127,  319,423. 
Chaunler,  James.  397- 
Chavasse.  Clou  de,  409. 

Edward,  373,  512-13. 
„  Pye.  loi,  478. 

William,  loi,  514. 
Chawrleye  :   see  Charleye. 
Cheatle,  Mrs.,  13  (note),  307,  323. 
,,        Thomas,  103,  307,  515. 
„        Thomas  Henry,  307. 
Ched worth,  George,  625. 
Chestir,  John,  321.  , 

Childe,  Robert,  315,  322,  441. 
Church,  John,  251-2. 
Clare,  Eleanor  de,  17,  83,  86,  89,  90. 
„        Isabella  de.  85,  89,  260,  573. 
..       Gilbert  de,  seventh  Earl  of 

Gloucester,  88,  297. 
,.       Gilbert   de,    ninth    Earl    of 
Gloucester,     80,     85,     89, 
572.  582. 
Gilbert   de,    tenth    Earl    of 
Gloucester.  13.  83,  85,  89, 
584.  586. 
,,       Margaret  de,  83. 
,.       Richard  de.  9,  83,  297,  301, 

581. 
„       William  de,  302. 
Clare,  Thomas,  397,  512.  514. 
Clarence,  Edward  of,  81,  92.  580, 

581. 
Clarke,  John.  327,  328,  341,  344. 
350,  444,  453. 
„       John  (of  Witney),  345. 
,,       Richard,  373. 
William,  218. 
Cleavely,  William,  485,  499. 
Clement  of  Burford.  565. 
Clemson,  Thomas,  144. 
Clerk,  Nicholas,  96,  424,  440. 
Gierke,  Thomas,  320,  439,  622,  639. 
Cobome.  Richard.  317. 
Coburle  (Coburley).  John,  671. 

Robert,  95,  319,  367,  425. 
William.  318. 
Coburn,  John,  405. 
Cok,  Robert,  333,  360. 
Cokerell,  Henry,  622. 

William,  317.  420,  665. 
Cokks,  Thomas,  619. 
Colborne  (or     Colbrowe),     Hugh. 
314.  321.  427.  634. 
John.  457. 
Cole,  Henry,  390. 

„     John,  327,  433. 
Golfe,  Rev.  Thomas.  129. 
Colinge,  John,  452. 
CoHns,  Alice,  145. 
Colis,  Richard,  422. 
CoUens,  William,  624. 


720 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Collier,   John,  99,   315,   325.   326, 
341.  350.  351.  352,  363. 
368,  400,  443,  463. 
,,        Johnthe  younger,  100,  ID  I. 
,,       Robert,  370,  448. 

Robert  (of  Witney),  406. 
Timothy,  457,  461,  471. 
William,  328. 

William  (of  Bermondsey), 
406. 
Collins,  Philip,  328,  329,  449. 
Collyer,  John,  345, 
,,        Thomas,  394. 
„        Thomas  (of  London),  483, 

48s,  503- 
Colly ns,  Francis,  345. 
„        Thomas,  634. 

William,  625,  660. 
Colman,  Hugo,  374. 
Colston,  Edward  Francis,  514. 
Colton,  Agnes,  617. 

,,         Richard,  617. 
Colyns,  William,  411,  635. 
Combes,  John,  451. 
„         William,  452. 
„         William,  617. 
Compeire,  Mr.,  461. 
Conyng,  Agnes,  318. 
Coo,  Mary,  404. 
Cook,  John  (1461),  333.  578. 
Cooke,  Col.  Edward,  280-1. 

John    (1629),    388-9,    433, 

666,  680. 
John  (1722),  100. 
Robert,  608. 
,,       Thomas,  93,  199. 
,,        William  Robert,  515. 
Cooper,  Rev.  Edward  Philip,  130, 

138.  5^5- 
Cope,  Sir  Anthony,  340, 342, 3  5  2, 474. 

,,      Sir  John,  397. 
Cornewaill,  Joan  de,  587. 

John,  317. 
Cornwall,  ReginaldEarlof,  296, 302. 
Cosens,     Dennis     (or    Dionysius), 

100,  357  (note).  444,  445,  458. 
Cossen,  Robert,  352. 
Cote,  Harry,  484. 

Coteler    (Cotelir),    Henry,   28,   95, 
103,  318,  333,  334,  360, 
420,  579,  666,  669. 
„        Robert  le,  23,  26,  102,  312, 
317,  420,  665,  669. 
William,  95,  318,  334,  360. 
361,  422,  423,  424,  609, 
669,  670. 
Cotteswold,  William,  317,  419. 
Cotton,  Sir  John,  474. 
,,  ,     Thomas,  323. 
Coupe,  Roger,  318. 


Cousins,  John,  702. 

Coventry,  Sir  Thomas,  380. 

Cowles,  William,  453. 

Coxwell,  John,  397. 

Craford,  Francis,  447. 

Cranley,  William  de,  302. 

Craven,  William  Earl  of,  479. 

Creek,  William,  127. 

Crell,  Elizabeth,  466. 

Cromwell,  01iver,62, 234-56/»asst>n. 

„         Thomas,   219,  264,  654, 
655- 
Crosson,John,3 17, 420,610,665,669. 
Crouchman,  John,  313. 

„  Thomas.  322,  338. 

Curteis,  Margaret,  93,  199,  666. 
Curtis,  Thomas,  451,  459. 
Cussone,  Thomas,  420. 
Cuthred,Kingof  Wessex,  152-3,154. 
Cygon,  Matthew  de,  125. 

Dalby,  John,  425. 

(Dawby,  or  Dalbe),  Rich- 
ard, 37,  97,  98,  313,  315, 
319,  321,  322,  323,  338, 
339.  340.  363.  368,  400, 
411,  412,  413,  428,  429, 
440,  441,  551,  625,  660. 
William,  330,  374,  416,  459- 
Dallam,  John,  313,  339,  346.  440. 
Toby,  46,  98,  324.  339,  340. 
342,  363,  417.  429.  432. 
Dallas,  Rev.  Alexander  R.  C,  121, 

124,  514. 
Danby,  Henry  Earl  of,  345. 
Daniel,  Roger,  328,  329,  352. 

Thomas,  330,  458. 
Davies,  Lewis,  206. 
Davis,  Ambrose,  403. 
,,       Andrew,  449,  453. 

David,  450. 
,,       Edward,  448. 
„       George.  514. 

Hugh,  322. 
,,       Richard,  460. 
Davy,  Richard,  675. 
Davys,  Douglas,  129. 
Dawe,  Robert,  59,  60,  341,  350-1, 

388,  482-3. 
Dawson,  Richard,  345, 346, 443,448. 
Deane,  Mrs.  H.,  406. 
Denne  (or  Den),  Henry,  238,  239, 

242,  245,  252-4. 
Denton,  Miles,  449. 
Despenser,  Edward  le,  82,90,  575-7. 
Eleanor  le,  572-3,  588. 
„         Elizabeth,  574,  577. 

Hugh  le,  30,  62,  83,  85, 
89,  96,  163,  257,  436, 
572-S,  589. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


721 


Despenser,  Isabel  le,  84,  90,  163. 
„  Thomas  le,  30,  83,  84, 

90,  257,  578,  608. 
Devyse,  Thomas,  45,  417,  650,  651. 
Dicks  (Dikes,  or  Dix),  Daniel,  332, 
359,  390, 406, 409.452, 512. 
Jacob,  329,  330,  458. 
Joseph,  332. 
Thomas,  458. 
Dodde,  James,  614. 

,,        Thomas,  96,  427,  672. 
Dods,  Roger,  144. 
Doegood,  William,  255. 
DoUey,  Thomas,  466. 
Dolton,  Thomas,  443. 
Donne,  William,  257,  577. 
Dorman,  Thomas,  618. 
Dome,  Margaret,  645 . 
,,     Thomas,  608. 
Dorset,  John,  424. 
Doyley,  John,  385. 
Dudley,  John,  Earl  of  Warwick  and 
Duke    of    Northumberland,    81, 
84,  92,  645. 
Dumbleton,  Daniel,  404. 
Durham,  Robert,  515. 
Dutton,  Sir  John,  359,  397. 
John,  349.  4S2. 
„         Sir  Ralph,  281  (note),  462. 
,,         Thomas,  635. 
Dyere    (or   Dyer),    Edmund,    318, 
334.  360,  579. 
,,        Edward,  422. 
,,        John,  179,  419,  420,  612. 
Thomas,  671. 
Dylke,  Thomas,  320. 
Dyte,  John,  334. 

East,  Charles,  307  (note). 

,,      Robert,  323,  442. 
Edgare,  Thomas,  199,  657.    . 
Edgeley,  WilUam,  348, 368, 394, 496. 
Edmunds,  Agnes,  144. 
,,         Joan,  145. 

John,  144,  145. 

Joseph,  358. 

Robert,  634. 
Edward  I.  160. 
Edward  II,  18,  309. 
Edward  III,  8,  56,  297,  302,   380 

sqq. 
Edward  VI,  43,  310. 
Edward  of  Clarence,  81, 92,  580,  581. 
Edwards,  John,  465.       . 

,,  Reginald,  136,  666. 

Egle,  John,  318. 

Elizabeth,  Queen.  115,  188-9,  4iS- 
Ellis,  Mary,  330. 
Elston,  Robert,  340,  354. 
Elstone,  William,  213,  448. 

3304  3  A 


Elys,  Robert,  113. 

Emeris,  Rev.  William  Charles,  104, 

130. 
Escoveny,  Walter  de,  302. 
Espicer,  Walkelin  le,  571. 
Essex,  Earl  of,  121,  205,  216. 
Ethelbald,  King  of  Mercia,  152-4. 
Eve,  John,  451,  460. 
„     Richard,  455. 
,,    William,  445. 
Everard,  Robert,  255. 

,,         Thomas,    427,    616,    671, 
672,  679. 
Everest,  Robert,  322. 
Evetts,  John,  454. 

,,        Richard,  451. 
Evreux,  Amaury  Count  of,  83,  88, 

567. 
Eykyn,  Rev.  John,  123,  129,  140, 

"479-81. 
Eymer,  Walter,  126,  579. 
Eynesdale    (Enysdale,    or    Aynes- 
dale),  Peter,  34,  96, 
102,    121,    201,    319. 
320,    321,    336,    337, 
423,    427,    440,    640, 
672. 
„  Robert,   97,    321,    322, 

338,    410,   440,    442, 
622,   635. 
Eyres,  Col.,  249,  255. 
Eyrys,  John,  425. 
Eyston,  of  East  Hendred,  180,  592, 
636. 

Fairfax,    Sir    Thomas,    Lord 

General,  234-56,  passim. 
Falkland,    Viscounts  :     see    Cary, 

Henry,  and  Cary,  Lucius. 
Fan,  John,  675. 
Fanencourt,  Geoffrey  de,  85,  89. 

W.  de,  91,  590. 
Farmer,  John,  677. 
Fauconberge,  Edward,  403. 
Faulkner,  Benjamin,  436. 
C.  F.  Allen,  143. 
C.  K..  515. 
„         David,  515. 
.    ,,         Elizabeth,  512. 
James,  397. 
John,  445.  512,  514. 
Margaret,  693. 
Fawke,  William,  351. 
Fawler  (Fallor,  or  Fowler),  Bene- 
dict, 97,   315,  322,  338, 
339.  363.  368.  417,  429, 
440,  441,  442. 
George,  319,  340. 
John,  312, 318, 333,420,666. 
„       Thomas,  97,  313,  321,  322, 


722 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


341,  410,  411,  427,  442, 
621,  636. 

Fawler,  Thomas  (of  Chipping  Nor- 
ton), 345- 
Faxon,  Robert,  460. 
Fayreford  (or  Fairefield),  William, 

327,  328. 
Femhulle,  Robert  de,  587. 
Ferryman,  Samuel,  435. 

,,  Thomas,  326-7. 

Fettiplace,  Anthony,  581. 

Charles,  357,  514,  683. 
„  Sir  Edmund,  355,  357, 

486. 
„  Edward,  349. 

Sir  George,  359,  397. 
John,  345- 
„  John  the  younger,  352. 

Robert,  683,  703. 
,,  Thomas,  97,   322,   339. 

363,400,429,  551. 
„  Thomas  (of  Langford), 

417.  635- 
Feure.  John  le,  582. 

,,       Michael  le,  582. 
Feyster,  Thomas,  422. 
Fickett,  George.  455,  458. 
Finch,  Benjamin  Cutler,  693. 

Matthew,  693. 
Finmore,  Humphrey,  324. 

„         William,  324. 
Firbett,  George,  329. 
Fisher,  Edward,  444. 
FitzGerold,  Warin,  296,  302. 
FitzHamon,   Robert,    5,   6   (note), 

10,  81,  156,  295-6,  301,  571. 
Fitzjohn,  William,  301. 
FitzWarin,  Fnlk,  301. 
Fletcher,  John,  449,  458. 
Flexney,  Daniel,  371. 

Joseph.    371,    392.    477, 
490. 
Floid    (or    Floyde,    or    Flude,    or 
Lloyd),  Evans,  323. 
,,      John,  97,  368,  394,  400,  410, 
442. 
Fludyate,   William,  96,   312,    319, 

320,  336.  426,  427,  648,  674. 
Ford,  Moses,  460. 

„      William,  100,  479. 
Forde,  William,  357. 
Fortescue,   Sir   John,    52,    55,    86, 

93,  268,  272. 
Foster,  Robert  Dannatt,  515. 

„       William,  453. 
Fowler,  Dr.  W.  Warde,  157. 
Fox,  John,  332. 
,,     Mary,  404. 
Franckelyn,  John,  96. 

,,  Robert,  416.' 


Francklin,  Henry,  450. 

,.  John,  440,  479. 

Francklyn,  Margaret,  327. 
„  Nicholas,  433. 

Francis,  Thomas,  446. 
Fraunceys,  John  le,  95,  609. 

„  Lambert  le,  165,  569. 

Freers     (or    Friers,     or    Fryeres), 
Thomas,  97  (and  note),  117  (and 
note).   313,   338.   373,  400.  411. 
415,  428,  440,  441,  442,  551. 
Freeman,  William,  318,  425. 
Fretherne    (or    Frotham).    James, 
392,396,  399.485,491- 
John,  659. 
Fynnes,  John,  345. 

Gale,  Christopher,  326,  327,  364. 
Galliard,  Piercy.  703. 
Gardyner.  John,  335-6. 
Garnon,  William,  426. 
Gascoigne,  Elizabeth,  365. 
,,  Thomas,  365. 

Walwin,  365. 
Gast,  Mrs.,  226. 
Gater,  James,  365. 
Gaveston,  Piers,  83. 
Gay,  John,  634. 

Geast,   John,   315,   339,   374,   415. 
426,  440,  441,  442.  523. 
,,        William.  340,  443. 
Geoffrey  of  Burford,  567. 
George,  Joseph,  447. 

,,        Richard,  99,  355,  464,  486. 
,,        Thomas,  313. 
,,         William,  462. 
Gerard,  General,  205,  206. 
,,        Milo,  320. 
Gilbert,  428. 
Giffard,  John  (of  Brimpsfield),  12, 
51,85,89,  158.257,  569, 
570,  572.  582. 
,,        John     the     younger,     of 
Brimpsfield,  89,  588. 
Gilkes,  Robert,  394,  445,  503. 
Gillett,  Humphrey,  316,  317.  331, 

332,  358.  365.  445- 
Gillmott,  John.  366.  ' 

Gittyns  (or  Gittons),  William,  199, 

654. 
Gladden,  Richard,  453. 
Gladwin,  Malachi,  332. 
Glasiere,  Robert  le,  30,  257,  573. 
Gloucester,  Robert  of,  81,  87,  159, 

296,  299,  302. 
Gloucester,  WiUiam.  Earl  of,  8,  82, 
87,  134,  257,  296,  301  :    see  also 
de  Clare  and  Despenser. 
Glover,  Philip,  428. 
William,  672. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


723 


Glyn,  Robert,  212,  213,  457. 
Glynn,  Rev.  Christopher,  123,  129, 

138-9.327.346.352,353. 
463,  667. 

J-.  353- 
Goddard,  Rev.  Daniel  Ward,  130. 
Godfrey,  Henry,  453, 454,  461,  463. 
John,  463. 
„         Thomas,  397,  514. 
Golofire,  John,  611. 
Goodenough,  John,  397. 

,,  Thomas,  524. 

Goram,  William,  352.  353,  459. 
Goring,  Lord,  206. 
Gossen.  Robert,  450,  454. 

William,  357. 
Gotherd,  Captain,  244. 
Gough,  William,  609,  612. 
Goughman,  Lambert,  672. 
Gower,  William,  181,  653. 
Granger,  John,  95,  96,  319,  365-7, 
400,  424,  425,  426,  438,  439,  592. 
Green,  John,  359,  390,400,  512,672. 
„        John  the  younger,  100. 
„        Simon,    46,    98,    103,    323, 

339.  342.  417.  428,  442. 
,,      ^Thomas,  331. 
Greene,,  Humphrey,  330. 
Greenaway,  Charles,  87,  94,  289. 
,,  Mrs.  Charlotte  Sophia, 

87,  94,  289. 
Greenhill,  Margaret,  330,  356  :   see 

also  Vincent, 
Greenway,  John,  465. 
Gregory,  Edmond,  450. 
„         Francis,  345. 
Griffith,  458. 
Grene,  James,  97. 
„       John,  318,  672. 
,,       Thomas,  95. 

William,  339,  417,  441. 
Grey,  Lord,  218. 
Griffin,  Benjamin,  139. 
James,  512. 
William,  512. 
Griffith,  alias  Phillips,  John,  323, 

324.  325.  339.  341.  363. 
368,  429,  433,  442,  443. 

,,        Philip,  322. 
Griffiths,  Richard,  68  (note),  73,  74, 

317.  332,  390.  396,  399.  418,  436, 

550. 
Grimes,  332. 
Grove,  John,  96,  318,  400,  425,  438, 

670. 
Gunn,  John,  345. 
Gumey,  Henry,  360. 


Hague,  Charles,  330. 
Widow,  332. 


Hale,  William,  623. 
Hall,  Christopher,  326. 
„      John,  332,  436,  634. 
„      Roger,  420. 

,,      Thomas  (of  Bampton),  452, 
460. 
Hambidge,  George,  515. 
Hamelet,  Johanna,  425. 

John,  425. 
Hamon,  '  filius  Venfridi ',  301. 
Hamond,  Manwaryng,  390,  484. 
Hampson,  Francis,  447. 
Hanckes,  Richard,  325,  326,  343. 
Hanne,  John,  672. 
Hannes  (or  Hans),  John.  34,  97, 
103,  220,  314,  315,  316. 
321,  322,  323,  338.  339, 
363,  368,  400,  401,  410, 
412,  413.  417,  440,  442, 
453.462,551,626-7,633. 
,,        John  the  younger,  462. 

Richard,    34,  96,  97,   103, 

312,  313,  322,  350.  362, 

401,  439,  626,  628,  630, 

631.  639,  661. 

„        Richard  the  younger,  364, 

463. 
William,  328. 
Harcourt,  Lord,  397. 
Harcourt  (or  Harecourt),  Richard, 
424,  425,  426,  438. 
Sir  Robert,  28,  103,  118, 
362,  424,  425,  426. 
,,  Robert,  92,  581. 

,,  Symon,  606,  656. 

William,  427. 
Harding,  Abraham,  448. 

„         John,  470. 
Hardgrave,  John,  621. 
Hardinge,  Thomas,  341,  403,  433, 

443- 
Hardyng,  John,  179. 
Harleston,  Robert,  352. 
Harman,  Edmund,  42,  53,  86,  92, 

"5.  135.  136.  194.  199, 
265-8,    324,    347,    368. 
394.  503.  628,  629,  639, 
641-3.  657.  679. 
Mary,  135,  136,  268,  653. 
Harper,  Francis,  453.  462. 
Harris,  Caesar.  435. 

,,       John,  96,  116,  121,369,  392, 

396,  399.  486,  489. 
,,       John  (of  Upton),  144. 
„       Jonathan,  479. 
,,       Richard,  319,  423. 
,,       Robert,  484. 
Harrison,  Col.,  238,  240. 
„  Edmund,  439. 

Harrys,  John,  96,  336. 


3A2 


724 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Harryson,  William.  428. 
Hart,  George.  99,    100,    103,   331. 
358,  359.  372.  390.  406.  435.  436, 
455.465.  478,  481.  510. 
Hastings,  George,  210,  462. 
Hercules,  210,  460. 
.,  Warren,  210. 

Hatter,  John,  179,  613. 
Haukes,  Thomas,  611. 
Hawes,  George,  435. 
Hawker,  Thomas,  423. 
Hawkins,  John,  315,  485,  496. 
Hawlie,  John,  385. 
Hawthorne,  Henry,  653. 
Hawtyn,  Ben,  357. 
„         John,  467. 
Haye,  John,  420,  578 
Haym,  Simon,  420. 
Hayues,  John,  99,  389,  448,  455. 
.,        Margaret,  329.  352. 

Richard.  98,  99,  372,  448, 
680. 
„        William,  448. 
Hayter,  Henry,  143,  341,  347,  430, 

433.  435.  447.  460.  475- 
John,  314,  322,  337.  411. 

,,       Richard,  99,  326,  392,  408, 

434,  448,  451,  485,  506. 
Robert,  98,  139,  324. 

,,       Symon,  403. 

Walter,  316,  325.  326.  341, 
363.  364.  429.  430,  433, 

443- 
,,       Walter  the  younger,  433. 
William,  328,  452. 
Hayeley,  William,  406. 
Heath,  Samuel,  694. 
Hedges,  Alexander,  323,  631. 
George,  442. 
See  also  Hodges. 
Hedgis,  J.,  423. 

Heminge,  Edmund,  212,  327,  328, 
347.370,433.434.680. 
,,  Elinor,  435. 

Richard,  347,  433. 
Hemyng,  Thomas,   325,   340,   341, 

388-9,  430,  443. 
Henry  II,  8,  10,  57,  302. 
Henry  VII,  24,  28,  180,  304. 
Heme,  John,  322. 
Herries,  Henry,  514. 
Herte.  Thomas,  438,  439. 
Hertford,  Marquis  of,  202. 
Hervey,  William,  514. 
Hethewood,  John,  206. 
Hewes,  David,  344. 

,,         Simon.  344,  352,  444. 

(or  Hewis).  alias  Calcott, 
Thomas,  97,  98,  325,  339, 
363.  373.  400,  428. 


Hewes,  William,  36,  97,  312,  313, 
314,   315,   322,   323,   337, 
338,   346,   363,   410,  411, 
440,  441.  442,  450.  630. 
Hewys,  Geoffrey,  426. 
Heylyn  (or  HeyUn),  Edward,  403, 
446. 
„      Henry,  213,  325,368,  371-2, 
393.  403,  486,  494. 
Heynes  (or  Hynes),  Thomas,  97, 

314.  329- 
Hiett,  Thomas,  323. 
Hyett,  John,  417. 

,.      Simon,  417. 
Hicks,  James,  461. 
.,      Ralph,  353. 
„      Richard,  460. 
William,  452. 
Hide,  George,  446,  461. 
Higges.  Eleanor,  144,  145. 
Higgins,  John,  345. 
Highlord,  John,  213.  214,  454,  474. 
Hikeman,  Robert,  585. 

Roger.  585. 
Hill,  alias  Prior,  John,  96,  103,  312, 
319.  320,  334.  337,  423,  427. 
580,  617,  620. 
„  Rev.  Philip,    123,   129,   138-9, 

143- 
,,  William,  592. 
Hillary,  John,  395. 
Hine.  William,  515. 
Hinton,  Thomas,  345. 
Hiron,  John,  442. 
Hobbes.  John,  328. 

Richard,  626. 
Hobbs,  William.  453. 
Hodges    (or    Hogges.    or    Hoggs)» 
Richard,  97,  312,  322,  338, 
340, 429,  431, 442. 446.  630, 
632. 
,,    Thomas.  320,  321.  336. 
„    William.  96.  97,  191,  312,  439, 
447.  659. 
Hodson,  William,  345. 
Holdinge,  Lawrence,  323,  325. 
Holford,  William,  457. 
Holland,  R.  Jephson,  470. 

,.         William,  435,  460. 
Holloway.  John.  466,  498,  510. 
Holmes,  Edward,  481. 

Mr.(Vicarof  Clanfield),  385, 
Honyburn,  Thomas,  417. 
Hooper,  Thomas,  322. 
Hopkins,  Richard,  128. 
Hopkyns,  Anne,  324,  325. 
Hopton,   Walwin,    393,   447,   486, 

502. 
Horborne,  Francis,  463. 
Hord.  Thomas,  328. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


725 


Horde,  Thomas,  355,  357,  486. 
Homiman,     Emslie     John,      185 

(note),  290. 
Hosier,  Simon,  422,  423,  669. 
Hostillei,  John,  579. 
Howard,  William,  217. 
Howchyn,  Henry,  427. 
Howse,  John,  674,  677. 
Hubawde,  Thomas,  335. 
Huggins,  Henry,  447,  448. 
Huggyns,  John,  439. 
Hughes,  David,  352. 

„         David    the   younger,   99, 
355.  357.  372,  434.  460, 
486. 
John,  99,  352,  445,  452, 

463- 
,,       alias     Floyde,     Floid,     or 
Lloyd,    David,    98,    99, 
202,  325,  327,  328,  344, 

350- 
„       John,  410,  504,  637. 

M.  W.,  1 1 2  1 24,  264  (note) . 
,,       Rebekah,  329. 
„       Thomas,  99,  434,  446,  463. 
See  also  Hewes  alias  Cal- 
cott. 
Hull,  Henry,  424. 
Hulls,  Richard,  329. 
„      William,  634. 
Humet,  Richard  de,  302. 
Humfrey,  John,  622. 
Humphries,   John,   353,   355.  356, 

464. 
Hungerford,  Anthony,  470. 

,,  Sir  Edward,  352,  355, 

470. 

,,  Edward,  470. 

Hunt,  John,  55,98,99,115,  214,315, 

322,   323,    324,   325,   326, 

339.    341.    363.    368,    374 

sqq.,   429,   441,   442,   443, 

447.  449- 
,,     Mercy,  458. 
„     Richard,  32^,  348,  449. 
„     Thomas,  100,  397,  449,  514, 

673.  69s.  703- 
„     William,  315,  325,  326,  341, 

343.  350.  389.  458. 
Huntyngfeld,  William,  335. 
Hume,  John  at,  585. 
Hurst,  Arthur  Reginald,  94,  290. 

Hugh.  255. 

Robert,  87. 
„       Robert  Henry,  94,  289. 
Hutchinson,  William,  255. 
Hyde,  Oliver,  624,  628. 
Hykeboy,  William,  576. 
Hylle,  William.  318,  400. 
Hynde,  Thomas,  428. 


Impe,  John,  428. 
Ingelby,  William,  126,  318. 
Ingles,  Mr.,  398,  419,  477. 
Ireton.    Henry,    Commissary- 
General,  236,  238,  239. 
Imemonger,  John,  179,  333,  360, 

422,  613- 
Isabella,  daughter  of  William  Earl 
of  Gloucester,  8,  82,  88, 
567. 
,,         de  Clare  :  see  Clare. 
,,         le  Despenser,  Countess  of 
Warwick,  84,  90,    163, 
362,  590. 

Jackson,  Robert,  432. 
James  I,  271. 
James,  Philip,  608,  669. 
Robert,  335. 
Thomas,  316,  444. 
Janyns,  Robert,  114. 
Janyver,  Henry,  320. 

,,         William,  320. 
Jaxson,  Agnes,  417. 
Jellyman,  Jeremy,  346. 
Jenkins,  John,  97,  98. 
„         Thomas,  417. 

See  also  I^ymme  alias  Jen- 
kins. 
Jenkinson,  Sir  Robert,  390,  484. 

,,  Robert,  352. 

Jennens,  Robert,  675. 
Jenyver,  Agnes,  620. 
Jenyvere,  John,  417. 

„  Thomas,  319,  320,  336, 

423,  618,  677,  678. 
Jessett,  John,  457. 
Joan,  daughter  of  ^Edward  I,  15, 
89: 
„      widow  of  Richard  de  Corn- 
wall, 259. 
Johannes  ad  Aulam,  or  at  Hall,  1 59. 
John,  King,  8,  81,  82,  88,  160. 

„       de  Fifield,  261. 
Johnson,  Harman,   135,   136,  268, 

653. 
Hugh,  181. 
Mary,  136,  268,  653. 
„  William,  136,  268,  653. 

Jones,  Griffith,  339. 
,,       Johanna,  632. 

John,  96,  97,  194.  32  X,  322, 
338.  362,  621,  655.  656. 
,,       Lodovic,  536-7. 
Jonson,  Robert,  96,  312,  313,  322, 

337.  410- 
Jordan,   John,   98,   99,   213,   214, 

31S.  329.  330.  33^>  352, 
357.  365.  370.  394.  403. 
404,  434,  446,  452.  454. 


726 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


464,  466,  469-70,  471, 
475.481. 

Jordan,   John   the  younger,    404, 
405,  434,  435.  436.  457, 
461,  475.  505.  673- 
Richard,    356,    357.    358, 

435.  455- 
Robert,  315.  326,  32Q,  343, 

350.  353.  355.  389.  401. 
434,  446,  452,  469. 
„         Thomas,446, 450,  451.457. 
William,    316,    332,    406, 

673. 
Jorden,  John,  450. 
Joyce,   Rev.   James   Gerald,    130, 

515- 
Joyner,  Thomas,  447. 
Jurden,  John,  427. 

Keble,  Edward,  330,  458. 

„      Francis,  99,  355,  454,  463. 
Keeble,  John,  332. 

,,      Thomas,  332. 
Kemble,  Lavnrence,  435. 
Kempe,  William.  318,  427,  438. 
Kempster,  Christopher,  211,   316, 
461,  466. 
Christopher  the   youn- 
ger, 703. 
John,  101,  316,  408,  449, 

466,  673. 
Thomas,  446,  452,  461. 
William,  326,  327,  351, 

364.    433.    434.    443. 
444. 
Kendall,  John,  455. 
Kenne,  John,  312,  335. 
Kimber,  Thomas,  514. 
King,  Henry,  445. 
„      John,  453,  461. 
William,  450,  459. 
Knight,  John,  99,  352,  446. 
Knollis,    Right    Hon.    and    Rev. 
Charles,  Earl  of  Banbury, 
124,  129. 
,,      Hon.  and  Rev.  Francis,  76, 
124,   129,  407,  408.   514, 
683,  688,  689,  704. 
Rev.  James,  76,  514,  515- 

17- 
Knyte,  John,  420,  421. 
Kyngton,  John,  317. 
Kyrbye,  John,  416. 

Lacy,  Sir  John,  349. 

,,      Sir  Rowland,  217,  345. 
La  Faleise,  William  de,  81,   566, 

567. 
Lambard,  John,  312, 

William,  427. 


Lamberd    (or    Lambert),    George, 
'■     628,  635. 
John,  97,  191,  321,  427, 

635- 
„  John  the  younger,  353, 

449.  459- 
Lambert,  Henry,  456. 

William,  315,  451. 
Lammer,  John,  674,  675. 
Lane,  John,  439,  440. 
Langdale,  Sir  Marmaduke,  206. 
Langeleya,  Thomas  de,  161,  566. 

,,  William  de,  302. 

Large,  John,  515. 
La  Terriere,  Col.  B.  de  Sales,  290. 
Lauerance,  John,  320,  672. 
Lavyngton,  John,    95,    424,    425, 
426. 
Richard,  95,  318,  334, 
362,  422,  423,  424, 
669. 
Lawrence,  William,  397. 
Leche,  John,  318. 
Lee,  Henry,  482. 
„     Sir  Richard,  no,  112,  116. 
„     Robert  de  la,  125. 
Legg,  Honour,  332. 
James,  445. 
John,  456,  459,  635. 
Mary,  692. 
Robert,  669. 
Simon,  453. 
Leggare,  John,  iti,  178,  427,  610, 

675- 
Lenthall,  John  (oh.  1681),  64,  93, 
118,  278,  279-81,  306, 
352. 
„         John  (oh.  1763),  66,  94, 

283-5.  357.  359.   395, 
396.  405,  475-6,  488. 
508,  509,  512,  514. 
,,         John  (06.  1783),  94,  286, 

514- 

„         John  {oh.  1820),  94,  150, 
226,  228,  286-9,  292, 
419,   514,  682-97  pas- 
sim. 
Mary,  286,  288. 

,,  William,  Speaker  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  62, 
66,  93,  118,  129,  137, 
139,  142,  143,  207, 
255.  275-9,  291,  306, 
349.  352.  364.  467. 
485,487.' 
William  [oh.  1686),  93, 
281,  355.  457- 

„  William  {oh.  1781),  94, 
285-6,  359.  397.  514. 
702,  703. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


727 


Lenthall.  William,     of     Lincoln's 
Inn,  283. 
„         William    John,    86,    94, 
289,  514. 

Leper,  Thomas,  312. 

Leveriche,  Richard,  424,  425. 

,,  Robert,    96,    319,    320, 

334.  426,  439.  670. 

Levett,  Richard,  434,  447. 
,,       Thomas,  341. 

Levinz,  Judge,  390. 

Lewes,  Griffin,  340,  442. 

LifolUe,  Andrew,  330,  331,  453. 
John,  448. 

Lilburne,  John,  236-7,  250-1. 

Linsey,  John,  100,  356. 

Lissence.  447. 

Lissett,  Richard,  345. 

Little,  William,  37 1 . 

Lloyd  alias  Hughes,  John,  339, 
347.  363  :  see  also  Hughes  alias 
Floyd  or  Lloyd. 

Loder,  John,  456. 

London,  Dr.,  264,  639,  654. 

Long,  Sir  Robert,  403. 

Longe,  John,  318,  334,  424. 
William,  323. 

Longland,  John,  Bishop  of  Lin- 
coln, 144. 

Lord,  John,  314. 

Lovel,  Thomas.  611. 

Lowe.  John,  404. 

'  Lowinilapis ',  161,  567. 

Luckett,  Alexander,  456,  460. 

Lugg,  Thomas.  453. 

Lussulle,  John,  420. 

Lye,  John,  420. 

Lymme  alias  Jenkins,  John,  36,  98, 
315,  322,  323,  324,  339,  341.  363. 
368,  400,  413,  415,  429,  441,  442, 

443.  SSI- 
Lynham,  William,  318,  610. 

Mabel,  daughter  of  William  Earl  of 

Gloucester,  83. 
Mace,  Richard,  469. 
Macray,  Rev.  W.  D..  308. 
Maddock,  John,  670. 
Mady,  James,  365,  455. 
Maior.  John,  452,  670. 
Maiow,  Thomas,  318,  335,  366. 
Mandeville,  GeoflErey  de,  88,  297, 

S67.  • 

Mare,  John,  342. 

„     William  de  la,  302. 
Mareschal.William le,  582,  587,  588. 
Mareys,  Walter,  424, 
Mariner,  John,  675. 

Philip,  394.  496,  632. 
Marsh,  Jacob,  435,  455. 


Marshall,  Nicholas,  390,  484. 

William,  439. 
Marston,  Humphrey,  255. 
Martin,  John,  397. 

„      Rebecca,  447. 
Thomas,  397. 
Martyn,  John,  345. 

,,        Richard,  669,  670. 

,,        Thomas,  326,  453. 
Masklin,  Mr.,  453. 
Mason,  John,  666. 
Masters,  William,  128. 
Mathew,  Captain,  280. 
Mathewes,  John,  457. 

Richard,  316,  330,  357, 

43S.  444- 
Matthews,  Stephen,  100,  464. 

Thomas,    98,    99,    221, 

3S2,  463. 
Mrs.,  137. 
Maulthus,  Robert,  323,  325,  326. 
Maurice,  Prince,  206. 
May,  John,  446,  4S3- 

,,     Thomas,  680. 
Maye,  Hugh,  402,  445. 
Maynarde,  John,  321,  431. 
Mayowe,  Robert,  427,  673. 

,,         Thomas,    127,    265,   425, 
426,  598. 
Meady,  Elizabeth,  395,  506. 
Merry,  Thomas,  458. 
Meryweather,  Richard,  34,  46,  98, 
102,      201,      315, 
323.  324.  325. 339. 
341,    3S3-5.    363. 
401,     413,     417. 
429,   430-2,    474, 

S2S. 
„  Samuel,  350. 

Meteve,  John,  127. 
Midwinter,  John,  454. 

Joseph,  332. 
Mills,  Giles,  461. 
,,     Joan,  460. 
„     John,  330. 

,,     Leonard,    55,   99,    220,    221, 
325.     3S2,     374  sqq.,    434. 
449.  4S8. 
,,     Richard,  370,  448,  459. 
,,     Sarah,  461. 
Milton,  John,  333,  577, 
Minchin,  John,  451,  457,  459,  464, 
470. 
„  Thomas,  455,  694. 

Minty,  Samuel,  434. 
Modee,  Captain,  247. 
Molener   (or    Mollyner),    Thomas, 
442. 
Walter,  97,  314,  338.  339. 
363,  400,  551,  660  , 


728 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Molener,  William,  322,     . 
Mondy,  Robert,  670. 
Monk,  Absalom,  loi. 

Daniel,  255,  448.  457- 

James,  101,  332. 

Richard,  331. 

William,  466. 

William  J.,  139  (note).    ^ 
Monmouth,  R.,  598. 
Monte  Hermeri,  Ralph  de,  15,  89, 

571.  585- 
Monyngton  (or  Manyngton),  Rich- 
ard, 34,  ^7  (and  note),  102,  362, 
410,  427,  640,  654. 
Moore,  John  (or  Thomas),  93,  199, 

624,  666. 
Morcock,  Thomas,  666. 
Morden,  Lord,  217. 
More,  Quartermaster,  244,  253. 

„      William,  105,  421. 
Mores,  John,  426. 
Morley,  John,  321. 
Mosse,  Daniel,  454. 
Mosyer    (or   Mosiar),    John,    319, 
367,  400,  423,  424,  425, 
426,  592,  617,  670. 
Richard,    312,    334,    335, 

592,  617,  671. 
Simon,  318,  334. 
Moulden,  John,  405. 
Moulder,  Edward,  445. 
Moyese,  George,  319. 
MuUyner,  Philip,  348. 
Munday,  Oliver,  448. 
Mundy,  Robert,  425. 
Mylton,  Johanna,  670. 
Richard,  334. 
,,        Roger,  670. 
Mynchon,  Thomas,  429. 

Nanfan,  John,  362,  580. 
Natgrove,  Robert,  614. 
Nayler  (or  Nailler),  William,  312, 

317,  420,  665. 
Neale,  Edward,  450,  455. 
Neville,  Richard,  Earl  of  Warwick : 

see  Warwick,  Earl  of. 
Newbery,  Alexander,  417. 

Joseph,  454. 
Newbury,Thomas,330,3S2, 353,356. 
Newman,  John,  312,  614,  674,  677, 
678. 
Robert,  330,  446. 
Newport,  John,  352. 
,,         Noah,  456. 
Nichols,  Mr.,  406. 
Noble,  Mark,  455. 

,,       Nathaniel,  328,  446. 
Nores,  WiUiam,  427. 
Norfolk,  Henry  of,  126,  578. 


Norgrave  (or  Norgrove),  Richard, 

316,  346,  370,  457- 
Norreys,  John,  91,  362. 
Nott,  Matilda,  366. 
Nunney,  Humphry,  434,  435. 

John,  435,  446. 

Joseph,  358. 
Nymes,  Walter,  318. 

Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  6,  87. 
OfHytt,  Thomas,  428. 
Okey,  Col.,  243,  244,  249. 
Orcheston,  Robert  of,  125. 
Ormonde,  the  Duke  of,  217,  280, 

281  (note). 
Orpin,  William,  255. 
Orwell,  John,  425. 
Osbaston  (or  Osbaldeston), 
Hamlet,  424. 
.  ,,  Hercules,  350. 

,,  Johanna,  424. 

„  John,  115. 

Richard,  346,  403,  452. 
„  Robert,  454,  471. 

Osman,  Jonathan,  331-2. 
„        Richard,  357,  358. 

Robert,  332. 
,,        Thomas,  515. 
Osmonde,    Robert,    96,    319,    320, 

337,  424,  439,  440,  674. 
Overbury,  Henry,  444,  448,  457. 
Joseph,  455. 
,,         Thomas,  456. 
William,  325. 
Owen,  Hugh,  432. 

Packer,  Walwin,  330. 
Padbury,  Matthias,  694. 
Pagett,  WiUiam,  461. 
Painter,  William,  459. 
Paintin,  Henry,  124. 
Palmer,  John,  394,  464,  485,  505. 
„       Richard,  331. 
William,  577. 
Panck,  WilUam,  255. 
Panter,  Harry,  453. 

Richard,  453,  461. 
Parke,  Richard,  317. 
Parsons,  Symon,  326,  350. 

Thomas,    325,    339,    341. 

342.  351.  353.  363.400, 

405,  429,  442,  443.  624. 

, ,         Thomas  the  you  nger,  353, 

372,405,451,459.463-4- 

Partridge,  Anne,  443. 

James,    100,    357,    359, 

390,  460. 
Simon,    99,     323.    325, 
329,340,356,452.460. 
„  (or     Pertrysche),     Wil- 

Uam. 97.  98.  313.  315. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


729 


322,  323.  339,  363, 
368,   373,  400,  404, 

44P.  551- 
Patent,  Henry,  626. 
Patrick,  Samuel,  397,  512,  514. 

,,        Thomas,  316,  444. 
Patten,  Elizabeth,  693. 
John.  332. 
„        William,  674-9. 
Patye,  Gregory.  343,  351. 
Paulina,  wife  of  William  of  Upton, 

161,  566. 
Payne,  Elizabeth,  669. 
„       Mark,  321,  633. 
„  ■     Peter,  417,  633. 

Robert,  96,  337.  427.  439- 
Robert  the  younger,  36,  <)T , 
313,  321. 
Pay  ton,  John,  339. 

..        John  the  younger.  99,  221, 
353.  355.  390,  434.  452, 
461,  464. 
Joseph,  331,  358,  404,  435, 

444.  475- 
Peacock,  Henry,  372,  390. 
Peake,  Francis,  536. 
.,      William,  535. 
Pearce,  Rev.  S.  S.,  124. 
Pearkes,  Symon,  444. 
Pearse,  John,  408-9. 
Pebworth,  Edward,  451,  453. 
Peisley,  George,  327. 
William,  328. 
Penrise,  Thomas,  315,  323. 
Peppure,  John,  416. 
Percyvall,  Sir  John,  335. 
Perkins,  Corporal,  251. 
Perks,  Francis,  430. 
,,       Symon,  673. 
Perrott,  Charles,  102,  359,  390. 

Henry,  313,  322,  339,  400, 

441. 
Hugh,  315. 
Perry,  John,  462. 
,,       Margaret,  316. 
,,       Robert,  316. 
Petur,  John,  319. 

,,       Margery,  daughter  of  John 
Pynnok,  319,  366-7. 
Peverell,  Captain,  241,  244,  246. 
Phelps,  Henry,  455. 
Phillips,  J.  B.,  515, 

William,    322,    339,    363, 
368,  415,  416,  442. 
Phipps,  John.  455. 
Piggott,  Richard,  453. 
Pinnal,  Mr.,  of  Westhill.  230. 
Pinnock  (or  Pynnok),  Elein,   117, 

319- 
„        John,  108,  112,  117,  178, 


184.  311.  334,  365.  423. 
424,  425,  580,  614,  616, 
670. 
Pinnock,  John  the  younger,  95,  96, 
112,  113,  165,  318,  319, 
335.    362,    366-7.    400, 
424,  425,  426.  438.  439. 
592,  618,  670,  671. 
„        Margery,  319,  366-7. 
„        Thomas,  96,  180,  320,  337, 
423,  439,  440,  (5i6,  674, 
677. 
„        William,  321,  631. 
Pitcher,  Thomas,  128. 
Pittam,  Edmond,  323. 
Pleydall,  Robert,  213,  455. 
Plome,  Thomas,  429. 
Plot,  Dr.,  219,  297. 
Plummer,  Dr..  132. 
Pollard,  Thomas,  127,  368. 
Ponter  (or  Punter).  John,  318,  334, 
360,  422,  608,  669,  670. 
,.      William,  317,  420,  425,  426. 
Poole,  Lawrence,  465. 

,,       (or  Pole),  Thomas,  30,  43, 
114.  309.  319.  321.  334- 
6,  478.  491- 
Pope,  John,  634. 
Porter,  John,  360. 
Potter,  Rev.  Francis,  129,  397,  406, 

514- 
Powell,  Thomas,  459. 
Preyers,  Thomas,  336. 
Price,  John,  99,  389,  392,  395,  463. 

William,  459. 
Prickevance  (or  Prikyvance),  Eliza- 
beth, 347,  448. 
,,  Thomas,  97,  312,  323, 

325,326-7,410,681. 
Prior,  alias  Hill,   John :    see  Hill 
alias  Prior. 
,,      Matthew,  390.  406,  484. 
Pritchard,  Lieut.,  247. 
Pryde,  Clement,  424. 
Pryor,  Elizabeth,  405,  408-9. 
„       Elizabeth  Clarke,  137,  406. 
„       John,ii6,i37,i74(note),282. 
,,       John  the  younger,  405,  702. 
,,       John     (of     Shipton-under- 
Wychwood),  406. 
Pryttewell,  John,  113. 
Purser,  William,  333,  420,  421. 
Pye,  Henry,  397. 
Pyme,  Thomas,  634. 
Pynnell,  William.  361,  608,  670. 
Pytt,  Robert  Henry,  515. 
„      William,  515. 

Raikes,  Robert,  477. 
Ralph  the  Priest,  i6o,  161. 


730 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Randolph,  John,  330,  358, 404,  444. 
Symon.  329.  353.  355. 
356,    365.   434.   435, 
449.  457.  463. 
„  Thomas,  316,  327,  328, 

329.    330,    355.    356. 
370,    435,    444,    455, 
463,  667. 
Ravenser,  John,  576. 
Rawlinson,  Richard,  222. 
Ray,  Lieut.,  242. 
Read,  Sir  Thomas,  397,  514. 
Ready,  Alexander,  348,  368,  392, 
396,  407,  496. 
,,        Alexander  (of  Filkins),5 12. 
Richard,  368. 
Red,  Edward,  144. 
Reddy,  Henry,  429. 
Redeman,  Thomas,  126. 
Redman,  Edmond,  351. 
Reginald.Earl  of  Cornwall,  296,  302. 
Reiley,  Thomas,  144. 
Repington.  Humfry,  136,  666. 
Reynolds,  Alice,  340,  430-1. 
,,  Edward,  340,  429. 

,,  (or  Renolles),  Richard, 
97,  98,  115.  322,  339, 
363,  368,412,415,442, 

551- 
,,         Symon,  327,  407. 

Reynolds, Col., 241-3, 245,  249,254. 

Rich,  Ann,  694. 

,,     Peter,  222,  358,  405,  474-8. 

Richard  II,  160,  295,  303. 

Richard  III,  91,  180. 

Richard  son  of  Simon,  161. 

Richards,  Thomas,   96,    327,    364, 
434.  621. 

Riche,  Thomas,  623. 

Richins,  John,  459. 

Rivers,  Sir  George,  Bart.,  483. 

Robert  of  Gloucester  :  see  Glouces- 
ter, Robert  of. 

Roberts,  alias  Fysscher,  William, 
97.  321.  338. 

Robins,  John,  316,  392,  460. 
•Robinson,  Barnard,  128. 
John,  444. 
,,  William,  467. 

Rodes,  William,  446. 

Rodlay,  John,  128. 

Roffe,  John,  98,  315,  323,  324,  339, 
341,  363,  413.  429.  442,  443.  452. 

Rogers,  William,  100,  370,  389,461. 

Rokke,  William,  611. 

Roper,  John,  255. 

Rose,  Walter,  312, 313, 315,417,636. 

Rose  alias  Smythe,  William,  320. 

Rosen,  William,  400. 

Rous,  T.,  430. 


Rowles,  Anthony,  403. 
Rowley,  George,  206. 
Roy,  Bryan,  205. 
Royer,  Andrew,  205. 
Rupert,  Prince,  205,  206. 
Russel,  John,  423. 
Russell,  Thomas,  315. 
Rycardes,  Thomas,  417. 
Ryleye  (or  Rile),  Edward,  633. 

,,       Robert,  96,  319,  320,  321, 
336,  423,  440,  620,  672. 
Rosa,  635. 

„      William,  438. 

Sabyn,  John,  367. 

,,       William,  440. 
Sackeville,  Richard,  403. 
Saint  Quintin,  Richard  de,  30 1 . 
Saintsbury,  Amos,  404. 
Salamon,  John,  420. 
Salamone  le  Grete,  587,  588. 
Saleman,  John,  317,  665. 
Salter,  Rev.  H.  E.,  123  (note). 
Sambiche,  Andrew,  673. 

,,  Elizabeth,  673. 

Sancta  Elena,  William  de,  302. 
Sans  bury,  Thomas,  447. 
Sandys,  Edward,  128,  136. 
Saunders,  Edward,  100,  357. 
Savage,  William,  370. 
Scarborowe  (or  Scarborough),  John, 

324,  340- 
Robert,  322,  339,  363, 
429,  442,  551. 
Sclatter,  John,  179,  317,  360,  420, 

575,  612,  665. 
Scott,  Stephen,  343. 

Susan,  347,  433. 
Scotten,  Captain,  241,  244, 246, 247. 
Scriven,  Edward,  459. 

John,  323,  447. 
Scroop,  Col.,  238,  240,  241. 
Seaborne,  Matthew,  452. 
Searchfield,  Rowland,  385.^ 
SecoU,  Robert,  623.      ; 
Sedley,  Anthony,  250.' 
Seintlo,  Christopher,  127.^ 
Send,  Thomas,  126,  422,  424,  426, 

614-15. 
Sende  (or  S5mde)  alias  Call,  Thomas, 

312,  320. 
Serrell,  Edmund,  98-9, 320,324,326, 
341-4,  350.  363,402,429, 
430,  432.  433.  443.  528. 
„      Robert,  324,  340,  342,  389, 

430,.  525- 
Sessions,  Benjamin,  446,  463. 
„  Philip,  316. 

„  Richard,  681. 

,,  Thomas,  463. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


731 


Sessions,  Walter,  331,  430. 

William,324. 341, 363,462. 
Sewale,  William,  665. 
Seyse,  William,  321. 
Shackspeare,  Adrian,  469. 
,,  Ann,  468-9. 

Shakespere,  George,  468. 
Sharp  (or  Sharpe),  John,  96,  97. 
338,  427,  439,  440,    620, 
621,  640. 
„      Robert,  320. 
,,     Thomas,  464. 
Shelborn,  Major,  243. 
Shene,  John,  680. 
Sheperde,  William,  636,  674-8. 
Sheppard,  Richard,  455. 
,,  Thomas,  342. 

Sherrdl,  John,  353. 
Shorter,  John,  463. 
Shulton,  John,  420. 

,,        William,  317,  420,  578, 
Silvester :  see  Sylvester. 
Simeon,  Richard,  326. 
Simond,  John,  585. 
Sindrey,  John,  221,  372,  390,  434, 
450. 
Ralph,  405,  481. 
Richard,    98,     115,     328, 
329,371-2,452,460,485. 
,,        Thomas,  482. 
Sindrye,  T.,  462. 
Skippon,  Major-General,  238. 
Slaymaker,  Daniel,  484. 
Smallbone,  Thomas,  466. 
Smart,  John,  340,  442. 
Smethyare,  William,  319,  417,  427. 
Smith,  Alice,  330. 
,,      Andrew,  329. 
,,      Edmund,  469. 
,.      John,  459. 

Reginald,  151. 
,,      Thomas,  45,  469. 
Ward,  482. 
Smyth,  Andrew,  463. 
Edward,  403. 
John.  403, 
Richard,     191,     328,     329, 

331.  435- 
„       Thomas,  135,  266. 

Thomas,     351,     352,     356, 
643,  650,  651. 
,,       Thomas  '  capellanus  ',  423, 
425,  426. 
Smythe,  Nicholas,  314. 
Robert,  631. 
,,        Stephen,  99,  453. 
,,        William,  96,  427,  440. 
Smythear,  John,  97,  314,  339.  363, 
410,  633. 
„  John  the  youngcr,^339. 


Snell,  Thomas,  397. 
Snowsell,  Richard,  446. 
Solas,  Robert,  426. 
Southby,  John;  473. 
Sowdley,  Henry,  346. 

,,         Thomas,  451. 
Sowthe,  Richard,  324. 
Spaldyng,  Nicholas,  318,  438. 
Spicer,  Henry,  261,  360,  419,  423, 
609. 
,,      John,  109,  318,  422,  669. 
,,      Thomas,  25,  26,   102,   105, 
no,  168,  178,  301,  312, 
317.  318,  333.  334,  360, 
420,421-3,  665,  666,  669. 
„      William,  366,  423,  424,  425, 
426. 
Spurrett,   Robert,    352,   453,   455, 

462. 
Stafford,   Hugh,  Earl  of,  90,  119 

590. 
Stamford,  Thomas,  680. 
Stampe,  Timothy,  348,  394,  496. 

William',  322,  339,  442. 
Stanfield,  Richard,  452. 
Starre  (or   Sterre),    Richard,    312, 
424,  425. 
Robert,  313.  322,  367,  659. 
Symon,  323,  413,  429.  442. 
William,  318,  424. 
Staunton,  Thomas,  96,   165,   319, 

320,  336,  439,  619,  620,  672. 
Steel,  James,  255. 
Steele,  Joseph,  357. 
Stephen,  King,  159. 
Stephens,  Rev.  C-  L.,  515. 
Stevens,  Robert,  397,  514, 
Steward,  Anthony,  433. 
Stodham,  Agnes,  320,  618. 

„  Henry,    114,    320,    400, 

427,  619. 
John,  582. 
,,         Margaret,  618. 
„         Thomas,  320,  321,  619. 
William,   113,  321,  362, 
424,613. 
Stone,  John,  445,  474. 
,,       Nicholas,  it 6. 
,,       Thomas,  468. 
William,  468. 
Stowe,  John,   179,   180,   312,  333, 
420,  612-13,  666. 
Robert,  318,  335,  339. 
,,       Thomas,  669. 
Strafford,  Joseph,  406. 

Robert,  452,  471. 
Strange,  John,  96. 
Strong,  Edward,  458. 
Stryve,  Richard,  461. 
Sturdye,  John,  416. 


732 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Sumenur,  Richard  le,  571. 
Summerfield,  William,  477. 
Sumner,  William,  328. 
Suydeley,     Ralph     Dominus     de, 

362. 
Swayte,  Stephen,  464. 
Swiffete,  Edmund,  467. 
Syere.E.,  318. 

Sylvester  (or  Silvester),  Agnes,  266, 
620. 
Anne,  325. 
„        Daniel,  323. 
„        Edmund,  34,  97,  98,  103, 
115,  194,266,  312,  313, 
314.315,  321,  322,  323, 
325.  326,  338.  348,  363, 
367.  394. 400, 401,  410- 
II,  412,  441,  442,  496, 
551,   592-3,   627,  637, 
657,  659,  66r. 
„        Edmund     the     younger, 
339,  415,  440,  446. 
Joan,  323,  560. 
John,  345.  401,  433,  451. 
Paul  {ob.   1659),  98,  99, 
325,  328,  344,  350.  35- 

434.  449- 
,,        Paul  (ob.  1692),  99,  100, 
328,329,331,352,35s, 

370,450,453.458-9.463- 
Paul  {ob.  1727),  357.  372, 

405,  406,  463,  465.  478. 
„        Paul  (ob.  1782),  359,  372, 

390,  406,  409,  512,  546. 
„        Rebecca.  444. 
„        Robert,  98,  315,  320,  322, 

323.325,339.363.412. 

428,  439,  446,  551. 
Thomas   (ob.    1586),    55, 

429,  551. 

,,  Thomas  (ob.  1650),  55, 
202,315,  325,  326,  327, 
341,  342.35s.  374 sqq.. 
389,  401,  418,  474. 
Thomas  (ob.  1689),  98, 
99.  328,  344,  350,  389, 
450,  459.  462,  463. 

„        Thomas  (ob.   1799),   100, 

lOI. 

„        Thomas   (of   Curbridge), 

470,  473- 
„        William,98,  322,434,  551. 
Symmes,  .452. 

„         Thomas,  625. 
„         William,  611. 
Symons,  George,  117,  310,  346,  369, 
490. 
„        Richard.  327. 

Symon.   35,   55,  98,   102 
103,  202,  220,  323,  324, 


341.  342,  344.  363.  367. 
374  sqq..  395,  413.  429. 
430,  443. 
,,        Symon  the  younger,  324, 

325- 

,,        Thomas,  369. 

„  (or  Symonds),  William, 
34,  97,  98,  102.  103, 
316,  322,  323,  326,  327, 
339.  341.  350.  363.  400, 
413.429,  434,  441,  444, 

551- 
Symonds,  William  (1446),  424. 
Sympson,  John,  346. 
Syngulton,  Robert,  672. 

Tailor,  David,  96,  338. 

„      Henry,  317,  334. 
Taish(or  Tash),  Henry,  100.  359, 
372,  409,  436. 
„     William,  100,  358,  404. 
Tame,  Edmund,  675. 
Tanfield,  Elizabeth  (wife  of  Lord 
Falkland),  269-70,  273. 
,,  Sir    Lawrence,    53,    60, 

62,  70,  74,  86,  93,  106. 
116,  129.  136,  139,  142, 
159,  189,  217,  262, 
268-74,  291,  388-9, 
402,  561,  666. 
„  Lady,   60,   62,   93,    116, 

136,    142,   273-4,   310. 
388-9,   391,   396,  464, 
484.  487. 
,,  Robert,  268-9. 

Wilgeford,  268. 
Tanner,  Bartholomew,  339. 

John.  96,   320,   335,  424, 
616. 
,,  ■     Thomas  Edward,  515. 
Tasker,  Geoffrey,  468. 
Tayler,  Andrew,  325. 

Richard,     325,     327,     344, 
350,  417,  453. 
Taylor,  Joan,  144. 

John,   315,  326.    327.  341, 
344.  350,  413.  429.  441. 
445- 
John,  680. 
,,        Richard,  98,  418,  429. 
,,        Robert,     100,     3S9.     390. 

403,  447.  456. 
,,       Thomas,  352. 

William,  55,  98,  324,  325, 

339.  341.  342.  351.  363. 
374  sqq.,  434.  443.  444, 
464,  68c. 
„       William    (gardener),    406, 

433. 
,,       William  the  younger,  100 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


733 


Taylur,  William,  420. 
Taynton,  James,  406. 
Tebbut,  Mrs.,  226,  693. 
Tedden,  Robert,  217. 
Temple,  Robert,  128. 
Templer,  John.  325,  363.  430,  443. 
448.  673. 
Mary,  347.  433. 
Tewkesbury,     Richard     of,     125. 

669. 
Teysdale,  Thomas,  191,  620. 
Thomas,  Owen,  340. 
Thome,  Richard,  328. 
Thompson,  A.  Hamilton,  124. 
,,  George,  496. 

William,  237,  240,  250, 
251,  254. 
Thometon,  Edward,  451. 
Thornham,  Roger  of,  125,  574. 
Thorpe,  Rev.  John,  123,  124,  129, 
138,  139,   174  (note). 
William,  145. 
Through.  John,  144. 
Tilney,  Rauf,  335. 
Tomlin,  John,  436. 
Tomson,  Elizabeth,  637. 

George,  348,  368.  394. 
„         John,  312. 
,,        Thomas,     96,     97,     313, 

337- 
Tooker,  Gabriel,  463. 
Townsend,  Edmund,  331. 
i,  Edward,  330. 

Mary,  332. 
William,  342. 
Tredwell,  Thomas,  462. 
Tretons,  John,  585. 
Trimball,  Ralph,  470,  473. 
Trinder,  Charles,  403. 

John,  403. 
Tucker,  ,  219,  655. 

Tuckwell,  John,  77,  102,  407. 
,,  Richard,  102,  516. 

William,  102. 
Tunges,  Roger,  417. 
Tunkes,  Thomas,  204,  328. 
Turner,  Francis,  351. 
„        John,  627. 
,,        Martin,  332,  408-9. 
,,        Rev.  Richard,  129. 
„        William,  102,  451. 
Twynyho,  John,  426. 
Tyckeford,  Walter,  427. 
Tylynger,  John,  425. 
Typper,  William,  59,60.  341,  350-1, 
388,  482-3. 

Umf  ram  villa,  Gilbert  de,  301 . 
Umfray,  Thomas,  426. 
Underwood,  Ge<5rge,  317,  332. 


Underwood,   Matthew,  68    (note), 
100,  332,  359,  372, 

390,  395.  396.  465. 

512. 
Unton,  Sir  Edward,  84, 93, 97  (note), 

128,  136,  411,  415. 
Upston,  William,  loi,  512,  702. 

Valomis,  Ruelanus  de,  301. 

Velde,  Richard,  126. 

Venables,   Richard,  45,   321,   431, 

647. 
Venfield,  William,  459. 
Vevsey,  Richard,    143,    329,    353, 
355.  434.  446. 
,,        Robert  (of  Chimney),  1 36, 
213.  327.  343.  348.  351. 
352.  363,  393,  401,  446, 
484,  495,  509,  528,  666. 
„         Simon,  327,  401. 
Walter,  315,  328. 
William,    342,    351,    544, 
681. 
Vincent,  alias  Greenhill :  Edmund, 
328. 
George,  346. 
Vokins,  John,  460. 
Vorde,  Thomas  at,  585. 

Wakefeild,  Francis,  455. 
„  Richard,  447. 

Walbridge,  John,  433. 

Robert,  350,  433. 
Walker,    alias    Ludlow,    Geoffrey, 
126,  578. 
Henry,  332,  397,  436,  514. 
Walkere,  John,  312. 
WaU,  Ralph,  470. 

,,      Richard,  479. 
Waller,    Sir    William,     205,    216, 

222. 
Wallington,  Richard,  331. 
Walter,  Sir  John,  345. 
Walwyn,  William,  236,  244  (note). 
Wanly,  William,  397,  514. 
Wantone,  Roger  de,  302. 
Warcuppe  (or  Warcopp),  Sir  Ed- 
mund, 390,  484. 
„  Edmund,  277. 

Samuel,  346,  350,  364. 

Ward,  Andrew,  319,  324,  340,  341. 

363.   368,  402,  429,  432, 

434- 
George,  332. 
John,  341,  343,  389. 
Symon.  143,  443. 
Thomas,  322. 
Walter  Stephen,  515. 
William,  515. 
Warren,  Thomas,  444,  505. 


734 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


Warwick,    Earl    of,     '  The    King- 
maker ',    28.    30,    84, 
91.263,  308,  310.  360, 
361-2. 
Anne  Countess  of,   92, 

120,  581. 
Anne  (Dudley)  Countess 
of,  84,  93,  97  (note), 
128,  136,  411. 
See     also     Beauchamp, 
Henry,     and     Beau- 
champ,  Lady  Anne. 
Daniel,   345,    390,   470, 

484. 
John,  470. 
Waryn,  John,  125. 
Washington,  William,  479. 
Waterfall,  Thomas,  453,  461. 
Waters,  Benjamin,  75,  102. 
Watkins,  Edward,  3f6, 

„         George,  364. 
Webb,  George,  458. 

„      Humphrey,  345. 
Webbe,  Nicholas,  325. 

Peter,  333,  420-1. 
Roger,  324. 
„       William.    103,    214.    315, 
323.  324.  32s,  326,  339, 
341.  350.  363.  429.  442, 
443,  523- 
„        William  the  younger,  315, 
316,  345.  350.  364.  433. 
443,  448. 
Webber.  Rev.  Francis,  129. 
Webster    (or    Webstare),    Robert, 

128. 
Wedde,  John,  428. 
Weekes,  John,  345. 
Wekens  (or  Wykyns),  John,   323, 

338. 
Weller,  Richard,  695. 
Wells,  John,  329. 
Wellys,  John,  426. 
Wenman,  Philip,  357,  359. 
West,  John,  340. 
„      Robert,  460. 
,,      Thomas,  427, 
Weston,  Edmond,  345. 
Westrope,  William  Gregory,  515. 
Wheeler,  Elizabeth,  401. 
„         John,  401. 
,,         Richard,  446. 
,,         Samuel,  471. 
White,  Elizabeth,  115. 

,,      Major  Francis,  241  sqq. 
John.  458. 
Whitehall,  Richard,  100,  358,  359. 

372,  390.  435,  465.  481. 
Whiteing,  James,  372. 
,,  Margery,  458. 


Whitemay,  Nicholas,  587,  588. 

Thomas,  588. 
Whiter,  Drew,  330,  331. 
,,        Joanna,  330. 
,,        Walter,  457. 
Whitteway,  Robert,  317. 
Whityng,  Walter,  125,  575. 
Wickins,  Richard,  455. 
Widdowes,  John,  99,  434,  448. 

William,  456. 
Wigpit.  Robert,  439. 
Wildyng,  Thomas,  194,  654. 
Wilkinson,  John,  255. 
Willett,  Nicholas,  332,  372,  497. 
Raphe,  368,  395,  485. 
Richard,  397,  453. 
,,        Thomas,  450. 
William  III,  282. 

William    Earl  of  Gloucester :    see 
Gloucester,    William 
Earl  of. 
„         '  clericus    de    Bureford  ', 

125,  161. 
„         of  Upton,  161,  566. 
Williams,  Henry,  451. 

„         (or    Wyllyames),    John, 

97,  98,  322,  339.  363, 

368,    400,    417,    442, 

6c8,  610. 

,,         Thomas,  206,  455. 

Willmott,     Leonard,      385,      394, 

503. 
Willeshire,  John,  623. 
Wills,  Edward,  455. 
Wilton,  Tristram,  435,  436. 
Winchester,  William,  329. 
Windowe,  William,  403. 
Winfield,  Matthew,  328,  449. 

,,         Richard,  330,  447.  458. 
Winsmore,   John,    100,    329,    451, 

459,  464.  471.  474.  490- 
Wisdom,  Raphe,  98,  201,  323,  324, 

339.  340.  341.  363.413. 
429,  430,  443. 
„         Robert,  407. 
„         Simon,  34,  97,  102,  103, 
109,  185,  199,  201,  312, 
313.314,315,321.322, 
323.  338.  339.  348,  350. 
363.  368,  374,  395,  400, 
402,407,410-17  ^a55t»w, 
429,  440.  441,  442,  445. 
448.   547-9.   551.   552- 
60,  606,  623,  632,  651, 
659,  660.  673. 
„         Thomas,  201,  323. 

William,    325,    341,   452, 
530.  531.  561,  673. 
Wollyng,  William,  318,  424. 
Wood,  John,  255. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS 


735 


Wood,  John,  322,  323,  413,  441. 
Woodroffe,  Benjamin,  316. 
Woodward,      John.      403,      433, 

680. 
Worsalle,  Hugh,  417. 
Wyatt  (or  Wiett  or  Wyett),  Ed- 
„  mund,  458,  463-5. 

,,        Edward,  453. 

Richard,  330,  450. 
Samuel.  100,  444,  446,  450, 

457.  463.  464- 
,,        Thomas,  474. 
Wygewold,  Thomas,  669. 
Wygpyt,  Richard,  321,  637. 
Wylcocks,  William,  417. 
Wynchcombe.  John,  671. 
Wynchester,  John,  622. 

„  Simon,  322. 

Wynrysh  (or  Wynrish  or  Wen- 
ryche),  John,  26,  102, 
178,  301,  312,  317, 
420,  576,  665,  669. 


Wynrysh,  Roger,  665. 

Thomas,  318,  333.  360. 

Yate,  Alice,  328. 

Andrew,  335,  560. 
Charles,  221,  329,  460. 
John,  98,  324,  341,  363,  429, 

430.  443- 
Lawrence,  329,  434. 
Leonard,  99,  202,  328,   388, 

434.  450. 
Mary,  329. 
Richard,  447,  453. 
Robert,  99. 
Stephen,  447. 
Yelverton,  Sir  Henry,  54,  374  sqq. 
Ynge,  Dionisia,  421. 
Yonge,  John,  637. 

,,        Richard,  417. 
Youde,  Mary  Jane,  94,  289. 
Young,  Arthur,  230. 
„       WilUam,  514. 


III.    INDEX  OF  PLACES 


Abingdon,  240,  243,  334,  412,  579, 

624,  655. 
Alington,  Wroughton,  528. 
Alvescott,  345,  403. 
Andover,  241,  243,  246, 
Ascott  Dawley,  526. 
Ascott-under-Wychwood,  479. 
Asthall,    144,    145,    148,    151,  259, 

261,  266,  479,  587,  593,  639. 
Aston,  405. 
Ayford  :   see  Eyford. 

Bampton,  6,    174,   200,   242,   243, 

312,  345,  368,  394,  405,  452,  466, 

476,  485,  504,  580,  588. 
Banbury,  237,  240,  250. 
Barrington,   Great,  139,  355,   357, 

359.  523.  524.  541.  542,  653. 
Barrington,   Little,    94,    149,    176, 

287.  289.  404,  471,  479,  530,  537, 

634- 
Barrington  Grove,  86,  289. 
Besselsleigh,  275,  281. 
Bibury,  218,  403. 
Bitton,  Glos.,  126. 
Blackbourton,  129,  214,  352,  470, 

512. 
Bladon,  216. 

Bourton-on-the- Water,  205 . 
Brad  well,  Oxon.,  137,  524,  535,  667. 
Brad  well  Grove,  514. 
Bristol,  426. 


Calais,  361. 
Campsfield,  216,  224. 
Caswell,  Berks.,  357,  473. 
Chadlington,    115,    200,    350,   403, 

469,  591. 
Charlbury,  312,  352,  479,  636,  637. 
Chilston,  672. 
Chimney,  Oxon.,  136,  667. 
Chinon,  297,  302. 
Chipping  Campden,  186,  318. 
Chipping   Norton,    345,   428,   433, 

526,  539,  540,  541. 
Churchill,  345. 
Cirencester,   160,   176,   188,  202-3, 

206,  426,  632,  667. 
Clanfield,  144.  312,  371,  385,  494. 
Coggs.  593. 

Cold  Norton,  668,  669. 
Combury,  281. 
Comwell,  345. 
Cote,  353. 
Curbridge,  470,  473. 

Daylesford  (Dalford),  210,  462. 
Devizes,  254. 
Ditchley,  273. 

Ducklington,    137,  407,    506,    514, 
667. 

Eastleach  Martin,  129. 
Eaton  Hastings,  Berks.,  129,  139, 
463.  542- 


736 


INDEX  OF  PLACES 


Ewis  Harold,  Herefordshire,  401. 

Eyford,  397,  514. 

Eynsham,  146,  179,  216,  537. 

Fairford,  318. 

Faringdon.  Berks.,  463,  534,  544, 
Farmington,  123,  148. 
Farringdon,  Little,  479. 
Fenstanton,  Hunts.,  254. 
Fifield,  257,  259,  261,  272,  400,  639. 
Filkins,  205,  512,  514,  593. 
Fillongley,  Warwickshire,  468. 
Fulbrook,  123,  124,  133,  138,  140, 

266,  336.  337,  426,  452,  461,  481, 

541.  573.  628. 

Galway,  166. 

Gayton,  Northants.,  268. 

Ginge,  144. 

Gloucester,  6,  7,  64,  159,  438,  439, 

477,  665. 
Grafton,  485. 
Great  PacMngton,   Warwickshire, 

468, 

Hardwick,  465-7. 
Hatherop,  424,  425. 
Hendred,  East,  180,  636. 
Hendred,  West,  144. 
Henley-on-Thames,  275,  421. 
Holwell,  130,  187, 196,403,628,651. 

Idson,  Berks.,  462. 

Kelmscott,  345,  397,  514. 
Kencot,  470,  485,  515. 
Kingham,iS7,335,345  (Kenkeham), 
400,  592,  617. 

Landwade,  Cambs.,  474. 
Langford,  417,'  476,  485,  635. 
Langley,  188. 
Leafield  (Field  in  le  Wychwode), 

320. 
Lechlade,  144,  175,  216. 
Lyneham,  471. 

Marlborough,  239,  241,  246. 
Meryden,  WarwicksWre,  468,  469. 
Milton-under-Wychwood,  397,  417 

635- 
Minster  Lovell,  486. 

Newbridge,  205,  216,  242,  243,  249. 
Newmarket,  217-18,  235. 
Northleach,  422,  614. 

Packington,  Gt.,  468. 
Packwood,  Warwickshire,  468. 
Pyrton,  Herts.,  253. 


Radcott,  463. 
Reading,  323. 

Rissington,  259,  260,  266,  412,  593, 
634- 

Salisbury,  237,  238,  239,  241. 

Sarsden,  345. 

Sherborne,  188,  281  (note),  348,  349, 

359.  368.  634,  635. 
Shilton,  174,  354,  534. 
Shipton  Solas,  Glos.,  426. 
Shipton-under-Wychwood,        323, 

349.  397.  406.  514. 
Shustocke,  Warwickshire,  468. 
Signett,  85,  86,  141,  142,  143,  149, 

162,  164.  190,  195,  197,  583,  629. 
South  Leigh,  606,  634. 
Standlake,  144, 3 10, 395, 465-7, 498. 
Stanford-in-the-Vale,  241 . 
Stanton  Harcourt,  6. 
Steventon,  144. 

Stow-on-the-Wold,  202,  216,  544. 
Stratton  Audley,  323. 
Stroud,  525. 
Sudeley  Castle,  188. 
Sutton-under-Brailes,  404. 
Swell,  424. 
Swinbrook,  352,  355,  514. 

Taynton,    Oxon.,    127,    130,    136, 

148,  188,  267,  318,  364.  365,  370, 

425,  426,  427,  654,  667. 
Tew,  Great,  53,  54,  274. 
Tewkesbury,  7,  81,  82,   160,  356, 

571,  581. 
Thame,  241, 
Theal,  243. 
Thriplow  Heath,  235,  237,  238,  240, 

244. 

Upton,  17,  85,  149.  161,  162,  164, 
175.  176,  193,  195,  196.  228,  260, 
262,  266,  286,  287,  315,  402,  404, 
407,  408,  426,  427,  474-7,  566, 
577.  582,  585.  629,  635,  701. 

Walcott,  352,  550. 
Wantage,  144,  239,  240,  637. 
Wardley,  Wore,  467. 
Ware,  240. 

Westcott,  Nether,  Glos.,  469,  470. 
Widford,  151,  326,  353,  479,  629. 
Witney,    144,    148,    188,   192,  219, 
345.  356.  406,  463,  470,  484,  525. 
Woodstock,  188-9. 
Woodstock,  New,  405. 
Woolhope,  CO.  Hereford,  401. 
Woolstone,  Warwickshire,  468. 
Wychwood,  160,  161,  257,  568,  581. 

Yanworth,  403. 


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